Pokémon Ultra: Sparkling silver

Alright so, it’s been a couple days since I beat Bugsy’s gym… Yesterday I wanted to take a bit of a training day to help train up Slowpoke a bit, and I think the training went pretty well! And now today I’m ready to move onto the next town… I saw on my map that the next town over was called Goldenrod City, and there’s another gym there too! I’m excited to make my way over there now…

“Alright Mareep, you ready to head over to the next town?”

“Mareep!“ I looked down at Mareep, who happily nodded in response.

“Cool, then… Let’s go!”

We were about to walk into the entrance of Ilex Forest, when I suddenly bumped into a familiar face.

“Whoa… Silver?”

“Hm? Oh, it’s you.” Silver huffed in response, looking over at my shoulder. “I don’t have time for you right now… I heard that Team Rocket was in town. Are they still here?”

“Oh no, not anymore. I actually defeated them all a couple days ago.” I responded. Silver looked at me with a baffled look, before he suddenly started laughing.

“Pfft! Come on, you defeated them? Quit lying.” Silver scoffed.

“Come on, I wouldn’t lie about that!“ I responded. “It’s true, I’m building a good team and they’ve all been getting stronger!”

Silver was silent for a moment, looking down at Mareep as he raised an eyebrow. He then smirked, holding up a Poke ball.

“Alright then. If you really did best Team Rocket… Then prove it to me in a battle.” Silver says, as I nod in response.

“Alright… Let’s do this!”

• - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

BATTLE… BEGIN!

Silver: “Go, Gastly!”

Ara: “You’ve got this, Mareep! Use Thundershock!”

Silver: “Use Lick!”

Ara: “Again, use Thundershock!”

Silver: “Use Curse!”

The combination of both the curse and Mareep’s Thundershock quickly ended up knocking out Gastly.

Silver: “Go, Croconaw!”

Whoa, wait a minute… Is this supposed to be Totodile? I wasn’t expecting Silver to have evolved him so quickly…

Silver: “Use Bite!”

Ara: “Use Thundershock!”

Both attacks did decent amount of damage to one another, but Mareep ended up taking a lot more damage, due to the curse he had as well.

Ara: “Man… Mareep, hang in there! Use Thundershock again!”

Silver: “Quickly, use Water Gun!”

Before Mareep could even strike back again, Croconaw quickly attacked, knocking him out.

Ara: “Alright… Let’s go, Gastly! Use Curse!”

Silver: “Use Bite!”

Just one Bite attack did a lot of damage to Gastly, and the curse didn’t help much too. Now Gastly was already close to fainting…

Ara: “Hang in there, Gastly… Use Lick!”

Silver: “Use Water Gun!”

Luckily Gastly landed his attack, before quickly getting knocked out. Ah man, this isn’t good. I can’t send Cyndaquil out against Croconaw. I haven’t used Slowpoke in a trainer battle yet, but I don’t have much of a choice right now. Hopefully our training has paid off…

Ara: “Alright, you’ve got this, Slowpoke! Use Headbutt!”

Silver: Use Bite!”

Luckily Headbutt did a decent amount of damage, and the attacked combined with the curse knocked out Croconaw.

Silver: “Alright, come on out Zubat… Use Bite!”

Ara: “Use Water Gun!”

Silver: “Use Leech Life!”

Ara: “Hang in there, Slowpoke… Use Headbutt!”

Slowpoke’s attack did a lot more damage… Knocking out Zubat.

• - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

“Ugh, useless Pokémon…” Silver huffed to himself, returning Zubat back to its ball

“Whew… You did great, Slowpoke! Good job!” I kneeled down to Slowpoke’s level, patting her on the head.

“You really shouldn’t be congratulating your Pokémon…” Silver huffed.

“Huh? Why not?” I asked, picking up Slowpoke as I stood back up.

“Your Pokémon are still weak… I mean, you’ve had all this training and you still haven’t even evolved them yet?” Silver practically scolded me. “And your Cyndaquil… Have you even evolved it yet?”

