Impressionism (a Johto tribute)
Crystal and Eusine -> Eusine was eccentric and gallant in a way she was unaccustomed to.
Gold and Silver -> Out of all the things Gold hated in life, losing to Silver came out on top.
Jasmine (and Gold and Silver) -> Olivine was home.
Crystal and Clair -> She could not remember the last time she'd been intimidated.
Gold and Whitney -> A trip to the city it is.
Falkner and Janine -> There were always the rumours, whimsical and feather-like.
Silver and Crystal -> Silver wondered why he hung out with noisy idiots when there were also sane people like Kris.
Morty and eusine -> In a way they were both marked by their failure to realise their biggest dream.
Crystal and Gold -> She'd been raised to have standards.
Silver and Lance -> The prowess, the information, was all there was to it.
I was re-reading the Johto arc and got so inspired by all the nice characters and moments that I had to write this. My tribute to Johto (and the manga). Other regions might follow! Comments per drabble at the end of the fic.
I Crystal and Eusine
Eusine was eccentric and gallant in a way she was unaccustomed to. She was Kris: catching pro, research help, voluntary teacher, but to him she never was just that. She was special - if only because of her connection to Suicune.
He'd kiss her hand and bid her farewell for the umpteenth time, until the next brief, sudden encounter. Always on the move, always that one big goal in mind that overshadowed everything else - just like her.
When it came down to it, Suicune was the only thing that tied them.
Yet - and she felt weak for wondering, felt like the girl she was trying to escape being (young, foolish, in love) - would he still visit when Suicune was gone?
Yes, a traitorous voice in her mind said. Because she was special in his eyes, could see it in the admiration on his face whenever he looked at her, as though the beheld the thing closest to Suicune (second best, but not quite so negative).
And perhaps it was this more than anything else that thrilled her: being wanted. Being put on a pedestal but one where she could still run, catch, explore. For her freedom was worth anything, but so (it turned out) was her heart.
II Gold and Silver
Out of all the things Gold hated in life, losing to Silver came out on top.
“Better luck next time,” Silver smirked as he returned his Ursaring without so much as a 'thank you' (that cold-hearted guy).
Which made him go from irritated to fuming because the one thing worse than losing to that guy was him calmly gloating about it. Infuriating it was.
“I won't need luck to win from you, I have my trusted partners,” he stated as he pointed to the team around him. Explataro, Poltaro and the others voiced their agreement.
“Because that's enough without skill?” Silver asked sceptically.
Gold stepped forward, Ataro, perched on his shoulder, mimicking his indignant expression. He pointed an accusing finger at his rival (friend). “A pokémon's trust is everything, and anyway, are you saying I don't have skills?”
They glared at each other for about ten seconds, Silver's namesake eyes hard and calculated (again: what a cold-hearted guy) and his own shining gold and passionate because hey, that's the kind of guy he was.
“Well,” Silver finally conceded, “it was a good battle,”and Gold deflated immediately. Staying angry with friends was a waste of time.
“I know,” Gold answered, not without a trace of smugness because his pokémon and he were awesome, undeniably so. “And I'll kick your butt next time. Now, let's go eat something, I'm starving.”
“Not hamburgers again?” Silver ventured with way more dread than the situation warranted. Gold grinned.
“Of course hamburgers again, there's no better. Now let's go.” And he clapped his friend (rival) on the back. “Oh by the way,” he added, “you're paying because you accidentally won that battle now. Winner's treat and all that.”
“That means something else,” Silver pointed out but did not protest any further. Gold grinned because that was victory in itself. And with hamburgers awaiting them, losing to Silver wasn't so bad - in fact was, dare he say it, bearable.
III Jasmine (and Gold and Silver)
Olivine was home: the soft sighs of the waves, the wind blowing under her cotton dress as she climbed the stairs of the lighthouse, the air a canvas of forget-me-not blue all the way to Cianwood, a mere speck on the horizon.
Yet after the happenings of last week she found it difficult to find peace the way she usually did. Strange things were happening around Johto. The earthquake had been traumatizing in a way - still she could feel the tremors in her legs - but she'd get past it. She was made of tougher stuff than sometimes was assumed (and thought of Steelix and Magneton, their steely coats like diamond but stronger.)
No, what bothered her most was the unknown identities of her rescuers. It was frustrating not to be able to thank them, not to send a letter with her well-wishes like she was prone to do.
As she stood on the railing, looking out at the sea where a seemingly tiny white ship sailed towards Cianwood or beyond, she remembered the conversation with her grandparents. They'd told her that they'd sent a young trainer to look for her in Ecruteak, one that had received training at their daycare place. The amazing coincidence had it that this young man was in care of the egg of her two Togetic. How fate was so wondrous sometimes!
Gold, the boy was named - yet there had been another one. There'd been two persons when she and Akari were saved from the pagoda, and she remembered crimson hair before her eyes had closed to blackness.
Bright, stark red: unlike anything here in Olivine. Things were blue and white and yellow here, pleasant shades to go with the sea breeze. No earth rumblings or shattered buildings. (No crimson hair.)
IV Crystal and Clair
She hadn't been to Blackthorn on her capture quest because life had intervened in that explosive way it tended to do since she'd first set foot out of Violet. But then the quiet had returned to Johto and amid the familiar rusticness her body ached for new regions to map, stronger pokémon to catalog.
