After the battle at Mount Moon
A figure chuckled as they watched the battle from afar, only revealing themselves as it drew to a close. They watched as the blonde-haired boy and the red-haired girl walked out of the tunnel.
The door they inadvertently opened slowly slid to a close, rumbling as the walls became whole once more, vibrating the earth around them. The figure walked to the wall and touched the same spot the girl had opened the door from. To no one's surprise, the door didn't open again. It required the touch of someone with the contrary blessing.
The sun's rays reached into the cave faintly, softly illuminating the figure, revealing their features. It turned out to be a young woman. Her hair was long and was the same light blonde as Vali, her misty gray eyes were nearly identical to his, and to top it all off, she had the same bang that covered her left eye. The woman's face was mature-looking and intensely beautiful for someone as young as her. She had the same timeless face that all the world's inhabitants seem to have.
She wore a sleeveless black dress that hugged her curves, emphasizing her noticeable bust. Around her neck was a teardrop-shaped necklace that had a familiar white stone in the center of it. All in all, she exuded an air of confidence and dignity, her amused smile almost lighting up the dark tunnel.
"You sure have grown, Vali," she said with a chuckle. "I guess your love for pokemon has returned after all."
The woman rubbed the head of the pokemon next to her. It had a blue, swan-like body with a yellow underside. It had pink eyes, a dark pink, round tuft on its head, and a pointed, beak-like snout. There were yellow, crescent-shaped ornaments on the sides that merge in the back. Its rear had a pointed, tail-like protrusion. It had glowing, pink, ring-like wings on its sides and back. The wings on its side were a dark pink, while the wing on the back was slightly larger and consisted of three authentic shades of pink. The three wings released shining particles that undulated gorgeously around the crescent moon. And lastly, it had paw-like protrusions resting on its chest.
"Ready to go, Cresselia?" she asked. Cresselia, the Lunar Pokemon, was a Legendary Pokemon, one so rare and so powerful that anyone who knew about them sought to have them. Cresselia is a female-only race.
The pokemon nodded calmly. "Cress," she replied.
The woman smiled. "We'll have to keep watching from afar, I know you want to see him—trust me, I do too—but we should wait. I have a feeling that things will get interesting around him."
"Selia," Cresselia agreed, her singsong voice adopting a happier tone.
The woman giggled. "Then let's be off."
Cresselia shone with pink light, before covering the woman with it as well. It was almost as if the moonlight wrested for control over time against its lively reflection, piercing through the walls as the moon lit up the tunnel.
The light faded as quickly as it came, revealing that the woman and Cresselia were gone.
Vali's POV
I heard a strange sound coming from the tunnel we had just left. A rumbling sound filled the air, shaking the ground beneath us.
"What the hell was that?" I asked.
"I don't know," Trinity frowned.
We looked behind us and saw that the door we had accidentally opened was closing again. Next to it, a faint pink glow that looked oddly familiar softly lit the tunnel. It faded as soon as we looked at it.
"What could it be?" Trinity wondered.
"Eh," I shrugged, "It's closed, so let's just go."
She looked at me strangely. "Alright."
The two of us continued our walk along Route 4. Route 4 was a forested route, which struck me as odd because we literally just walked out of a cave located in a mountain. But whatever, geography is weird.
A single trail spanned across the plains, leading us to where Cerulean City inevitably was. A multitude of trees were strewn around the route, filtering the blistering orange sun that shone with everlasting light.
"How long were we in there for?" I gasped.
"How is it already evening?" Trinity was as baffled as I was.
"We went out of the Pokemon Center when it was nearly eleven, so we must have been in Mount Moon for almost ten hours," I said, calculating the time it took.
"Are you saying that we could have been there by now if we didn't get lost and get caught up in that stupid battle?" Trinity asked.
"Pretty much," I said blandly.
We shared a sigh. It takes about another ten hours to get from Route 4 to Cerulean City, and we already wasted those ten hours actually making our way through Mount Moon. Man, we really had the worst luck—or rather, I had the worst luck.