“I mean, no, but…”

“There’s no excuses for that, Ara. If you can’t even evolve your Pokémon yet then you still have a long way to go before you become a real trainer.” Silver continued scolding me, letting out an exasperated sigh as he walked away.

I don’t get it… I mean, I know I haven’t evolved any of my teammates yet, but that doesn’t actually make me a bad trainer… Right? I mean, I guess I still have a lot to learn about being a trainer, but at this point… I don’t know what to think. Maybe it’ll happen soon…

Sometime later…

After I took my team back to the Pokémon Center and healed them back up, I actually started making my way through Ilex Forest this time… The forest was a bit dark in there, but for the most part it was pretty easy to navigate through. I also had Cyndaquil out of his ball, and he was able to use the flames on his tail to help light the way, which definitely did help. While we were walking through the forest, I saw this woman in the distance, who almost looked familiar to me.

“Hey!” I ran up to the woman, who turned around to face me. “Hey, I remember you… You’re that girl who gave me the egg back in Violet City!”

“Hm?” The woman cocked her head at me with a confused expression. “I don’t think I’ve met you before. Forgive me, but you must be imagining things…”

Hm, how weird… I could have sworn this was her. I guess the two just so happen to look similar…?

“Hey, you think you could help me out for a second? I’m trying to find the exit of this forest…”

“Oh, well about that…”

“Cynda! Quil!” Cyndaquil suddenly ran forward, pointing towards a path that was now lit up and exposed by his back flames.

“Oh my! Do you know the way out? What a smart little Pokémon!” The lady looked back at me she smiled, nodding and walking off down the path Cyndaquil showed her. I followed her and Cyndaquil down the path, as we ended up arriving at and finding the exit. 

“Thank you both very much…” The lady nodded, as she waved goodbye. “I’ll be seeing you.” And with that, she walked off. 

“Good job helping her out like that, Cyndaquil…” I patted Cyndaquil on the head gently. “Now let’s go… Onto the next town!”

We left the forest, looking down at the small route, where I could already see Goldenrod City in the distance. We started walking down the path of the route, where I saw this small building right in front of the city. The door to the building opened up, and I ended up running into another familiar face…

“Oh! Hey Lyra!”

“Ara, hey! It’s nice to run into you again…” Lyra ran up to me with a smile, smiling down at Cyndaquil. “It’s nice to see you too, Cyndaquil! How have you two been?”

“We’ve been pretty good!” I paused, looking at the building in front of us. “So, what’s this place supposed to be?” I asked.

“Oh! This is the daycare that my grandparents run…” Lyra says. “You see-“

“YEAAAHHH!! LETS GO!!” Suddenly a voice was heard shouting in the distance, which cut off Lyra. Lyra looked over at the sound of the voice, a frown appearing on her face as she rolled her eyes. “Agh, not her again…” She grumbled.

“Huh? What’s wrong?” I asked.

“…You see that girl over there?” Lyra pointed to the source of the voice…

…And she pointed over to this girl, who looked like she was a few years older than me. She was in the grass a short distance away, with a Pokémon that was battling a random wild Pokémon.

“That girl is always training out here every day, and screaming like crazy when she does so…” Lyra sighed. “She’s so loud that she sometimes scares the baby Pokémon in here… I’ve tried asking her to train somewhere else, or at least be quiet, but she never listens.”

“Hm… I could try to ask her to quiet down a bit…” I respond, Lyra nodding.

“You can try, if you want…” Lyra paused, looking back at the daycare building. “Hey listen, I gotta go and help my grandparents. It’s fine if you can’t quiet her down or whatever, but I’m sure the baby Pokémon here would appreciate it… We’ll talk later, alright?”

“Alright, see you later!” I waved goodbye as Lyra quickly ran into the daycare building. I looked over at the girl, taking a deep breath as I approached her…

“Hey! You!” I called to the girl, quickly catching her attention, as the wild Pokémon she was fighting suddenly ran away.

“Ugh, come on, you ruined my training! What the heck do you want from me?!” The girl snapped, glaring at me as she crossed her arms.

