This is a fic that I have been planning out for the better part of a year. I decided to start actually writing it now that I have fully plotted out a beginning, middle, and end. It's...this chapter is a little bizarre. Its main purpose is solely to set up the entire rest of the fic. It jumps around a lot in terms of both style and time. You might not get a lot of it. Needless to say, a lot of this stuff will become important later.
Anyway. Here it is.
Chapter 1: The One With the Hoenn League
“It was always going to end this way,” she said in her monotone. “There was simply no other outcome. Even through the complications, through the war and violence...this was always going to be the result.”
As she walked forward, she picked a black and white ball from her belt.
“But you knew all of this. You knew that it was just going to be the two of us in the end. How long did you know? How long did you let the antics ensue, the players scramble when the climax was inevitable?!” She said the last words with sudden fury, throwing the orb onto the glass-like floor in a flash of light. A shadow appeared behind her and spread its wings.
“I didn't find out until later,” he replied. “There were...complications. If I had known anyone would be hurt but myself, I wouldn't have let it happen. Especially...especially not you.”
He threw a ball of his own at the ground; after a flash, a pillar of light and flame appeared, its feathery wings spread wide.
“This is my burden. I'll only ask you once more,” he pleaded. “Stand aside.”
“Do you really think it'll be that easy? After all I've been through?! No. We do this the hard way. Attack!”
And the shadow and the light clashed.
-----------------------------------------------
“You don't have any idea what you're doing, do you.” The green-haired, white-skinned female crossed her arms. “I'm seriously thinking that you only got eight badges by luck. What was that supposed to be?”
“I...almost know what I'm doing,” came the response. “I winged it. Look, we won, all right? We're in round two. Don't judge me on my methods.”
“Well, it was just Kennedy that time. You've beaten him billions of times. But what if you fight someone actually competent next round? You'll be in trouble!”
A young man, clad in a fashionable striped suit and bowler hat stepped forward. “I'm right here, you know!” Kennedy shouted. “That's not very nice.”
“Look, she's sorry, Kennedy. But I'm just battling the only way I know how. I don't see why it's such a big deal. I mean, I didn't get the badges by sucking.”
Aiden sighed and shook his head at the disparate scene in front of him. To his left was his best friend Kennedy, who was arguing with his Gardevoir. The conversation may have shifted to what the proper topping for a waffle is. Aiden wasn't bothering to keep up. The two were rather argumentative at times.
To his right was Blaziken, a red, orange, and tan anthropomorphic chicken. He was mostly leaning against a wall, not offering anything to the conversation at all.
The four of them were standing in Aiden's hotel room, a cramped, finely polished but bare suite. He wasn't entirely sure why Kennedy was in his room in the first place.
“Kennedy,” he broke in. “Why are you in my room.”
Kennedy thought about this briefly before coming alive with his answer. “Oh! Oh oh oh. I found out who your opponent next round is.”
Aiden waited for a bit.
“Oh! You want to know. It's a girl named Danielle. She has a Rotom and a Goruugo and stuff.”
“What is a Goruugo?”
“It's a ghost robot! It is fairly nifty. Ghost-slash-Ground type, mostly focusing on physical attacks. It's slow, but strong.”
“Alright. If it's Ground then Milotic should be able to handle it. Even if not, Absol can target its Ghost part as well as Rotom. I don't see any real difficulties.”
As it stood, Aiden currently had a full party – first, there was Gardevoir and Blaziken, his closest friends on the team. The other team members were the shy and perpetually nervous Absol, the somewhat lazy but sympathetic Altaria, the dimwitted but strong Miltank (borrowed from his grandparent's farm), and the motherly, unflinchingly kind Milotic.
“What mostly worries me is the 'stuff', and what constitutes it,” Aiden crossed his arms and thought. “I guess I'll find out when we battle.”
“I'm sure you'll do fine, dude! You're awesome. You beat my Swampert/Honchkrow combo,” Kennedy slapped Aiden on the shoulder.
“Not like it was that hard...” Gardevoir muttered.
“Yeah, I think I'll be fine. Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you later,” Aiden opened the door to let Kennedy out.
“No problem! I'll be here for the rest of the tourny to cheer you and Jackie on. Good luck!” And with that, Kennedy left the room. The level of excitement promptly shot down about twelve points.