"Let's make some progress and then camp so that our pokemon can get some rest," Trinity suggested.
I nodded, agreeing with the idea. Our partners battled really hard back there, so it was only fair to let them rest. I softly patted Eevee, who was asleep on my shoulder, on the head. She squirmed slightly, but didn't stir anymore after that.
Pikachu was in a similar state; he softly snored as he rested on Trinity's shoulder. She absentmindedly stroked his tail.
The cool evening air swept through us, making me grateful for my jacket and scarf. For the most part, Kanto was a pretty cold place. Sure, some places were warm, but it was mostly chilly. I preferred the cold, so it was okay with me.
Eventually, we stopped at a local road sign. The side had the usual text written on it: Cerulean City ahead. But something else caught my eye. At the corner, a message was written with a black marker: Gabriel was here! Vali is a loser. At the other corner read: Gary was here! Ash is a loser!
"Oh, that mother—" I bit back the curse as I read the sign. "He couldn't even be original!"
Trinity inspected the sign with a blank stare. She sighed. "That's my brother," she muttered.
"I'll pay him back for this," I promised.
"Please do," Trinity nodded.
We continued along the path, my mood deteriorating even more. First, we got lost in Mount Moon, then we had to deal with Amina's bullshit, and now Gabriel has the audacity to call me a loser.
I wanted to beat the shit out of him.
The walk was uneventful; terrain seemed to zoom past us as we continued our brisk pace. Occasionally, we caught sight of new pokemon, but they quickly ran away as they saw us, preventing us from recording them into our pokedex. I could have sworn that I saw a red and white streak blur across the sky. I wonder what that was about.
The horizon was turning orange as the sun and the moon began to change shifts, the sun going to the other side of the world, while the moon took its place. The sunset was beautiful—a mesh of orange, purple, and blue illuminated the sky, making it seem like a painting that shifted every few seconds.
As I gazed at the sky, I saw an orange figure in the distance. It looked like some kind of pokemon. At random intervals, it breathed fire, filling the already orange sky with a burning inferno. Jeez, no wonder global warming was a thing.
"Hey, look at that," I pointed at the figure.
"Vee?" Eevee asked curiously as she looked to where I was pointing at. She had woken up thirty minutes prior, albeit still tired.
"Hey... doesn't that look familiar?" Trinity asked as she squinted. Pikachu was still asleep on her shoulder.
"It does, doesn't it?" I muttered.
Upon further observation, I noticed that the pokemon had a rider. The rider turned their head and seemed to notice us. They got their ride's attention, and then the ride pokemon changed its course, heading toward us.
"That might be someone we know," Trinity commented.
"I hope not," Please don't be who I think it is, I mentally pleased.
As the pokemon flew closer to us, the speck became more defined, showing me that it was in fact the person I thought it was, much to my dismay.
"Oh, can I get a break?" I groaned, the pokemon getting even closer to us.
Eventually, the pokemon landed. I identified it as Charizard, the fully evolved form of Charmander, and one of Kanto's starter pokemon.
It was draconic and bipedal. Charizard was primarily orange with a cream underside from the chest to the tip of its tail. Its neck was long, its eyes were small and blue, its nostrils were slightly raised, and two horn-like structured protruded from the back of its rectangular head. Two fangs were visible in its upper jaw when its mouth was closed. Two green, large wings with blue-green undersides sprouted from its back, and a horn-like appendage jutted out from the top of the third joint of each wing. A single wing-finger was visible through the center of each wing membrane. Charizard's arms were short and skinny compared to its robust stomach, and each limb had three white claws. Each of its plantigrade feet had cream-colored soles, while its legs were stocky. Lastly, the tip of its long, tapering tail was ignited with a large flame.
Ah, Charizard, one of the most popular pokemon of all time—and one of the most ferocious. And his partner? One of the people that I hated the most.