“Um, I…” I stammered nervously a bit, trying to find the right words as I twiddled my fingers a bit. “We’ll, you’ve been very loud, and you’re upsetting the baby Pokémon here, so can you be quiet… Please?”

The girl was silent for a moment, raising an eyebrow at me as she smirked.

“Pfft! You really think you can tell me what to do? You don’t know who I am, do you?” The girl chuckled. “You can’t tell me what to do, you little dork. Run along now, and let me continue with my training.”

“Huh…? Why does it matter who you are? And what kind of training is so important that you can’t leave this area?” I asked, the girl’s smirk fading away as she let out an annoyed sigh.

“Listen here. My name is Kris, you annoying little dork…” She huffed in response. “And I’m training up my Pokémon to be the best they can be! I’m gonna earn all the Johto badges, and become the ultimate shiny hunter! And I don’t have time to deal with little losers like you, so get out of my face already!”

“Urgh… You know what? I want to have a battle with you!” I respond. “And if I win, you have to find somewhere else to train… Um, you know, if that’s ok with you…”

Kris’ eyes went wide for a second, chuckling as she smirked once again.

“Heh. I can’t tell if you’re stupid or brave kid, but I like this enthusiasm.” Kris says, looking down at her Bayleef. “Bring it on, then. I’ll use Bayleef.” She looked down at Cyndaquil, kneeling down a bit. “And are you gonna use this widdle baby Cyndaquil?” She asked in a mocking, high pitched tone.

“Hm? Is there something wrong with my Cyndaquil?” I asked.

“Oh, nothing, of course… As long as you can evolve it into a Quilava. Or even better, a Typhlosion…” Kris says, standing back up as she nodded. “Yup, those two Pokémon are super strong… But a Cyndaquil? HA! You really think you can win any fights with a Cyndaquil?”

“Oh come on, Cyndaquil is still super powerful! And I’ll prove it to you in this battle…”

“Heh, alright then… Let’s fight!”

• - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

BATTLE… BEGIN!

Kris: “Alright Bayleef… Use Headbutt!”

Ara: “Quick, use Ember!”

Bayleef’s attack did a lot of damage, knocking Cyndaquil back as his embers barely grazed Bayleef.

Kris: “Yeah! Now use Magical Leaf!”

Ara: “Use Quick Attack!!”

Once again, Cyndaquil’s attack didn’t do as much as Bayleef’s did.

Kris: “Again, use Headbutt!”

Ara: “Dodge it, Cyndaquil!”

Cyndaquil tried to dodge, but was too weakened, getting slammed to the ground by Bayleef’s attack.

Kris: “HA! This is just pathetic, kid… You might as well give up now, before you and your dorky little Cyndaquil lose horribly…”

Ara: “Urgh… S-Stop laughing at us! It’s not funny!!”

Suddenly I could see the flames on Cyndaquil’s back getting brighter and bigger. Oh no… His blaze ability is acting up again… Wait a minute…

Ara: “Cyndaquil, stay focused, and use Ember!”

Kris: “What the… Bayleef, use Headbutt!”

Cyndaquil blasted a strong Ember at Bayleef, Bayleef also headbutting Cyndaquil at the same time. When the two attacked each other at the same time… They both knocked each other out.

• - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

“Man, what the heck just happened?” Kris looked pretty surprised, raising an eyebrow as she sighed. “Hey, I knocked out your Cyndaquil, so I technically won here!”

“Does it really matter here? I knocked out your Bayleef too, so I technically won as well.” I responded. “Or… We both lost? Um… I don’t know…”

“Whatever, I’m bored of all this training anyways…” Kris huffed, as we both returned our Pokémon back to their balls. “I need to head back to the Pokémon Center.”

“Yeah, me too… I’ll come with you.”

Sometime later…

Me and Kris went to the Pokémon center in Goldenrod City, and I finally told Kris my name while we were walking over there. The two of us had to wait in a line for a bit, but after a bit my Pokémon were healed up, Kris next up in line. After getting out of the line, I saw a small group of people watching something on TV, all laughing pretty loud. Hmm… I wonder what they’re watching…?