Aiden sat down on one of the beds, and put his hand to his chin in a manner that said “I'm thinking.” Gardevoir sat down next to him.
“Do you think you'll be able to win this?” She asked in a soft tone. “I understand how important this is to you.”
“We all do,” Blaziken agreed, moving from his position against the wall. “All of us are ready for the rest of the tournament. And I think we'll do pretty damn well.”
Aiden sat silently for a second. “...Thanks, guys. I think I'm going to go for a walk.” He got up and grabbed a blue coat. “I'll be back in a bit.”
“All right. Take it easy,” Blaziken nodded.
-----------------------------------------------
Aiden was a fairly average human being. Everyone had basically counted him out in the first round, mostly because he was up against the eccentric (and popular) Kennedy. Now he was considered the tournament's dark horse candidate, especially since he had basically come out of nowhere.
As he walked, the streetlights began to light up, shining down on his glossy black hair. He held his jacket closer to his body for warmth. Ever Grande was cold at night, he thought.
He looked around at the stores lining the streets. Most of them advertised being official sponsors of the Hoenn League, like that would draw in more customers. And sometimes it did. There were tons of tourists from the other regions in the country – Kanto, Sinnoh, Johto; even some from Sevii. While the Hoenn League wasn't as large an event as the Indigo League (still the largest tournament in the world) or even as noteworthy as the Sinnoh League, the Hoenn League still managed to draw quite a crowd every year.
Aiden sat down on a wooden bench in front of a flowery park. A few Taillow came up to him, but left when they saw that he didn't have any food. He leaned back and sighed.
Can I really do it? He thought. He had gotten all eight badges quickly enough. Only a few leaders gave him much difficulty. Sure, he didn't breeze through the gyms as quickly as Jackie, but he did it within the time limit anyway.
While lost in thought, he managed to miss the binoculars peeking out of a bush behind him.
-----------------------------------------------
He was average sized, both in terms of weight and height – his listed attributes of one-hundred-forty-pounds and 5'10'' seemed fairly accurate. His hair was black, his eyes were dull blue, and he was wearing a navy blue jacket, zipped over another shirt (probably a t-shirt), as well as black pants.
This was all written down in a tiny notebook, which already had tons of things written in it, including all of Aiden's Pokemon and what moves they knew. These would all be important for the battle.
-----------------------------------------------
“Well, folks, here we are at the first match of the Hoenn League's second round! Up today are two rookie trainers, the techno girl Danielle and tournament dark horse Aiden!”
“Techno girl, Bob?”
“Techno girl, Frank! I could not think of a better description. Please forgive me.”
“And I do, Bob! Anyway, let's get to the match...”
-----------------------------------------------
It was freaking hot out. That was all Aiden noticed while standing at the far end of the stadium. It was hot, and the field was a desert. With some rocks, and such. Pointy rocks. There's something! Now he knew what the field was like too.
His opponent was a girl with brown hair in a ponytail. She had a messenger bag, and also a tank top and khaki jeans. She was shorter than he was.
He heard the referee shout something, and she took two balls from her bag. Aiden grabbed two balls from his pocket, and they both threw them into the air.
Raichu and Goruugo versus Absol and Altaria. The battle had begun.
Except you don't get to see it.
-----------------------------------------------
“What? Why not!” The scientist shouted in anger. “That battle could be important! How am I supposed to understand this if I can't see it?”
“Oh, hush,” came the reply from behind the huge desk chair. “It's not that important. The reason you can't see it is because there's something in there that we can't allow you to see.”
“Why?”
“Because if we let you see it, you won't have to work to figure out this problem. We need a second opinion on it, because this is a very delicate matter. It could change the entire plan.”
“Alright. I'll get to work on it right away,” the scientist walked out the door, and closed it with a click.
-----------------------------------------------
“Hey.”
Aiden's hotel room door opened just as he closed his suitcase. It was Kennedy.
“Listen...I'm sorry about your loss. But at least you lost to Jackie! She's actually good. You beat both me and that Danielle chick, though. That's good? Top sixteen! That's not an honor most people can claim.”
“It's alright, Kennedy.” Aiden sighed as he sat down on one of the beds. “It's not a huge deal.”
“Me and Jackie are going to Kanto.” Kennedy sat down next to him. “There'll be a whole new league there. Should be enough time for us to get all eight badges and enter the Indigo League. I'm sure you'll do even better.”