Which is how she came to Blackthorn City: located in the far north, hard to reach, shrouded not only in mountains but also mystery.
The home of the dragon masters.
Her mind was set on the dragon den - where the strongest pokémon of the region resided - but before that could transpire, access had to be granted. From none other than the Blackthorn gym leader herself: Clair.
She could not remember the last time she'd been intimidated because she'd overcome obstacles on the road (high-level pokémon, foes, her own fear of failure - she'd been raised not to back down in the event of challenges) but as she stood before Clair she felt herself cower a little anyway.
Clair was powerful in a way that did not need demonstration, which showed instead through her arrogant posture (dragon masters were self-proclaimed royalty) fierce eyes and her aura that spoke of centuries of tradition, renowned family, prowess taught from birth.
If Clair suggested a battle she was done for.
“Let me demonstrate my skills by catching a pokémon of your choice,” Crystal spoke up, retaining the initiative.
Clair raised an eyebrow and seized her up. Crystal felt the skin on her back prickle. Stay your ground, her mind said. She breathed calmly; determinedly.
Finally a small smile appeared on Clair's face. It could be amusement or something more sinister, or perhaps in a strange way she had recognised something of herself in the girl standing before her.
“Fine,” she said in a voice going from dark to light and back, “let me show you the way.”
V Gold and Whitney
After his role in saving Johto (with the help of his friends and seniors, he'd modestly concede) he receives the invitation to talk about his experiences at Goldenrold's radio station.
Everyone wants to hear from the hero.
This is an invitation he can't turn down of course, and Goldenrod is fun. Plus Mary will be there. He may have gotten - ahum - other interests in the meantime, but her voice is sweet as ever. So a trip to the city it is.
When he arrives at the recording room two afternoons later, however, it turns out they are not alone: from one of the stools Whitney glares at him, arms crossed. He glares right back - old memories die hard - before remembering that not so long ago they fought on the same side against the creepy masked man.
Whitney seems to remember around the same time because she shrugs and then says defensively, “I want to prevent you ruining the show again.”
“I won't, I'm a natural,” Gold sniffs because after all, he is.
He takes place at his stool and after Mary introduces him to the audience with her (lovely lovely) voice, he let's his pokémon out of their pokéball and gives each of them time to introduce themselves before the mike. After all, they helped as much as he did. When Ataro has concluded the impromptu introduction session they all happily settle around him.
He can feel Whitney's glare at him from across the room because Explataro's enthusiasm may threaten to literally burn the mike.
Well, it's not his fault that he's a little explosive. Also, she should definitely get over the fact that he's better at bike races. And radio shows, he adds in his mind.
When he gets to the bit where he saves Johto and other pretty awesome stuff, Whitney is still glaring but less intensely so. After all, no-one can resist selfless heroism. Even though perhaps it wasn't exactly selfless because he needed to chase down Silver and then suddenly things started happening, but hey, he'd happily sign on to a brand new adventure at any given moment. Though not right now because after all, this is his moment of fame. And he is seated next to a lovely lady.
Well.
One and a half lovely ladies, his mind allows, because actually - Whitney's not that bad.
VI Falkner and Janine
There were always the rumours - strong trainer, flying on Skarmory. They reached him carried on the winds, whimsical and feather-like but sometimes there was a stronger voice (sighted in the area of Cianwood.)
He'd learnt to give it a place yet couldn't help look up every time.
Janine understood that. Janine understood everything.
They were alike because there was a gaping hole in their lives, bigger than Falkner would admit even to himself when training was done and the gym empty and he could feel his father's shadow watching over him. They were alike because there was always the question am I good enough to follow in your footsteps, is this what you would have wanted?
And, it seemed, they even were alike in looks.
“This your sister, Falkner? I didn't know you had one.”
Earl, the owner of the café he occasionally frequented for a Sunday espresso or one of Violet's well-known rice cakes, looked between him and Janine as he put their drinks on the table.
Janine's instant reaction to the insinuation was blushing (it made her look cute) while he blinked, processing this unexpected question. Then he promptly denied.
In many ways Janine could be his sister but in one important way she couldn't.
“Don't you see she's too pretty for that?” he smiled.
Janine blushed even redder at that and Earl said, “Ho ho, I see how it is!”
Maybe some things were missing from their lives, but on a Sunday afternoon like this, enjoying Earl's foamy latte and Janine's company as she talked and smiled and listened - the sun that fell through the window making her dark hair appear soft - everything was just as it should be.
Perhaps even could even stay that way.
VII Silver and Crystal (and Gold)
Sometimes Silver did not understand why he hung out with noisy idiots when there were also sane people like Kris.
He sipped from his tea (she made excellent tea) and grunted with annoyance, “One day that idiot will get himself killed.”
It did not need explaining what idiot he meant, because despite having met a wide range of (pseudo) crazy people, Gold was still their only mutual acquaintance - dare he say friend - that was qualified for that title.
It also did not need explaining what had triggered the annoyance this time, because usually it involved being cheeky with people he had no right to be cheeky with, pranks that really were not pranks at all, playing the hero when he shouldn't play the hero, and gambling.
Crystal did not need details.