He was a guy of average height with skin that was both tan and light. He had messy black hair, blazing blue eyes, and wore black square-rimmed glasses. His face was calculating and cool and was annoyingly handsome. He wore black clothes and a dark blue jacket. On his wrist was a black ring with a Mega Keystone.
"Michael," I said with animosity. "What the hell do you want?"
Let's just say me and Michael absolutely hated each other. He saw me as nothing but a delinquent with no other path in life but causing trouble to others, while I saw him as a nerd with a stick up his ass.
He pushed his glasses up. "Because I was curious; what is the Poke-Hater doing traveling the region as if he was a Pokemon Trainer?"
I motioned to Eevee in a dramatic manner. "This, as you can clearly tell, is why, or are your glasses fake?"
He glared at me and hopped off his Charizard. "You are as insufferable as always."
"The same can be said for you," I returned the glare.
"Easy guys," Trinity warned.
Michael seemed to notice her for the first time, and immediately, his face lit up. "Oh, Trinity, what a coincidence!" he said eagerly.
Oh yeah, Michael, like a lot of guys in our school, had a crush on Trinity. So yeah, he's pretty much a simp.
"Hi, Michael," she forced a smile.
Michael looked between the two of us. "Why are you traveling with this... delinquent? Why do you tolerate him?"
"Because he's my rival," Trinity said simply.
Michael seemed genuinely surprised, then he pointed at me. "How did you get that Eevee?"
"She saved me during that Ursaring attack and after we defeated it, she became my partner," I responded, annoyed.
He looked at Eevee. "You shouldn't have to be miserable with him. He will only bring harm to you."
"Vee..." she growled, glaring at him.
"Nah, she's my partner," I said.
"Bullshit!" he snapped. "There's no way someone like you could have a pokemon!"
Ever since I moved to Viridian, Michael and I had scuffles nearly every day. It was almost as bad as the fights I had with Gabriel. Michael believed me to be the lowest of scum. Asshole.
"And yet, I do," I responded. "So, is there anything else you would like to talk about? Or is that stick just going deeper in your ass?" I yawned.
He glared at me with burning hatred. "You know, for a Champion's son, you really are pathetic. I guess Cynthia was so ashamed of her son that she stopped caring for him," he said mockingly.
My emotions began to transmute into fire as my anger—my terrible anger—threatened to resurface and suffuse through me. The mention of that bitch made my ears ring as rage once again bubbled up inside of me. The pent-up anger I had fought for years to control was finally being let out.
"Shut up," I growled.
He smiled mockingly. "Just admit that you will never accomplish anything. I'll be the one to surpass Gabriel. You will always be a Poke-Hater, and nothing will change that. Your personality is as corrosive as your tongue. You have no future because of your attitude and laziness. You can't even pay attention to your studies."
He turned his back on me, chuckling at my downfall. "Some Champion's son you are."
That was the last straw. The color of blood flickered in my vision as my rage exploded. I reached out to him and grabbed his shoulder, forcing him to look at me.
"Hey..." I said.
He saw me as nothing but a failure. He was an overachiever, while I despised the education system. To him, I was nothing but a lazy bastard who had no future. And most of all, he hated my attitude. I was an asshole to him, and he was an asshole to me. We hated each other's personalities with a burning passion.
And I had something to say to him...
I punched him straight in the face. His head wrenched to the side as he took the blow, and he fell down on his ass. He sat there for a moment, stunned. His cheek was slowly swelling up.
With a cruel smile, my eyes brimming with anger, I said: "Oh? Is someone insecure because Big Brother Alain is a better trainer then him? Are you going to fucking cry about it? Come on, I'll cry with you."
That's right, Michael was the younger brother of Alain, the trainer who won the Kalos League years prior and was the one who beat Ass Ketchup in the finals.
"Vali!" Trinity yelled at me, but I ignored her and continued taunting Michael.