Aiden sat there for a bit. “Thanks, Kennedy. I think I will go. I'll tell my team in a bit.”
Kennedy stood up. “Alright. Take it easy, man. I'll see you at the Indigo League!”
-----------------------------------------------
“Alright, guys. We're going to Kanto. Miltank is going back to my grandparent's, and both Altaria and Milotic have expressed interest in going back there as well. I know that you two are coming with me,” Aiden gestured to Blaziken and Gardevoir, “so that just leaves Absol. You coming?”
“I guess I will...if that's okay. I don't really have anywhere else I want to go...or anything...”
“Alright! Great. The boat leaves in an hour.”
-----------------------------------------------
Aiden stood at the dock, looking back on the huge stadium in the distance. Wingull and Pelipper flew through the air, squawking at nothing. The wind blew his hair around, and smelled like salt. He sat down on the edge of the pier, and looked through his bag one last time. Clothes, food, PokèBalls, books, and several miscellaneous objects including a small, smooth rock, a “spell tag” that supposedly warded off evil spirits, and a broken flute. He zipped it back up and threw it back on while standing up. He turned to see his second round opponent standing behind him.
“Hi,” he said. “You're...Danielle, right?”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “You were awesome in that battle. I'm going to have to get better, I guess.”
“Well, thanks. But I didn't end up winning.”
“I think you should have. Are you going to Kanto?”
“Yup. I assume you are too?”
She nodded. “My boat doesn't leave for another couple hours, though. I just came to see you off.”
“Ah,” Aiden remarked. “That was nice of you.”
“It's no problem. Friends?” She extended her hand.
“Uh...sure. Friends.” He shook it, and got on the boat as the horn sounded. He smiled to himself for having made a new friend, before thinking a bit more.
Wait, he thought.
How did she know which boat I was on?
-----------------------------------------------
“Rise and shine,” the female voice was calm and soothing. “Just...just don't look at your hand.”
------------------------------------------------------------------
END OF CHAPTER.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Um...yeah.
It gets less weird later on. More description, more clarification, less mindscrew. Which is always good.
...yeah. I've got nothing. I'm so embarrassed. GIVE ME YOUR WORST I CAN TAKE IT
Anyway. Here it is.
Ricochet.
Chapter 1: The One With the Hoenn League
“It was always going to end this way,” she said in her monotone. “There was simply no other outcome. Even through the complications, through the war and violence...this was always going to be the result.”
As she walked forward, she picked a black and white ball from her belt.
“But you knew all of this. You knew that it was just going to be the two of us in the end. How long did you know? How long did you let the antics ensue, the players scramble when the climax was inevitable?!” She said the last words with sudden fury, throwing the orb onto the glass-like floor in a flash of light. A shadow appeared behind her and spread its wings.
“I didn't find out until later,” he replied. “There were...complications. If I had known anyone would be hurt but myself, I wouldn't have let it happen. Especially...especially not you.”
He threw a ball of his own at the ground; after a flash, a pillar of light and flame appeared, its feathery wings spread wide.
“This is my burden. I'll only ask you once more,” he pleaded. “Stand aside.”
“Do you really think it'll be that easy? After all I've been through?! No. We do this the hard way. Attack!”
And the shadow and the light clashed.
-----------------------------------------------
“You don't have any idea what you're doing, do you.” The green-haired, white-skinned female crossed her arms. “I'm seriously thinking that you only got eight badges by luck. What was that supposed to be?”
“I...almost know what I'm doing,” came the response. “I winged it. Look, we won, all right? We're in round two. Don't judge me on my methods.”
“Well, it was just Kennedy that time. You've beaten him billions of times. But what if you fight someone actually competent next round? You'll be in trouble!”
A young man, clad in a fashionable striped suit and bowler hat stepped forward. “I'm right here, you know!” Kennedy shouted. “That's not very nice.”
“Look, she's sorry, Kennedy. But I'm just battling the only way I know how. I don't see why it's such a big deal. I mean, I didn't get the badges by sucking.”
Aiden sighed and shook his head at the disparate scene in front of him. To his left was his best friend Kennedy, who was arguing with his Gardevoir. The conversation may have shifted to what the proper topping for a waffle is. Aiden wasn't bothering to keep up. The two were rather argumentative at times.