“Hmm,” Kris hummed her concern and agreement as she took a sip from her mug. Crystal never drank from teacups, the way you might imagine as you looked at her (prim and beautiful). She wasn't quite so delicate as her look suggested. She could break that china with one well-aimed blow - but perfectly restrained.
Silver admired that.
“I'd tell him to be careful, but I know he wouldn't listen anyway.”
“Because he's an idiot,” Silver agreed.
“And too stubborn.” Crystal paused, regarding him a little as though he were a topic of research. “Quite like you.”
Silver sputtered because the last thing he needed was being compared to Gold - though of course Crystal, being generally very observant, could have a point. Somewhere deep down.
The difference was though, that Gold was pigheaded and Silver headstrong.
It was all about semantics.
“Well, seeing as he's come unscathed out of everything so far, I think we can count on him continuing to do so,” Crystal said, voice suddenly bright and sure. It reminded him of the way she changed when there was a pokémon to be captured: the confidence in her skills, the trust in her team and friends.
And though Silver did not share Crystal's general optimism about life, he could agree with her here because Gold was Gold.
Annoying but also pretty much indestructible (fortunately so).
Crystal smiled. “Do you also want some cookies? I made them just now, they're fresh in the oven.”
“That'd be nice,” Silver said politely and when Crystal put a tray on the table they of course indeed proved to be nice. She had many talents after all.
And Silver, it seemed, two very good friends.
VIII Morty and Eusine
In a way they were both marked by their failure to realise their biggest dream. Or more gently put: their inability not to dream big, not to cling to the possibility of someday.
(Someday there'd be Ho-Ho and someday there'd by Suicune in all their majestic glory.)
Ecruteak in autumn fitted Ho-Ho's golden feather pattern, fitted Morty's melancholic moods as he'd stare up at Bell Tower, again and again. It did not fit Eusine who was loud in every way, splashes of colour like the many card tricks up his sleeve.
Ecruteak was timeless but Eusine was sudden disappearances and reappearances with a swish of his cloak, never long in one place.
Yet as they walked along one of the quieter streets of Ecruteak, the sun setting and casting the town in red light and shadows, it felt familiar. In a sense Morty knew the man next to him because once you were aware of a man's greatest wish and despair, everything else was side-matter.
Tied together by friendship and especially hope - plus purple clothing, it strangely seemed. This was a thought that amused Morty, because of all colours to bind them, why this one?
“Share your amusement, friend,” Eusine declared, evidently having picked up on his mood shift.
“I was merely wondering why we both take to wearing purple,” he answered with a faint smile.
“Aha,” Eusine said and spread his arms in a theatrical gesture. “Purple,” he declared with a voice of delight, “is ambition, magic, unexpectedness.” He looked at him from the corner of his eyes. “But it is also mystery, thoughtfulness, strength.”
Morty regarded him with amusement. “I see. Seems like an okay choice, all in all.”
“Indeed! Not to mention that it's Suicune who also wears the majestic colour on its fur...”
And like that it was back to dream-reality.
IX Crystal and Gold
It was the hottest moment of the day, the air quiet and still as though both vegetation and humans were holding their breath until the sun would finally make its retreat. Yet in the shadow of the house it was cool enough: pleasant, even.
Leaning back against the stony wall, her feet stretched in front of her, Crystal regarded the box to her left, silently estimating the number of pokéballs that still needed polishing. To her right stood the box with the already clean ones: decidedly shinier, but also decidedly emptier.
She heaved a small sigh, but then again, what had to be done had to be done. She couldn’t call herself a pro and walk around with smudged pokéballs.
(She’d been raised to have standards.)
Just as she picked up a Heavy Ball to renew her cleaning activity, she heard footsteps approach her from the front. “Are you really working on a day like this?”
She didn’t need to look up in order to recognise the voice but did anyway, and found Gold grinning widely at her, tanned and having the general air of someone who’s spent his last days cavorting outside.
”Not all of us can afford spending our days swimming or going on local adventures,” she replied in a perfectly neutral tone, not needing intonation to get the message across. “Besides,” she continued, returning her attention to the pokéball at hand, “it’s not such bad work.”
Monotonous, yes - but she’d mastered discipline. Plus, with every pokéball there were the memories, countless of them: once she’d thrown a ball similar to this one at Suicune, the legendary Aurora Pokémon, briefly being under the illusion that she had really captured it before it had disappeared again…
“Well if that’s the case, let me help,” Gold promptly said. Crystal looked up in surprise and Gold grinned at her. “Looks like you could use it, anyway,” he added, gesturing at the almost-full box of unpolished pokéballs.
Crystal frowned, slightly annoyed all of a sudden. “I would have managed fine on my own, thanks.”
“Of course you would, you’re the pro after all,” Gold agreed jovially, “but this is was friends do, right?”
Before she could process those words he had let himself fall down next to her and picked up the spare cloth plus a pokéball.
She looked at him for a moment and then said evenly, “You need to spray some cleanser on it or it won’t have any effect.”
“I know, super serious gal,” he answered, albeit good-naturedly, and did as she told him.
For a moment they worked in companionable silence, the house’s shadow slowly becoming longer with each cleaned pokéball. Still there was a faint tension between them as though there was something that needed be said though Crystal wasn’t sure what. From the corner of her eyes she observed Gold’s hands as they polished the pokéball, young and tanned and slightly calloused, his nails dirty from all the hours spent outside.