Walking over to the group, I peeked over them to look at the screen, and I almost felt my blood run cold when I saw what was on the screen…

It was… My brother on screen. The TV was playing an old recording of the battle between him and Lance, showing off his Pokémon getting beaten badly by Lance’s.

“What are you guys watching over there…?” I could hear Kris’ voice behind me, as she also peeked over the screen. Once she saw the screen, she crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. “Ugh, people still watch that battle tape? It’s really not that funny…” She muttered.

I could feel myself starting to panic just seeing this tape again… W-why do people still have to watch this?! No, no, no….

“C-could you guys turn this off? Please?” I asked, but only received more laughter in response as they didn’t take their eyes off the TV.

“Wait, wait! Hold on kid… This is the best part…” One of the people spoke through their laughter. Looking down at the person, I could see that they were holding the TV remote in their hand…

“Turn it off, please! Just give me that remote!” I quickly tried grabbing the remote, but the man refused to let go of it, trying to pull it back.

“What the heck is your problem, kid?! Let… Go…” The man grumbled, the both of us yanking the remote back and forth between one another. Soon the remote quickly then flew from both our grasps, crashing right into the TV and completely cracking the screen apart, the screen going black.

“What the…? What the hell is wrong with you, kid?!” The man snapped at me, everyone in the group all glaring at me and yelling as well.

“I’m sorry, I… I-I didn’t mean to do that!” I profusely apologized, taking a couple steps away from the group. By now the commotion had also been noticed by everyone else in the Pokémon center, everyone staring at me as they started whispering to one another. I could only feel myself panicking more and more, my hands starting to shake…

“I… I’M SORRY!!” I quickly ran out of the Pokémon center, running outside and sitting down on some nearby grass… Man, I really need to calm myself down… Wh-what is wrong with me…?

“Hey, Ara…” I could hear Kris’ voice approaching behind me..

“Leave me alone already!!” I snapped at Kris, who quickly put her hands up defensively.

“Whoa, hey! Chill out already, I’m not here to give you any crap…” Kris says. “But what the heck was that all about back there?” Kris asked, but I didn’t respond, my gaze fixated on the grass.

“That boy on the TV, Ethan… He looks strangely similar to you. By any chance do you know him?” Kris asked.

“Yeah… He’s my brother.” I responded. “I have no idea where he headed off to after that battle, and it’s been years since I’ve seen him. I just miss him so much. He’s always been not just my brother, but my best friend, and it hurts seeing people laugh at his battle like that. One of the reasons I wanted to start my journey was to go look for him as well, and I still have no idea where he is…”

“Um… Er, sorry about that, Ara.” Kris responded. “And uh, just between you and me… I doubt any of the losers in there would be laughing if they were the ones on that video! Lance is the strongest trainer in both Johto and Kanto, so it’s a pretty big deal for any trainer to be able to even have the opportunity to battle him! I would know, since I’m planning on battling him one day, too… And you know what? I bet those jerks in there are probably just jealous of your brother, so I wouldn’t listen to a word that they say about him…”

“Yeah, I guess so…” I mumbled in response, looking up and smiling at Kris. “Thanks, Kris.”

“Yeah, of course. Um… That’s all the sappy, good words you’re gonna get from me today, so…” Kris stood back up, looking up at the sky, where the sun was now starting to set. “I’m gonna leave you alone now, but we can talk again tomorrow.”

“Alright… See you later, Kris.”