To his right was Blaziken, a red, orange, and tan anthropomorphic chicken. He was mostly leaning against a wall, not offering anything to the conversation at all.
The four of them were standing in Aiden's hotel room, a cramped, finely polished but bare suite. He wasn't entirely sure why Kennedy was in his room in the first place.
“Kennedy,” he broke in. “Why are you in my room.”
Kennedy thought about this briefly before coming alive with his answer. “Oh! Oh oh oh. I found out who your opponent next round is.”
Aiden waited for a bit.
“Oh! You want to know. It's a girl named Danielle. She has a Rotom and a Goruugo and stuff.”
“What is a Goruugo?”
“It's a ghost robot! It is fairly nifty. Ghost-slash-Ground type, mostly focusing on physical attacks. It's slow, but strong.”
“Alright. If it's Ground then Milotic should be able to handle it. Even if not, Absol can target its Ghost part as well as Rotom. I don't see any real difficulties.”
As it stood, Aiden currently had a full party – first, there was Gardevoir and Blaziken, his closest friends on the team. The other team members were the shy and perpetually nervous Absol, the somewhat lazy but sympathetic Altaria, the dimwitted but strong Miltank (borrowed from his grandparent's farm), and the motherly, unflinchingly kind Milotic.
“What mostly worries me is the 'stuff', and what constitutes it,” Aiden crossed his arms and thought. “I guess I'll find out when we battle.”
“I'm sure you'll do fine, dude! You're awesome. You beat my Swampert/Honchkrow combo,” Kennedy slapped Aiden on the shoulder.
“Not like it was that hard...” Gardevoir muttered.
“Yeah, I think I'll be fine. Thanks for stopping by! I'll see you later,” Aiden opened the door to let Kennedy out.
“No problem! I'll be here for the rest of the tourny to cheer you and Jackie on. Good luck!” And with that, Kennedy left the room. The level of excitement promptly shot down about twelve points.
Aiden sat down on one of the beds, and put his hand to his chin in a manner that said “I'm thinking.” Gardevoir sat down next to him.
“Do you think you'll be able to win this?” She asked in a soft tone. “I understand how important this is to you.”
“We all do,” Blaziken agreed, moving from his position against the wall. “All of us are ready for the rest of the tournament. And I think we'll do pretty damn well.”
Aiden sat silently for a second. “...Thanks, guys. I think I'm going to go for a walk.” He got up and grabbed a blue coat. “I'll be back in a bit.”
“All right. Take it easy,” Blaziken nodded.
-----------------------------------------------
Aiden was a fairly average human being. Everyone had basically counted him out in the first round, mostly because he was up against the eccentric (and popular) Kennedy. Now he was considered the tournament's dark horse candidate, especially since he had basically come out of nowhere.
As he walked, the streetlights began to light up, shining down on his glossy black hair. He held his jacket closer to his body for warmth. Ever Grande was cold at night, he thought.
He looked around at the stores lining the streets. Most of them advertised being official sponsors of the Hoenn League, like that would draw in more customers. And sometimes it did. There were tons of tourists from the other regions in the country – Kanto, Sinnoh, Johto; even some from Sevii. While the Hoenn League wasn't as large an event as the Indigo League (still the largest tournament in the world) or even as noteworthy as the Sinnoh League, the Hoenn League still managed to draw quite a crowd every year.
Aiden sat down on a wooden bench in front of a flowery park. A few Taillow came up to him, but left when they saw that he didn't have any food. He leaned back and sighed.
Can I really do it? He thought. He had gotten all eight badges quickly enough. Only a few leaders gave him much difficulty. Sure, he didn't breeze through the gyms as quickly as Jackie, but he did it within the time limit anyway.
While lost in thought, he managed to miss the binoculars peeking out of a bush behind him.
-----------------------------------------------
He was average sized, both in terms of weight and height – his listed attributes of one-hundred-forty-pounds and 5'10'' seemed fairly accurate. His hair was black, his eyes were dull blue, and he was wearing a navy blue jacket, zipped over another shirt (probably a t-shirt), as well as black pants.
This was all written down in a tiny notebook, which already had tons of things written in it, including all of Aiden's Pokemon and what moves they knew. These would all be important for the battle.