“Pokéballs are like memories,” Gold suddenly spoke up and Crystal’s gaze snapped up to his face. “They’re all connected to a Pokémon, aren’t they?” he continued, almost as though talking to himself, “most of them anyway. And they each have different personalities… this one for example,” and he turned the Net Ball over in his hands, gently, “is a good fit for Bug Pokémon. Maybe a low-level Caterpie has been caught with this; then it evolved, it became a Metapod. And finally: a Butterfree…”
He smiled at the blue pokéball in his hands. Crystal stared at him. Then without warning Gold suddenly directed his attention towards her and she inhaled sharply, realising she’d unknowingly held her breath during his entire speech.
“So what I’m saying is: I sort of get where you’re coming from,” he concluded with a smile, warm and genuine like the amber in his eyes - and this time Crystal didn’t even think twice before fully returning it.
X Silver and Lance
It was sheer necessity that made him call upon Lance - that, and the rumours of his prowess, transparent despite the air of mystery he was cloaked in.
The man wore a cloak for pity's sake (and resided in a secret stone chamber hidden by waterfalls, understood pokémon, controlled the ferocious dragon type.) That talkative idiot Gold would probably have his commentary ready but for him the prowess, the information was all there was to it.
Their goals coincided and for that Silver was okay with being at the man's beck and call.
“Go to Ecruteak,” “Head to the Lake of Rage,” “Your next mission is...” and Silver did not even need to say 'roger,' fulfilled them all.
Lance's voice was metallic over the receiver but he remembered how he'd addressed him on that fateful night a few months ago, high up in the air at the Battle Tower's skeleton, Lance's cloak billowing behind him. (“If you love your pokémon, show your affections more often.”)
And Silver frowned at the memory before shaking it from his head.
Tyranitar was added to his team, a gift he could not control (so much to learn, too much, too much, and he clenched his fists because he must remember the goal.)
When Silver confronts Lance for the last time and returns his pokémon Lance smiles cryptically and says, “I had planned to give it to you,” and Silver frowns again. It's a gift he never asked for, a mission he never asked for but he's here now, in a damp cold room with time running out and Lance looking at him from his self-proclaimed throne like he knows things that he won't ever spill.
But he's stronger now so he says forcefully, “I don't care why you wanted me to do what I did” (even though perhaps he does, even though perhaps he knows.)
When he demands answers and Lance remarks, “The look in your eyes hasn't changed,” Silver takes it as a compliment.
Comments per drabble:
1. I love Eusine. One of my favourite side-characters, and his scenes with Crystal are also one of my favourite chapters. I find they have a pretty interesting dynamic.
2. My Johto otp! They are so mutually obsessed with each other I don't even. This is way too short, I acknowledge, but I'd started something else and that became too long for a drabble so I'll turn that into a fic instead. Be on the look-out haha.
3. Olivine is so pretty and I really like the image of Jasmine looking out over the sea with her white dress flowing in the wind. It's so peaceful? But at the same time I like the idea that there's more to her than that, because there obviously is: she doesn't specialize in the steel type for nothing.
4. I love Clair because she's so fierce. Kris and Clair didn't interact at all in the manga so I wrote this, hah. Maybe in a way their design reminds me of each other (the tight outfit and pigtail kind of hair?) Anyway fierce pokémon ladies, yeah. :)
5. Game-verse I kind of ship Gold and Whitney (see the fic I wrote) but in the manga I see them more as frenemies who like each other more than they'd let on. I suppose they're kind of too alike and that's why they clash sometimes. Oh, Gold though. He's good to write humour for.
6.Tragic poetic ship. They really do look like siblings though, both in looks and with missing father complexes. But everyone ships them of course so that's awkward. It's never confirmed by the way that Wayne (the guy who battles Chuck) is Falkner's father but we all agree that he is, yes? Interesting detail how he refers to Falkner as 'Violet's new gym leader'. Perhaps no-one else knows / needs to know that Falkner is his son, but well, ouch. Unfortunately for them but fortunately for me Falkner and Janine's last name really is tragedy. (Because painful though it may be, it's usually amazing to write.)
7. The thing with the Johto trio is that you can ship it in any variation and it will always work. There's Silver/Kris undertones here but obviously also Silver/Gold (present though he's not there) and you could see Crystal/Gold in it. All the options are open eh.
8. Ecruteak in fall is the prettiest thing. This comes as no surprise to those who know me a little because I love autumn almost as much as I love pokémon. Anyway Johto is this really nostalgic region obviously and Morty and Eusine manifest that here by being locked in a dream that is basically founded on these myths, of both Ho-Ho and Eusine. It has something poetic but it also has something tragic?
9. This one might be familiar for some people because I had posted it elsewhere before. Anyway yeah first time writing them and I quite enjoyed it, I like the dynamic. Strange how you start shipping something after you write it; though maybe not so strange because in that way you really explore it and 'make it your own' in a sense. I actually think I could start shipping anything after I wrote for it, which is why I shouldn't write fic for pairings I don't want to ship haha.
10. Another dynamic that I find really intriguing. Remember when it was revealed that Silver's mysterious phone calls were actually from Lance? That was a shocking moment. And I still found their 'show-down' epic when I re-read it. So hence I wrote this. I wanted to highlight the underlying tensions but not in an overstated way. The dialogue used is all from the manga, obviously.