My gaze turned chilly. "I'm the pathetic one? What are you, some kind of god? Give me a fucking break," I spat at him. "You are nothing but a little bitch who cries because my policies don't comply with yours. Yeah, I hated pokemon before, but not anymore. Because this Eevee goddamn saved me!" I ranted, my anger exploding out of me, causing me to indignantly snap at Michael. It's been a long time since my rage has gotten out of control like this. But to be honest, the catharsis felt good.
Michael looked at me and his expression darkened. His own anger flared in his blue eyes. He stood up and was about to throw a punch.
"Come on, I dare you to punch me!" I mocked.
But before I could beat the crap out of him, Trinity got in the way and separated us. "Guys, stop acting like children! Stop being so stupid!"
"Out of my way," I pushed her to the side, which caused her to yelp. In the midst of my anger, my judgement was clouded, making it impossible for me to discern friend from foe.
Michael came at me in a wild charge, his manic anger reflecting mine as he threw a punch at me. How predictable.
I easily avoided it and kicked him in the stomach, causing him double over and wheeze in pain, falling to his knees. He was weak; I'd gotten into enough fights to know that Michael was no match for me.
He coughed out blood and looked at me with a dazed expression. I kicked him down once again and stared at him with a cold expression. "Next time you piss me off, I'll do even worse."
"Char!" Charizard growled at me.
"Eevee!" Eevee jumped off my shoulder and growled in response, suddenly defensive.
Michael stood up and looked at me with another glare, wiping blood from his face. "I'm going to destroy you in the Kanto League."
"Because you can't do so in a fight," I smirked.
"I'm going to kick your ass," he snarled and hopped onto Charizard.
"Pussy," I said.
He grumbled and beckoned Charizard, who flew off, its powerful legs tensing as it launched itself with explosive force, making the air boom with force.
I heard Trinity's loud steps as she walked to me. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" she yelled at me. "You shouldn't have done that."
"Shut the fuck up!" I snapped. "That asshole had what was coming to him."
"It looked like you were also an asshole," she shot back.
I glared at her, my fists clenching in anger.
"Also, you're not supposed to hit girls," she said.
"Really?!" I shouted. "And when a girl hits a guy, it's okay? But if a guy hits a girl, then everyone will him a dickless loser who will die alone? Give me a fucking break."
I shook with anger, turned around, and began walking in a seemingly random direction, my hatred increasingly escaping me.
"Let's go, Eevee," I said.
"Eevee," she said and jumped on my shoulder, looking at me with worry. "Vee?"
"I'm fine," I said softly. "I'm sorry you had to see that."
"Vee," she said, forgiving me and licking me on the cheek.
I rubbed her head, my mood not getting any better. I walked for a while, not keeping track of time as I tried to get rid of my anger, hoping that it would disappear as I traversed through the peaceful blanket of trees.
Hearing footsteps behind me, I turned and said, "What?"
Trinity crossed her arms. "Are you going to apologize to me?"
"No."
"Why are you mad at me?" she asked.
"I'm not, you're just being annoying," I growled.
"Then what do you want me to do?"
"I want you to fuck off!" I snapped.
"Not until you tell me what that was about," she stared at me intensely.
"I'm not going to tell you," I snarled stubbornly and kept walking.
Trinity quickened her pace until she was next to me. "I'm not going to leave you alone until you tell me. Hit me if you want, but at least tell me."
"Michael hates me, and I hate him, that's all," I said.
She scoffed. "Vali, I'm not stupid. You never acted that way, not even with Gabriel. The only time you did act that way with him was when he called you a Champion's son. I know it's much deeper than just you hating them. So," her voice grew serious, "I'm going to ask you once last time: What the fuck happened?!"
The intensity of her voice made me flinch. She was smart; she figured out why I was so angry so quickly. And the way she demanded... it was surprisingly magisterial.
But for some reason that made me even angrier.
"Why the fuck would you want to know that?! What are you? My sister? My mother?" I asked, not wanting to talk about my past. I refused to. Not to anyone.
Trinity's eyes softened. "No, I'm not."