-----------------------------------------------
“Well, folks, here we are at the first match of the Hoenn League's second round! Up today are two rookie trainers, the techno girl Danielle and tournament dark horse Aiden!”
“Techno girl, Bob?”
“Techno girl, Frank! I could not think of a better description. Please forgive me.”
“And I do, Bob! Anyway, let's get to the match...”
-----------------------------------------------
It was freaking hot out. That was all Aiden noticed while standing at the far end of the stadium. It was hot, and the field was a desert. With some rocks, and such. Pointy rocks. There's something! Now he knew what the field was like too.
His opponent was a girl with brown hair in a ponytail. She had a messenger bag, and also a tank top and khaki jeans. She was shorter than he was.
He heard the referee shout something, and she took two balls from her bag. Aiden grabbed two balls from his pocket, and they both threw them into the air.
Raichu and Goruugo versus Absol and Altaria. The battle had begun.
Except you don't get to see it.
-----------------------------------------------
“What? Why not!” The scientist shouted in anger. “That battle could be important! How am I supposed to understand this if I can't see it?”
“Oh, hush,” came the reply from behind the huge desk chair. “It's not that important. The reason you can't see it is because there's something in there that we can't allow you to see.”
“Why?”
“Because if we let you see it, you won't have to work to figure out this problem. We need a second opinion on it, because this is a very delicate matter. It could change the entire plan.”
“Alright. I'll get to work on it right away,” the scientist walked out the door, and closed it with a click.
-----------------------------------------------
“Hey.”
Aiden's hotel room door opened just as he closed his suitcase. It was Kennedy.
“Listen...I'm sorry about your loss. But at least you lost to Jackie! She's actually good. You beat both me and that Danielle chick, though. That's good? Top sixteen! That's not an honor most people can claim.”
“It's alright, Kennedy.” Aiden sighed as he sat down on one of the beds. “It's not a huge deal.”
“Me and Jackie are going to Kanto.” Kennedy sat down next to him. “There'll be a whole new league there. Should be enough time for us to get all eight badges and enter the Indigo League. I'm sure you'll do even better.”
Aiden sat there for a bit. “Thanks, Kennedy. I think I will go. I'll tell my team in a bit.”
Kennedy stood up. “Alright. Take it easy, man. I'll see you at the Indigo League!”
-----------------------------------------------
“Alright, guys. We're going to Kanto. Miltank is going back to my grandparent's, and both Altaria and Milotic have expressed interest in going back there as well. I know that you two are coming with me,” Aiden gestured to Blaziken and Gardevoir, “so that just leaves Absol. You coming?”
“I guess I will...if that's okay. I don't really have anywhere else I want to go...or anything...”
“Alright! Great. The boat leaves in an hour.”
-----------------------------------------------
Aiden stood at the dock, looking back on the huge stadium in the distance. Wingull and Pelipper flew through the air, squawking at nothing. The wind blew his hair around, and smelled like salt. He sat down on the edge of the pier, and looked through his bag one last time. Clothes, food, PokèBalls, books, and several miscellaneous objects including a small, smooth rock, a “spell tag” that supposedly warded off evil spirits, and a broken flute. He zipped it back up and threw it back on while standing up. He turned to see his second round opponent standing behind him.
“Hi,” he said. “You're...Danielle, right?”
“Yeah,” she sighed. “You were awesome in that battle. I'm going to have to get better, I guess.”
“Well, thanks. But I didn't end up winning.”
“I think you should have. Are you going to Kanto?”
“Yup. I assume you are too?”
She nodded. “My boat doesn't leave for another couple hours, though. I just came to see you off.”
“Ah,” Aiden remarked. “That was nice of you.”
“It's no problem. Friends?” She extended her hand.
“Uh...sure. Friends.” He shook it, and got on the boat as the horn sounded. He smiled to himself for having made a new friend, before thinking a bit more.
Wait, he thought.
How did she know which boat I was on?
-----------------------------------------------
“Rise and shine,” the female voice was calm and soothing. “Just...just don't look at your hand.”
------------------------------------------------------------------
END OF CHAPTER.
------------------------------------------------------------------
Um...yeah.
It gets less weird later on. More description, more clarification, less mindscrew. Which is always good.
...yeah. I've got nothing. I'm so embarrassed. GIVE ME YOUR WORST I CAN TAKE IT
Looking forward to more