Gold and Silver -> Out of all the things Gold hated in life, losing to Silver came out on top.
Jasmine (and Gold and Silver) -> Olivine was home.
Crystal and Clair -> She could not remember the last time she'd been intimidated.
Gold and Whitney -> A trip to the city it is.
Falkner and Janine -> There were always the rumours, whimsical and feather-like.
Silver and Crystal -> Silver wondered why he hung out with noisy idiots when there were also sane people like Kris.
Morty and eusine -> In a way they were both marked by their failure to realise their biggest dream.
Crystal and Gold -> She'd been raised to have standards.
Silver and Lance -> The prowess, the information, was all there was to it.
I was re-reading the Johto arc and got so inspired by all the nice characters and moments that I had to write this. My tribute to Johto (and the manga). Other regions might follow! Comments per drabble at the end of the fic.
I Crystal and Eusine
Eusine was eccentric and gallant in a way she was unaccustomed to. She was Kris: catching pro, research help, voluntary teacher, but to him she never was just that. She was special - if only because of her connection to Suicune.
He'd kiss her hand and bid her farewell for the umpteenth time, until the next brief, sudden encounter. Always on the move, always that one big goal in mind that overshadowed everything else - just like her.
When it came down to it, Suicune was the only thing that tied them.
Yet - and she felt weak for wondering, felt like the girl she was trying to escape being (young, foolish, in love) - would he still visit when Suicune was gone?
Yes, a traitorous voice in her mind said. Because she was special in his eyes, could see it in the admiration on his face whenever he looked at her, as though the beheld the thing closest to Suicune (second best, but not quite so negative).
And perhaps it was this more than anything else that thrilled her: being wanted. Being put on a pedestal but one where she could still run, catch, explore. For her freedom was worth anything, but so (it turned out) was her heart.
II Gold and Silver
Out of all the things Gold hated in life, losing to Silver came out on top.
“Better luck next time,” Silver smirked as he returned his Ursaring without so much as a 'thank you' (that cold-hearted guy).
Which made him go from irritated to fuming because the one thing worse than losing to that guy was him calmly gloating about it. Infuriating it was.
“I won't need luck to win from you, I have my trusted partners,” he stated as he pointed to the team around him. Explataro, Poltaro and the others voiced their agreement.
“Because that's enough without skill?” Silver asked sceptically.
Gold stepped forward, Ataro, perched on his shoulder, mimicking his indignant expression. He pointed an accusing finger at his rival (friend). “A pokémon's trust is everything, and anyway, are you saying I don't have skills?”
They glared at each other for about ten seconds, Silver's namesake eyes hard and calculated (again: what a cold-hearted guy) and his own shining gold and passionate because hey, that's the kind of guy he was.
“Well,” Silver finally conceded, “it was a good battle,”and Gold deflated immediately. Staying angry with friends was a waste of time.
“I know,” Gold answered, not without a trace of smugness because his pokémon and he were awesome, undeniably so. “And I'll kick your butt next time. Now, let's go eat something, I'm starving.”
“Not hamburgers again?” Silver ventured with way more dread than the situation warranted. Gold grinned.
“Of course hamburgers again, there's no better. Now let's go.” And he clapped his friend (rival) on the back. “Oh by the way,” he added, “you're paying because you accidentally won that battle now. Winner's treat and all that.”
“That means something else,” Silver pointed out but did not protest any further. Gold grinned because that was victory in itself. And with hamburgers awaiting them, losing to Silver wasn't so bad - in fact was, dare he say it, bearable.
III Jasmine (and Gold and Silver)
Olivine was home: the soft sighs of the waves, the wind blowing under her cotton dress as she climbed the stairs of the lighthouse, the air a canvas of forget-me-not blue all the way to Cianwood, a mere speck on the horizon.
Yet after the happenings of last week she found it difficult to find peace the way she usually did. Strange things were happening around Johto. The earthquake had been traumatizing in a way - still she could feel the tremors in her legs - but she'd get past it. She was made of tougher stuff than sometimes was assumed (and thought of Steelix and Magneton, their steely coats like diamond but stronger.)
No, what bothered her most was the unknown identities of her rescuers. It was frustrating not to be able to thank them, not to send a letter with her well-wishes like she was prone to do.
As she stood on the railing, looking out at the sea where a seemingly tiny white ship sailed towards Cianwood or beyond, she remembered the conversation with her grandparents. They'd told her that they'd sent a young trainer to look for her in Ecruteak, one that had received training at their daycare place. The amazing coincidence had it that this young man was in care of the egg of her two Togetic. How fate was so wondrous sometimes!
Gold, the boy was named - yet there had been another one. There'd been two persons when she and Akari were saved from the pagoda, and she remembered crimson hair before her eyes had closed to blackness.
Bright, stark red: unlike anything here in Olivine. Things were blue and white and yellow here, pleasant shades to go with the sea breeze. No earth rumblings or shattered buildings. (No crimson hair.)
IV Crystal and Clair
She hadn't been to Blackthorn on her capture quest because life had intervened in that explosive way it tended to do since she'd first set foot out of Violet. But then the quiet had returned to Johto and amid the familiar rusticness her body ached for new regions to map, stronger pokémon to catalog.