"Then what?!"
She looked at me dead in the eyes and said, "Your friend."
When she said that, my anger drained out of me like water draining from the shower when you turned it off. The fire in my soul was put out, leaving me with the somber feeling of rue.
"My friend..." I said, in disbelief, "r-really..."
I didn't have any friends. All these years, I'd felt painful loneliness that reminded me that I separated myself from the world. I lost the ability to trust anyone; it was if it the whole world was against me.
And now Trinity was saying that she was my friend...
She smiled. "Of course. You're my rival and my friend. How can you not be?"
"But why do you still want to be my friend after seeing that?" I said.
"Because I know how much spite you have—how much anger you have. You lash out at the whole world, but there's a reason as to why." She looked at me seriously. "Tell me. Tell me why you're like this, so that I may understand."
"No," I denied. "I don't want you to think any less of me."
Trinity shook her head. "I'll think even less of you if you don't tell me. It will make me assume that you did something truly horrible. Besides, I told you my past, now it's your turn to tell me yours."
I felt a pang of indecisiveness as I pondered my options. It was either tell her or lose her as a friend. She may be the only person besides my dad that I could trust.
I had to tell her. It was painful to talk about, but I had to.
I sighed. "Fine, I'll tell you." I looked at Eevee. "You should listen to this too. You too, Pikachu."
"Vee," Eevee nodded and looked at me with a curious face.
"Pikachu," Pikachu agreed and solemnly nodded.
I looked at Trinity. "Are you sure?"
She nodded, "Yeah."
Taking a deep breath, I began to tell my story.
It all started when my mother virtually abandoned us, her duty as the Champion of Sinnoh becoming her priority instead of her family. She focused all her time and energy to her training and forgot about us.
The whole world seemed to flip upside down; all wrong became right, and all right became wrong. An infinite void of painful contemplation engulfed me in its wake, bringing me to heart-shattering realizations.
My mother was no longer with me, and pokemon were the reason behind it.
Because of that, I began to hate Cynthia and cursed her for days on end. I yearned for my mother, but she already chose her path. So, I would choose mine: to hate her and what she stands for.
When I moved to Kanto, I didn't actually move to Viridian City first. I went to Celadon City and attended school there. The students there immediately recognized me as Cynthia's son and noticed that I didn't have a pokemon.
They noticed how depressed I looked and suddenly felt superior. And because of that, they began to pick on me, laughing at me because of how pathetic I looked. I was supposed to be a Champion's son, and yet I had no pokemon. To them, I was a failure.
At first, the bullying got to me and I went into an even deeper depression—I was beaten up constantly, scorned, and most importantly, oppressed. It was as if all of society hated me.
That was when I snapped. My rage once again reminded me of its existence and spoke to me—beckoning me to let go of control.
And I listened to it.
I got into many fights, and from there on, I won every one of them. My ire grew and grew until my dark thoughts were the only things I had left of me.
It was so bad to the point where I had to start taking anger management pills.
But the worst time was when the school turned into a metaphorical bloodbath and I sent a quarter of the school to the hospital. On that day, even my only friends turned on me.
I got expelled and my father had to apologize extensively. He wasn't mad at me, but I knew that he was severely disappointed in me. That hurt me the most.
From that day on, I sought to control my anger. I managed to wrest control of my turmoil, and that combined with the pills allowed me to stay as calm as I could be in any situation.
Eventually, I was able to control myself without my pills. It was around the time when I moved to Viridian and started to attend school there. Sure, I'd gotten into fights, but it wasn't anything too serious.
Since then I'd been able to keep my anger out of control... until now.
But that anger has waned considerably ever since one little Eevee saved me. And I knew that it could have been worse if she weren't here.
And that is how my anger came to be.
I finished the story with a sigh, eyeing the ground as I waited for a reaction. Silence ensued. I knew then and there that my impression on Trinity would disappear like my anger—I knew that she would hate me.
