Unexciting, Semiprecious Metals [Pokemon SS/HG]

[Hydra of Ages]

'Ey. I was bored, so I decided to try and do a Liveblog of Pokemon Soul Silver. That fell through mainly because I progressed too quickly in the game to keep up with my writing, but I still had a few ideas I wanted to use, so what the heck, I thought about doing this for a lark.

 

This probably isn't going to be too long a story. It's more or less a novelization of Pokemon SoulSilver (as I play it), but to note, it does have a few... significant differences.

 

Note that I edit the chapters AFTER I've posted them, so pointing out grammar mistakes and spelling errors is highly encouraged.

 

[spoiler= Unexciting, Semiprecious Metals]

[spoiler= Chapter 1- Newbark Town, Den of Villainy]

“Rule Number One of being a Criminal: When you aren’t trying to leave an impression, don’t be a criminal.”

 

I closed the small leather book, enjoying the sound the top page made as it collided with the soft ones below it. Gilded lettering in a clear font displayed the title “Traveler’s Almanac”- a particularly popular and extraordinarily dry book, frequently found in pocket-sized editions and carried by nearly any adventurer worth their salt.

 

It contained everything. Helpful tips for creating a fire, how to hunt and cook in the wilderness, strategies for evading dangerous situations and surviving dangerous encounters with vicious pokemon… It was a must-have for all aspiring trainers, true trainers, or even people planning to be out in the wilderness for any length of time. It was truly an invaluable novel, and thus nobody gave it a second thought when they passed someone reading it, thoroughly engrossed in its contents.

 

It’s a pity I didn’t own a copy.

 

I slipped the pocket edition into a pocket on my pants, gazing around fondly at my room. Posters covered my wall of various convicts, criminals, the marks and symbols of various gangs that had come and gone, nevertheless leaving their discerning mark on society.

 

Above all was Team Rocket memorabilia. I had everything; an accurate recreation of one of their classic uniforms, one of the whips they used to control particularly unruly pokemon, a model of the Earth Badge from the Viridian Gym, a front they had used comfortably for several years until it had been untimely shut down. There was even a single, grubby and off-center photo of what was apparently the back of Giovanni, the Rocket’s infamous leader and head of command. He’d never been captured. In fact, only one person in the world who wasn’t affiliated with Team Rocket had ever actually seen his face in public.

 

My mother thought I wanted to be a Police Man when I got older.

 

I walked downstairs into the living room of my house, where my mother promptly noticed me, greeting me with a cheery smile. She was thirty-six years old, but acted far younger, as evidenced by her habit of brushing her chestnut hair away from her eyes every few seconds. It was difficult for her to stay still for any particular length of time.

 

“Oh, Gold, dear, I just remembered. Professor Elm wanted you over soon, I think he has an errand or something for you to run.” She said slightly breezily. I chuckled darkly to myself; of course, I had known that. I’d been the one to plant the idea in the foolish young scientist’s head, afterall. Subtly leaving cues to shape him towards my desired solution, causing the blocks of my plan to fall subtly into my-

 

“Did you remember to take your megalomania pills today?” mother cut in abruptly, still in the same cheery voice. I frowned slightly.

 

“Uhm, right, well, I should probably be getting over to Elm’s then…” I said quickly, grabbing my satchel from its position on the table and heading out the door before she could inquire further. I quickly exited, and positioned myself pressed against the side wall of the building, obscuring me from cunning eyes.

 

I snickered to myself. So far, my plan was going without a hitch. I adjusted by red shirt, checked to see if my lucky hat was on properly –like it always was, of course- and put on my best idiot-hero grin. It would be best if the townspeople still saw me as Gold, idealistic happy-go-lucky pokemon enthusiast (who had an interest in law enforcement), rather than as Gold, criminal mastermind and ignitor of the Rocket Revolution.

 

I whistled slightly as I walked away from the wall nonchalantly, heading down the rough path that led through the admittedly tiny community that was New Bark Town. I glanced around disinterestedly. Yes, the small hamlet was the same as it always was… a small conglomeration of houses, none with a particular structure style in mind aside from ‘house’, nestled quietly within a shallow valley made from the various hillsides. Rainwater was collected by the crowns of the sloping fields, poured into the town like a makeshift basin until it flowed in the direction of route 27. The only time the town provided any amusement was when heavy enough storms caused the river to pass its banks-

 

I grinned slightly as I thought about it, and was therefore unaware when I was suddenly struck by a sneak attack. A missile hit me around my midriff, knocking the wind out of me and causing me to stagger back slightly into my well-developed fighting stance. I was ready to strike back at my would-be assailant. Who could it have been? I had been smart about not making enemies, staying distinctly undercover. Perhaps it was a preemptive…

 

Oh, it was just Lyra’s marill. Never mind then.