Which is how she came to Blackthorn City: located in the far north, hard to reach, shrouded not only in mountains but also mystery.
The home of the dragon masters.
Her mind was set on the dragon den - where the strongest pokémon of the region resided - but before that could transpire, access had to be granted. From none other than the Blackthorn gym leader herself: Clair.
She could not remember the last time she'd been intimidated because she'd overcome obstacles on the road (high-level pokémon, foes, her own fear of failure - she'd been raised not to back down in the event of challenges) but as she stood before Clair she felt herself cower a little anyway.
Clair was powerful in a way that did not need demonstration, which showed instead through her arrogant posture (dragon masters were self-proclaimed royalty) fierce eyes and her aura that spoke of centuries of tradition, renowned family, prowess taught from birth.
If Clair suggested a battle she was done for.
“Let me demonstrate my skills by catching a pokémon of your choice,” Crystal spoke up, retaining the initiative.
Clair raised an eyebrow and seized her up. Crystal felt the skin on her back prickle. Stay your ground, her mind said. She breathed calmly; determinedly.
Finally a small smile appeared on Clair's face. It could be amusement or something more sinister, or perhaps in a strange way she had recognised something of herself in the girl standing before her.
“Fine,” she said in a voice going from dark to light and back, “let me show you the way.”
V Gold and Whitney
After his role in saving Johto (with the help of his friends and seniors, he'd modestly concede) he receives the invitation to talk about his experiences at Goldenrold's radio station.
Everyone wants to hear from the hero.
This is an invitation he can't turn down of course, and Goldenrod is fun. Plus Mary will be there. He may have gotten - ahum - other interests in the meantime, but her voice is sweet as ever. So a trip to the city it is.
When he arrives at the recording room two afternoons later, however, it turns out they are not alone: from one of the stools Whitney glares at him, arms crossed. He glares right back - old memories die hard - before remembering that not so long ago they fought on the same side against the creepy masked man.
Whitney seems to remember around the same time because she shrugs and then says defensively, “I want to prevent you ruining the show again.”
“I won't, I'm a natural,” Gold sniffs because after all, he is.
He takes place at his stool and after Mary introduces him to the audience with her (lovely lovely) voice, he let's his pokémon out of their pokéball and gives each of them time to introduce themselves before the mike. After all, they helped as much as he did. When Ataro has concluded the impromptu introduction session they all happily settle around him.
He can feel Whitney's glare at him from across the room because Explataro's enthusiasm may threaten to literally burn the mike.
Well, it's not his fault that he's a little explosive. Also, she should definitely get over the fact that he's better at bike races. And radio shows, he adds in his mind.
When he gets to the bit where he saves Johto and other pretty awesome stuff, Whitney is still glaring but less intensely so. After all, no-one can resist selfless heroism. Even though perhaps it wasn't exactly selfless because he needed to chase down Silver and then suddenly things started happening, but hey, he'd happily sign on to a brand new adventure at any given moment. Though not right now because after all, this is his moment of fame. And he is seated next to a lovely lady.
Well.
One and a half lovely ladies, his mind allows, because actually - Whitney's not that bad.
VI Falkner and Janine
There were always the rumours - strong trainer, flying on Skarmory. They reached him carried on the winds, whimsical and feather-like but sometimes there was a stronger voice (sighted in the area of Cianwood.)
He'd learnt to give it a place yet couldn't help look up every time.
Janine understood that. Janine understood everything.
They were alike because there was a gaping hole in their lives, bigger than Falkner would admit even to himself when training was done and the gym empty and he could feel his father's shadow watching over him. They were alike because there was always the question am I good enough to follow in your footsteps, is this what you would have wanted?
And, it seemed, they even were alike in looks.
“This your sister, Falkner? I didn't know you had one.”
Earl, the owner of the café he occasionally frequented for a Sunday espresso or one of Violet's well-known rice cakes, looked between him and Janine as he put their drinks on the table.
Janine's instant reaction to the insinuation was blushing (it made her look cute) while he blinked, processing this unexpected question. Then he promptly denied.
In many ways Janine could be his sister but in one important way she couldn't.
“Don't you see she's too pretty for that?” he smiled.
Janine blushed even redder at that and Earl said, “Ho ho, I see how it is!”
Maybe some things were missing from their lives, but on a Sunday afternoon like this, enjoying Earl's foamy latte and Janine's company as she talked and smiled and listened - the sun that fell through the window making her dark hair appear soft - everything was just as it should be.
Perhaps even could even stay that way.
VII Silver and Crystal (and Gold)
Sometimes Silver did not understand why he hung out with noisy idiots when there were also sane people like Kris.
He sipped from his tea (she made excellent tea) and grunted with annoyance, “One day that idiot will get himself killed.”
It did not need explaining what idiot he meant, because despite having met a wide range of (pseudo) crazy people, Gold was still their only mutual acquaintance - dare he say friend - that was qualified for that title.
It also did not need explaining what had triggered the annoyance this time, because usually it involved being cheeky with people he had no right to be cheeky with, pranks that really were not pranks at all, playing the hero when he shouldn't play the hero, and gambling.
Crystal did not need details.
“Hmm,” Kris hummed her concern and agreement as she took a sip from her mug. Crystal never drank from teacups, the way you might imagine as you looked at her (prim and beautiful). She wasn't quite so delicate as her look suggested. She could break that china with one well-aimed blow - but perfectly restrained.