Sometime later…

I was about to look around the city a bit, but it quickly started to rain, so I ended up renting a room in the Pokémon center for the night, going to bed a bit early than usual. I was able to fall asleep for a little bit, but I ended up waking up in the middle of the night, when the rain soon turned into a loud storm. I was laying in bed for a while, trying to fall back asleep, but I still had so many thoughts swirling around through my head. Thoughts of my brother… I just wish I knew where he was right now… Was he feeling lonely at this very moment? I’m sure he has all his Pokémon with him, but still… I have so many questions, but no answers for a single one of them…

I rolled over on my side for a second, looking down at Cyndaquil, who was sleeping on the bed right next to me. Hmm, I wonder if I could ever become strong enough to battle him someday…? Wait a minute… I hear something outside…

I sat up in bed, getting up and looking out the window. Beneath the sounds of the loud rain, I could hear what almost sounded like… Crying? It sounded like a pained whimper, and I couldn’t tell if it was a Pokémon or a human. Whoever it was though, it sounded like they needed help.

I quickly ran over to my bag, grabbing my raincoat and slipping it on. As I ran towards the door, I could feel something tugging lightly on my pants, looking down to see Cyndaquil, who looked worried.

“Hm? You wanna come with too, Cyndaquil?”

“Quil! Quil…” Cyndaquil nodded. I paused, looking out at the rain pounding again the window. Is it really a good idea to bring a fire type like Cyndaquil out in the rain? Hm…

“Alright. But here…” I took off my hat, placing it on Cyndaquil, which perfectly covered up his body. “Let’s go. But be careful…”

As we left the room, we ran outside, making our way towards the sound of the crying. And once we found it…

We saw a smaller Pokémon… An Eevee. The Eevee looked like it was hurt, with scratches all over its body. The Eevee’s leg was also tangled in some trash and it couldn’t get up, and there was a couple of wild Pidgeys attacking it too.

“HEY!! Get away from Eevee! Cyndaquil, use Quick Attack!”

Cyndaquil quickly attacked both of the Pidgeys, knocking them back as they both flew off. “You’ll be ok Eevee, don’t worry…” I slipped off my coat, wrapping it around Eevee as I gently picked it up. Holding the Eevee up close now, I could also see that it had a scar over one of its eyes. Man, this poor Eevee must have gone through a lot…

I quickly ran back into the Pokémon center, and luckily Nurse Joy was still at the front counter.

“Hey! I need your help… This poor Eevee was out there all alone, and it’s hurt pretty bad…”

“Oh no… Here. I’ll take care of it.” Nurse Joy quickly grabbed Eevee from me, running into a back room. I slung my wet raincoat over my shoulder, sitting on a nearby couch, Cyndaquil hopping on the couch next to me.

“Quil…?” Cyndaquil looked up at me with a nervous look, as I patted him on the head. “Don’t worry Cyndaquil, I’m sure Eevee will be fine. Nurse Joy knows what she’s doing…”

I paused, looking back over at the empty front counter. Man, I really hope I’m right. Please be ok, Eevee…

The next morning…

Me and Cyndaquil waited on the couch for a while, until we both ended up falling asleep on it. Next thing I knew, it was morning, and we were being awoken by Nurse Joy…

“Hey! We’re you asleep on the couch all night?” Nurse Joy asked

“Uh… Yeah…” I yawned, sitting up as I rubbed my eyes. “Hey, how’s Eevee doing…?”

“Oh, Eevee’s much better now! Look!” Nurse Joy pointed down to the floor, where Eevee was smiling up at me, a happy wag in its tail as its body had a bunch of bandages all over it.

“Eevee! Vee!” Eevee happily jumped up and down, hopping onto the couch next to me. Eevee then nuzzled up next to me, letting out a soft purr as I pet its head gently.

“Eevee, hey! I’m so glad you’re feeling better…”

“I’m glad you brought Eevee in here last night, I don’t know what would’ve happened if Eevee was left alone any longer…” Nurse Joy says. “Hey, by any chance do you know who this Eevee’s trainer is?”

“Um, I have no idea, actually…” I responded, looking over at Eevee and Cyndaquil, who were playing chasing each other around. “I just found Eevee out in the middle of some garbage. I wish I could help out more…”

“Oh, well, it’s no worries…” Nurse Joy says, looking down at Eevee. “Maybe I’ll put some posters up around the city, to see if I can find its trainer…”

“Alright. Well…

I hope you find its trainer soon.”