 

I glared belligerently at the aqua mouse, who hopped in place a couple times, cheerfully unaware of my hostilities. While I was vaguely wondering if I could get away with tying its tail in a knot without blowing my cover, the demonic creature caught a whiff of something and ran off towards its master, who had finally caught up with it. It leaped into Lyra’s arms as she huggled it close to her breast, before glancing at me apologetically.

 

“Sorry, Gold. You know how Marill gets.” She said with a small smile, coyly cocking her head to the side slightly, both of her bouncy locks of hair that stuck up slightly at the ends shifting slightly with her head. I often wondered exactly who she got to do her hair; they style that she had didn’t even look physically possible, especially with the massive white cap upon on her head like that.

 

I gave her my best teenage-boy smile and chuckle, reaching with an arm to scratch the back of my neck casually.

“Oh, no problem, Lyra. You know I’m fine with Marill ambushing me at any time,” I said, adding a bit of a chuckle to the end. It must have sounded a little hollow, because Lyra regarded me without any real humor, before adjusting the large red bow on her hat.

 

“No need to sound so sarcastic.” She said idly after a moment. I blinked. I should probably stop lacing my words with so much irony.

 

“Sorry.” I responded, sincerely enough. She blinked at me, and I gave a cock of my head and a grin to enhance the apology. She paused for a second, then broke into a brief fit of giggles, emulated by the small aquatic creature in her arms.

 

She responded, “Sure you are,” sounding remarkably sarcastic herself. “So, heading over to Elm’s house?” she questioned curiously, smiling. “Are you getting one of those new rare pokemon he found? I mean…” she giggled a little to herself. “You dropped enough hints to him about wanting one of them.”

 

Hm. Maybe I wasn’t being as subtle as I had previously assumed. Never mind, didn’t really matter as long as I got what I came for.

 

“Mhm, probably.” I offered politely. “I should probably get going now. My mom forgot to tell me until just now, so who knows how long ago Elm actually told me to show up?” I said with a hint of chuckle. Finally, Lyra laughed with me. Excellent. Even she was tricked by my elaborate ruse.

 

“You know, you should probably stop monologueing outloud.” She chimed in. I blinked, momentarily taken aback.

 

“You heard that?!” I questioned severely, glancing around to make sure there were no operatives lining to take me out. I couldn’t tell how far this security breach would go.

 

She just giggled again in response. I was beginning to be annoyed at her taking amusement at nearly everything I do.

“No, not this time, Gold,” She said, smirking. I scowled a little to myself, she having apparently caught me mid-monologue previously.

 

“But you get this really devious and blank look on your face every few seconds, so it’s not too hard to know what you’re thinking.” She chimed in. I was again, was given pause. That was something I hadn’t known before.

 

“Uh, right,” I said nervously, before glancing over towards the large windmill that marked the town’s laboratory. While Newbark was in itself, an undersized and overpopulated wind farm, the electrical transformer and most prominent mill were both still attached to the lab, which was one of the oldest (modern) buildings in the town.

 

“I should probably get going.” I repeated, nodding at the girl, who stifled another giggle (why was she so amused?) as I walked off. Of course, the joke was on her, since I took the opportunity to liberate her satchel of a potion as I passed by. She really should have known better, considering she was one of the few in the town aware of my vaguely kleptomaniac tendencies (that being false, of course. It was less a compulsion to steal, and more simply honing my skills at the art.)

 

I resumed approaching the large building that was the Lab of the foolish professor, Charles L. Elm. He was possibly the only reason anyone in the country would recognize the name ‘New Bark’- for all of his gullibility and weak mind, he was surprisingly brilliant in his field of study. Few could dare to try to match him, and many tried to get near him in order to benefit from his research. He was even on a first name basis with Oak, possibly the world leader in Pokemon Research.

 

As I came near the familiar tiered building, I noticed something fairly odd. While it wouldn’t normally be visible from the main road, by approaching the lab lengthwise from the East, I had a slight view of the back, from which there was clearly a large crate pushed up on it, with …something… with a black hem of a coat and dark shoes standing on it.