Silver admired that.
“I'd tell him to be careful, but I know he wouldn't listen anyway.”
“Because he's an idiot,” Silver agreed.
“And too stubborn.” Crystal paused, regarding him a little as though he were a topic of research. “Quite like you.”
Silver sputtered because the last thing he needed was being compared to Gold - though of course Crystal, being generally very observant, could have a point. Somewhere deep down.
The difference was though, that Gold was pigheaded and Silver headstrong.
It was all about semantics.
“Well, seeing as he's come unscathed out of everything so far, I think we can count on him continuing to do so,” Crystal said, voice suddenly bright and sure. It reminded him of the way she changed when there was a pokémon to be captured: the confidence in her skills, the trust in her team and friends.
And though Silver did not share Crystal's general optimism about life, he could agree with her here because Gold was Gold.
Annoying but also pretty much indestructible (fortunately so).
Crystal smiled. “Do you also want some cookies? I made them just now, they're fresh in the oven.”
“That'd be nice,” Silver said politely and when Crystal put a tray on the table they of course indeed proved to be nice. She had many talents after all.
And Silver, it seemed, two very good friends.
VIII Morty and Eusine
In a way they were both marked by their failure to realise their biggest dream. Or more gently put: their inability not to dream big, not to cling to the possibility of someday.
(Someday there'd be Ho-Ho and someday there'd by Suicune in all their majestic glory.)
Ecruteak in autumn fitted Ho-Ho's golden feather pattern, fitted Morty's melancholic moods as he'd stare up at Bell Tower, again and again. It did not fit Eusine who was loud in every way, splashes of colour like the many card tricks up his sleeve.
Ecruteak was timeless but Eusine was sudden disappearances and reappearances with a swish of his cloak, never long in one place.
Yet as they walked along one of the quieter streets of Ecruteak, the sun setting and casting the town in red light and shadows, it felt familiar. In a sense Morty knew the man next to him because once you were aware of a man's greatest wish and despair, everything else was side-matter.
Tied together by friendship and especially hope - plus purple clothing, it strangely seemed. This was a thought that amused Morty, because of all colours to bind them, why this one?
“Share your amusement, friend,” Eusine declared, evidently having picked up on his mood shift.
“I was merely wondering why we both take to wearing purple,” he answered with a faint smile.
“Aha,” Eusine said and spread his arms in a theatrical gesture. “Purple,” he declared with a voice of delight, “is ambition, magic, unexpectedness.” He looked at him from the corner of his eyes. “But it is also mystery, thoughtfulness, strength.”
Morty regarded him with amusement. “I see. Seems like an okay choice, all in all.”
“Indeed! Not to mention that it's Suicune who also wears the majestic colour on its fur...”
And like that it was back to dream-reality.
IX Crystal and Gold
It was the hottest moment of the day, the air quiet and still as though both vegetation and humans were holding their breath until the sun would finally make its retreat. Yet in the shadow of the house it was cool enough: pleasant, even.
Leaning back against the stony wall, her feet stretched in front of her, Crystal regarded the box to her left, silently estimating the number of pokéballs that still needed polishing. To her right stood the box with the already clean ones: decidedly shinier, but also decidedly emptier.
She heaved a small sigh, but then again, what had to be done had to be done. She couldn’t call herself a pro and walk around with smudged pokéballs.
(She’d been raised to have standards.)
Just as she picked up a Heavy Ball to renew her cleaning activity, she heard footsteps approach her from the front. “Are you really working on a day like this?”
She didn’t need to look up in order to recognise the voice but did anyway, and found Gold grinning widely at her, tanned and having the general air of someone who’s spent his last days cavorting outside.
”Not all of us can afford spending our days swimming or going on local adventures,” she replied in a perfectly neutral tone, not needing intonation to get the message across. “Besides,” she continued, returning her attention to the pokéball at hand, “it’s not such bad work.”
Monotonous, yes - but she’d mastered discipline. Plus, with every pokéball there were the memories, countless of them: once she’d thrown a ball similar to this one at Suicune, the legendary Aurora Pokémon, briefly being under the illusion that she had really captured it before it had disappeared again…
“Well if that’s the case, let me help,” Gold promptly said. Crystal looked up in surprise and Gold grinned at her. “Looks like you could use it, anyway,” he added, gesturing at the almost-full box of unpolished pokéballs.
Crystal frowned, slightly annoyed all of a sudden. “I would have managed fine on my own, thanks.”
“Of course you would, you’re the pro after all,” Gold agreed jovially, “but this is was friends do, right?”
Before she could process those words he had let himself fall down next to her and picked up the spare cloth plus a pokéball.
She looked at him for a moment and then said evenly, “You need to spray some cleanser on it or it won’t have any effect.”
“I know, super serious gal,” he answered, albeit good-naturedly, and did as she told him.
For a moment they worked in companionable silence, the house’s shadow slowly becoming longer with each cleaned pokéball. Still there was a faint tension between them as though there was something that needed be said though Crystal wasn’t sure what. From the corner of her eyes she observed Gold’s hands as they polished the pokéball, young and tanned and slightly calloused, his nails dirty from all the hours spent outside.