Surprisingly, Trinity put a hand on my shoulder instead.
"That's why?" she said softly. "That's why you hate everything?"
"it's more like I hate humans," I chuckled mirthlessly. "Pokemon are the only things I care about now."
"But it doesn't have to be that way," she smiled. "Because I'm your friend, remember that."
"I'm a bad person," I said. "You shouldn't be around me."
Trinity shook her head. "You aren't. But you do need to control your anger; and I'll help you."
My eyes widened. All this time I thought that I was alone, but here she was, ensuring that she was here for me. It was so heartening that I couldn't help but smile. "Thanks... Trin."
She smiled back, "You're welcome, Val."
"Val?" I raised one eyebrow.
"If you get to call me Trin, then I get to call you Val, deal with it," she said, challenging me to deny.
I laughed. "Alright, you can call me Val."
"Eevee!" Eevee said cheerfully, looking at me with a comforting smile.
I hugged her. "Thanks, Eevee. You're my partner, and as long as you're by my side, I will never hate pokemon again."
"Vee!"
"Pika!" Pikachu jumped to my shoulder and nuzzled me. I patted him on the head.
"Thanks, Pikachu," I smiled.
Trinity giggled. "Even Pikachu seems to like you."
"Yeah," I said, watching as he jumped back to Trinity's shoulder.
Ralts's pokeball shook and opened, letting her out. "Ralts," she said, smiling at me. I guess she heard our conversation. I remembered that she could sense emotions with her horn.
"Hey, Ralts," I rubbed her head. "I'm doing fine now; thanks for worrying."
She smiled cheerfully, "Ralts!" she said and jumped on my shoulder. That's right, besides Eevee, she was also my ace.
"Right, it's time to continue on our journey." I stated and stood up. Trinity did too.
My mentality wouldn't instantly change, but I felt better knowing that I had someone who I could trust—someone that I could call a friend. There were many challenges coming my way, but I knew that I couldn't face them alone. I wasn't alone, that I knew.
I looked at the sky and saw the same red and white streak that flew across the sky. I smiled, for some reason feeling comforted.
"By the way, Val," Trinity said.
"Yeah?"
"Are you really Cynthia's son?" she asked.
"I am," I replied softly. I realized that I never actually confirmed to anyone about my parentage. I tended to use my fists instead of my words.
"Is that why you asked if my mom spends time with me?"
"Mhm," I replied.
"That makes sense," she said, her face thoughtful.
I realized how dark it was getting. "Let's continue; it's getting late and we haven't traveled that far."
"Good idea," Trinity replied.
We still had about six hours of traveling and it was almost nighttime. We were determined to make a little bit of progress before nightfall so that we would have a shorter walk in the morning.
With that, we continued our journey to Cerulean City.
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Uh oh, Vali revealed his backstory.
By the way, he didn't reveal all of it. There are things that he left out and will reveal later on. Vali will have more character development, and he will mostly keep his antagonistic attitude but will have occasions where he shows kindness.
Anyway, a mysterious figure makes an appearance, revealing that she has been keeping tabs—or, in other words, stalking—Vali. Who is she? And what connection does she have with him?
Meanwhile, our heroes have a sour reunion with another classmate. Vali snaps and beats up Michael, who is revealed to be the brother of Alain, the winner of the Kalos League years prior. Michael leaves and promises to beat him in the Kanto League.
Trinity and Vali argue until the former forces him to tell her about his past and why he became the way he is. Vali denies until Trinity reassures him that she's his friend.
Reluctantly, Vali tells her and reveals why he became like this. Trinity comforts him. As a result, the two become closer than before, acknowledging the fact the two of them are friends and would support each other, while also competing against each other.
Will their friendship remain? And if so, what trials will they face together?
Find out, as the journey continues.
P.S. If you have any suggestions for pokemon, locations, or characters you would like to see in the story, then make sure to comment it. It would be greatly appreciated and would ensure that this experience will be as amazing as possible. Please suggest!