 

Curious, but wary of another ambush, I pretended not to notice until I came right up to the easternmost side of the building before pressing by body against it, in order to reduce whoever was lurking there’s line of sight for me. I approached the back quickly, though slow enough to remain stealthy, peeking over the corner in order to get a better view.

 

It wasn’t anyone I knew before. He seemed about my age, maybe a year younger, with shockingly red hair worn long, though it appeared he didn’t keep very good care of it. He wore an expensive black leather jacket, a black undershirt and black pants, looking all for the world like an inexperienced burglar.

 

“You know, dark clothing only works if they can’t see your head.” I quipped. I wasn’t scared; the boy looked like no more than a common thief, and if that, a particularly inept one. He was staring through a small window near the top of the building down into the main lab space; I rolled my eyes. Any thief would know that anyone of Elm’s status would have nothing less than state-of-the-art defense systems to prevent any of his valuable pokemon from being stolen. This amateur didn’t have a chance.

 

“Hm?” he said, looking shocked towards me, before abruptly turning angry. I blinked and hesitated, briefly wondering if I should have called attention to myself. He might have a knife; guns were rare enough in the country to more or less rule out that possibility, but there were plenty of weapons he could still do damage with, considering I had no pokemon to defend me at the time.

 

“What the hell are you looking at?!” he hissed at me. I bit back a retort, seeing how angry he seemed to be. Momentarily cowed, I muttered a brief “Sorry” before retreating back around the corner of the building. He didn’t chase after me, which I was thankful for.

 

I put it out of my mind. Small time burglaries weren’t for people like me, destined to reawake the legendary Rocket Dynasty. There was much more for me to focus on.

 

I entered the labs of Professor Elm, hearing the electric doors hiss familiarly as they pulled themselves apart.

 

“Oh, hi Gold. The Prof’s been expecting you.” I heard one of the aides call to me. I waved back somewhat self-consciously. I’d seen the man in the lab coat before, but never really learned his name. Frankly, he scared me. The labs employed what, an upward of twenty, maybe thirty professors and aides, and yet he was the only one I saw at any time? Definitely creepy. He was high on my list of ‘potential spies/people out to get me’. Coincidences don’t exist.

 

“Uhm, thanks.” I muttered in response, waving slightly before walking the rather linear way to Elm’s personal office. I crossed the paths of a couple more whitecoats apparently conducting some experiment on probability (Ie, playing poker), and opened the chestnut-wood door.

 

“Ah, Gold, there you are!” I heard the bespectacled man call out towards me. He had been sitting at his computer, but upon noticing me, he stood up, protectively clutching a paper cup of coffee in one hand. I walked up, giving him a casual wave as a greeting.

 

“Hello Professor. You wanted me for something?” I said, once again giving my false-grin in order to ensure him I wasn’t secretly up to something dastardly. Of course he wouldn’t suspect that. He wouldn’t suspect anything about me unless I wanted him to.

 

The brown-haired gangly man stood up and smiled. He was quite tall, about six-foot six or so. If not for his stringy muscles, glasses and labcoat, one would have never taken him as a researcher.

 

“Well you see Gold, I’m writing up a paper for a conference about Pokemon – Trainer Relationships, and how they are affected by proximity and contact.” He said, walking over to a large cylinder, whose’ purpose was quite obvious to me. He typed in a quick passcode, and the cylinder spiraled open with a hiss, revealing a cushion with three small pokeballs lying upon it.

 

“I’d like you to raise one of these three rare pokemon, Gold, but travel with it outside its Pokeball whenever possible. I’m sure it will reveal a lot of interesting data pertinent to my thesis.” He said with a smile, waving me over. “Go ahead, have any of the three,” he said. “None have been trained or had extensive human contact before. You will be the first one to form a bond with them.” He smiled a little.

 

I examined the three pokeballs, trying not to let a greedy expression overtake me. A helpful display showed the species contained in each one- Elm hadn’t lied, they really were rare species. All of them would be proud additions to any trainer’s team.

 

Of course, I wasn’t just any trainer.

 

What did the Rocket Guide to Criminal Acts say again? Oh, yes.

“It is important for any Criminal to have the following on hand at all times- a pokemon capable of intimidation, combat and strength, to be used for general purpose missions, and a pokemon capable of navigation, misdirection, escapes and searches. An example of this would be a team comprised of a Ratticate and a Zubat.”

While both the cyndaquil and chikorita that were being offered looked fine, the only one of the three that could honestly be intimidating to look at was the Totodile. Though it was a little small, those jaws could probably do a lot of damage.