“Pokéballs are like memories,” Gold suddenly spoke up and Crystal’s gaze snapped up to his face. “They’re all connected to a Pokémon, aren’t they?” he continued, almost as though talking to himself, “most of them anyway. And they each have different personalities… this one for example,” and he turned the Net Ball over in his hands, gently, “is a good fit for Bug Pokémon. Maybe a low-level Caterpie has been caught with this; then it evolved, it became a Metapod. And finally: a Butterfree…”
He smiled at the blue pokéball in his hands. Crystal stared at him. Then without warning Gold suddenly directed his attention towards her and she inhaled sharply, realising she’d unknowingly held her breath during his entire speech.
“So what I’m saying is: I sort of get where you’re coming from,” he concluded with a smile, warm and genuine like the amber in his eyes - and this time Crystal didn’t even think twice before fully returning it.
X Silver and Lance
It was sheer necessity that made him call upon Lance - that, and the rumours of his prowess, transparent despite the air of mystery he was cloaked in.
The man wore a cloak for pity's sake (and resided in a secret stone chamber hidden by waterfalls, understood pokémon, controlled the ferocious dragon type.) That talkative idiot Gold would probably have his commentary ready but for him the prowess, the information was all there was to it.
Their goals coincided and for that Silver was okay with being at the man's beck and call.
“Go to Ecruteak,” “Head to the Lake of Rage,” “Your next mission is...” and Silver did not even need to say 'roger,' fulfilled them all.
Lance's voice was metallic over the receiver but he remembered how he'd addressed him on that fateful night a few months ago, high up in the air at the Battle Tower's skeleton, Lance's cloak billowing behind him. (“If you love your pokémon, show your affections more often.”)
And Silver frowned at the memory before shaking it from his head.
Tyranitar was added to his team, a gift he could not control (so much to learn, too much, too much, and he clenched his fists because he must remember the goal.)
When Silver confronts Lance for the last time and returns his pokémon Lance smiles cryptically and says, “I had planned to give it to you,” and Silver frowns again. It's a gift he never asked for, a mission he never asked for but he's here now, in a damp cold room with time running out and Lance looking at him from his self-proclaimed throne like he knows things that he won't ever spill.
But he's stronger now so he says forcefully, “I don't care why you wanted me to do what I did” (even though perhaps he does, even though perhaps he knows.)
When he demands answers and Lance remarks, “The look in your eyes hasn't changed,” Silver takes it as a compliment.
Comments per drabble:
1. I love Eusine. One of my favourite side-characters, and his scenes with Crystal are also one of my favourite chapters. I find they have a pretty interesting dynamic.
2. My Johto otp! They are so mutually obsessed with each other I don't even. This is way too short, I acknowledge, but I'd started something else and that became too long for a drabble so I'll turn that into a fic instead. Be on the look-out haha.
3. Olivine is so pretty and I really like the image of Jasmine looking out over the sea with her white dress flowing in the wind. It's so peaceful? But at the same time I like the idea that there's more to her than that, because there obviously is: she doesn't specialize in the steel type for nothing.
4. I love Clair because she's so fierce. Kris and Clair didn't interact at all in the manga so I wrote this, hah. Maybe in a way their design reminds me of each other (the tight outfit and pigtail kind of hair?) Anyway fierce pokémon ladies, yeah. :)
5. Game-verse I kind of ship Gold and Whitney (see the fic I wrote) but in the manga I see them more as frenemies who like each other more than they'd let on. I suppose they're kind of too alike and that's why they clash sometimes. Oh, Gold though. He's good to write humour for.
6.Tragic poetic ship. They really do look like siblings though, both in looks and with missing father complexes. But everyone ships them of course so that's awkward. It's never confirmed by the way that Wayne (the guy who battles Chuck) is Falkner's father but we all agree that he is, yes? Interesting detail how he refers to Falkner as 'Violet's new gym leader'. Perhaps no-one else knows / needs to know that Falkner is his son, but well, ouch. Unfortunately for them but fortunately for me Falkner and Janine's last name really is tragedy. (Because painful though it may be, it's usually amazing to write.)
7. The thing with the Johto trio is that you can ship it in any variation and it will always work. There's Silver/Kris undertones here but obviously also Silver/Gold (present though he's not there) and you could see Crystal/Gold in it. All the options are open eh.
8. Ecruteak in fall is the prettiest thing. This comes as no surprise to those who know me a little because I love autumn almost as much as I love pokémon. Anyway Johto is this really nostalgic region obviously and Morty and Eusine manifest that here by being locked in a dream that is basically founded on these myths, of both Ho-Ho and Eusine. It has something poetic but it also has something tragic?
9. This one might be familiar for some people because I had posted it elsewhere before. Anyway yeah first time writing them and I quite enjoyed it, I like the dynamic. Strange how you start shipping something after you write it; though maybe not so strange because in that way you really explore it and 'make it your own' in a sense. I actually think I could start shipping anything after I wrote for it, which is why I shouldn't write fic for pairings I don't want to ship haha.
10. Another dynamic that I find really intriguing. Remember when it was revealed that Silver's mysterious phone calls were actually from Lance? That was a shocking moment. And I still found their 'show-down' epic when I re-read it. So hence I wrote this. I wanted to highlight the underlying tensions but not in an overstated way. The dialogue used is all from the manga, obviously.