 

“I’ll take this one.” I decided, picking up the water creature’s pokeball from the pillow it was resting upon. Elm beamed.

 

“Excellent choice, Gold. Now, if I could- oh, er, hang on a second.” He muttered, as his computer beeped. He turned and read something that had evidently popped up on screen. I simply raised my eyebrow. I’d never been very technically inclined, beyond what could help me pull off a physical crime.

 

Finally, he glanced back up. “Hey, Gold,” He said, smiling a little too cheerfully. “Would you mind doing me another favor?” he asked. I blinked, not entirely trusting his innocent face.

 

“What kind of favor, professor?” I asked, trying to keep my suspicions from reaching my tone. Elm apparently didn’t notice.

 

“Well, I have an acquaintance you see. He’s a bit eccentric you, see, and he received oddities from all around the world; we call him Mr. Pokemon.”

 

I nodded. I’d heard of him before; Mr. Pokemon was a wealthy landowner who lived North of Cherrygrove. He was well known for sponsoring Elm’s research projects, and donated frequently to things such as museums.

 

Elm started, “Well, apparently he’s found something else that he wants me to take a look at,” he sighed, “But this time he sounds a little more eager than even usual. Would you mind heading over to his manor to see what it’s all about?”

 

He smiled. “You can even get the opportunity to get to know your Totodile, too.”

 

I paused, and blinked. I glanced down at the pokeball in my hand, then recalled why he gave it to me. I opened the release switch, causing the small blue creature to materialize.

 

“Toto?” it said curiously upon materializing, immediately going to sniff at my shoes. I took an alarmed half-step away.

 

“Hey now, he’s just curious about you. Nothing to worry about.” Elm said with a serene smile. I bit back a scathing retort, and simply waited until the water type stopped poking at me, and sat down upon its haunches.

 

“Well…” I said hesitantly. This strange discovery of Mr. Pokemon’s sounded interesting. Perhaps it was something of value I could use?

 

“Of course I’ll help you out.” I said with a confident smirk. I glanced down at the totodile that was to become the strong backbone of my team. It looked up at me with glassy eyes, and cocked its head slightly.

 

Elm smiled and clapped once. “Excellent, then. Thank you very much for that, Gold.”

He paused for a second. “You might want to talk to your mother. After all, the trip from here to Cherrygrove and up to the estate is… what, about a three, four hour walk?”

 

I blinked. I really didn’t want to speak to my mother. Besides, chances were that if Mr. Pokemon’s goods were anything of value, I wouldn’t even bother to come back to this small dump of a town.

 

“Oh yes, and your PokeGear was fixed recently. I sent it off to your mother, she should have it now.” He added pleasantly.

 

Ah, now THAT was a reason to speak to my mom before listening.

 

“See you later, Proffessor.” I waved at him, as I walked out the door. My totodile blinked, watched me leave, then slowly got to its feet and waddled after me, making random noises with its angular face as it followed.

 

 

 

 

 

[Chaos Impact™]

very, very good with an interesting twist gold being a (not sure really) a undercover member for TR or a hopeful future member? but either way it is very awesome

Grade A*

[Hydra of Ages]

Well, he wishes he was an undercover operative. At the moment, he's just a regular kid with some odd ambitions and possibly a mental disorder of some kind. It's important to recognize that as far as anyone currently knows, Team Rocket no longer exists.

 

Thanks for the compliment, by the way.

[Naimo]

I like this, it's a good read. The only criticism is that you didn't put capital letters on words that must have capitals - Pokemon, Marill, Cyndaquil, Chikorita, Totodile, Pokeballs should have capitals (there's probably more that should that I've missed). Oh, and you've got a spelling mistake in the last line - there's only one 'f' in professor.

[Davok]

Magnet, do you capitalize "dog"? No, you do not. It seems Blazing's Pokeverse operates on that logic. Still, good read. Cannot wait for more.

[Naimo]

Can't argue with that, fair point. I take back my criticism.

[legendhiro]

very nice, though you partially stole my idea of novelizing Heart Gold. mine will follow the storyline less significantly than yours does, so no harm done.

 

couple of tips: decide whether you want to capitalize the names of Pokemon species. you are a bit inconsistent right now. but a Pokemon's name, even if it only goes by its species name, should always be capitalized. also, i think "Ah, now THAT was a reason to speak to my mom before listening" should have been "Ah, now THAT was a reason to speak to my mom before leaving", but i could be wrong.

 

i usually am.