Setting:
•Violet City, Johto•
•Late February, The Day Prior•
•Silver POV•
Chapter Twenty-Three
The Rival's Wound
The morning after obtaining Totodile, Silver headed into Violet City noting the multiple old looking buildings. Uninterested, he continued onward to the city's southern exit. From there, he planned to travel south to Union Cave, traverse through there, and then head west to Azalea Town.
Once outside the city limits, a man approached him. "Good morning, sir. May I see your Violet City Gym badge? You can't pass to Union Cave without it for your own protection."
At that news, Silver groaned. He didn't have a badge. Replying that he didn't have one, the man on guard duty turned him away, and he headed back into Violet City very much flustered.
Deciding he'd take on the gym leader who was said to use flying types, he headed towards the Violet City Gym only to find a guy around his age with striking navy blue hair standing outside the gym, his arms folded against his chest.
Approaching the guy, Silver proceeded to ask if the gym leader was around. The guy rudely replied that unless Silver completed the Sprout Tower challenge and showed him the TM rewarded from the challenge, he wouldn't face the gym leader, and with that, he turned Silver in the direction of the Sprout Tower.
Figuring the rude guy was the gym leader, Silver complied, groaned inwardly, and walked down the street that led to a colossal wooden tower across a wooden arch bridge. Approaching the tower, he could swear he saw it sway ever so slightly. As he approached, he could hear a creaking noise coming from inside.
Stepping in, he saw the source of the noise: a large wooden pillar in the center of the tower which swayed ever so slightly back and forth at which the rest of the tower was built around. Taking in the spectacle, he watched the pillar, as if mesmerized, unsure if the building was really structurally sound.
"I see you've taken an interest in our pillar," a voice snapped him out of the trance. "The pillar is rumored to have once been a 100 foot tall Bellsprout, thus where the tower centered around it gets its name. Anyway, I welcome you to Sprout Tower, home of the Violet City Sages. I'm Sage Chow. Are you here for the challenge?"
Turning toward the middle-aged, prematurely balding man, Silver replied, "Yeah, I'm here for the challenge."
The man's facial expression changed. "Then I'll be your first opponent. It'll be a one on one battle. You ready?"
"Sure," Silver replied, tossing Totodile's pokeball in the air. The eager blue form emerged with a battle cry.
"Bellsprout, let's go!" The sage's Pokémon emerged. It had a brown-stemmed body with two branches of roots jutting out as legs and a large green leaf on each side of its twiggy body. For a head, it had a yellow bell-shaped flower bud with two dark beady eyes and a red ring around the opening of the flower for a mouth, which drooped some.
"Bellsprout!" Cried the Pokémon.
"You have the honor of going first," the sage replied.
"Okay, then. Start this off with Water Gun!"
"Dodge that and return the favor with Razor Leaf!"
Totodile fired off a stream of water, which the plant easily dodged its way away around and sent back some razor sharp leaves.
"Aim for those leaves, then use Bite on the head!" Totodile deflected the leaves with the water while approaching Bellsprout and clamped firmly down on the Pokémon's head. The sprout thrashed for a few seconds, twitched, then quit moving. Totodile released its grip to show how it had clearly won.
"Bellsprout! Are you alright?!" The sage ran to the flower Pokémon, scooping it up in his arms.
"Bell…" It replied weakly, barely conscious, raising a leaf toward its trainer.
"You've done well, take a rest, old friend," the sage returned the Pokémon to its ball.
He then addressed Silver, "Well done, trainer. You may proceed to the next floor. In all actuality, I was supposed to be your second battle, but you caught me at a bad time; I'm waiting for two new apprentices. May your quest end well." He bowed and turned away, allowing Silver to proceed up a narrow staircase toward the back of the room.
When out of eyeshot, he rolled his eyes and snorted. The second trainer was a pushover, so is battling the first even necessary?
Upon reaching the next floor, he saw another middle-aged man, who looked strikingly like Chow. This guy was sitting on a yoga mat with two Bellsprout, doing what he guessed was yoga.
At first, Silver thought that maybe he could just sneak past the guy, but this clearly did not become the case since the man opened his eyes and focused on Silver. "So, we have a challenger, have we?" He asked somewhat amused.
"I've already beaten Chow; I'm ready when you are," Silver responded just ready to get the battle over with. Totodile stood behind him, ready to battle whenever.
"I like your spirit, youngster. If it's a battle you want, then certainly you'll get one. This shall be a two on two. Bell, you're up first!" He signaled to the Bellsprout on his right.
"Sprout!" The Pokémon replied, quickly getting up as its trainer got to his feet.
"Fine, Totodile, let's keep this streak going!"
"Toto!" The Pokémon leapt ahead, ready for action.
"Your move, young man."
What's up with these guys? Always letting me go first. Ugh, so chivalrous. It's stupid.
"Fine, let's wrap this up in a hurry! Bite!"
Totodile lunged forward, aiming straight for the Bellsprout's head.
"Remain there!"
What the?
Silver watched as the Bellsprout remained stock still, Totodile's fangs inching closer to clamping down on its soft yellow head.
"Now! Vine Whip!" In a flash, the sprout Pokémon's rooted foot came up and tied itself firmly around Totodile's snout, clamping it shut. Struggling, Totodile tried to pry itself away.
"Scratch! Get away from there!" Totodile's tiny claws went to work scratching the Pokémon's soft head, causing it to cry in pain.
"Trip it up!" The Bellsprout complied, using its remaining foot to trip Totodile, sending it sprawling on the ground. Upon this, Bellsprout let go of Totodile's snout and quickly ran away from it.
"Now, while it's down! Razor Leaf!" The sprout complied, firing off razor sharp leaves, which struck Totodile dead on.
"Get up, you weakling! This battle isn't over yet!" Silver commanded as his Pokémon gasped for breath.
"Toto…" Cried the Pokémon, slumping on the ground.
"Tch, pathetic," Silver commented, causing the sage to raise his eyebrow.
Suddenly, Totodile's body erupted in a blinding white light, causing Silver to smirk. Hmph, now things are going to get interesting.
He watched as the small form grew bigger, and eventually, the white wore off to reveal Totodile's evolved form, Croconaw.
It was larger than its previous form. Its red scales that ran down its back were larger, too. It had overall longer fangs and claws and a way more powerful looking jaw. Its tan chest was now splotched with blue.
"Croco!" Replied the Pokémon, showing off its jaw to the Bellsprout.
"Well, looks like the battle shall continue, then," replied the sage.
"Bite!" With blinding fast speed, Croconaw complied, and before the sage could utter a word, the Bellsprout's head was lost in Croconaw's immense jaw. A few seconds later the Pokémon was released, clearly knocked out.
"You fought well, Bell," replied the sage scooping up his Pokémon and placing it on the yoga mat.
"Now, time for some payback! Go, Sprout!" The other Bellsprout ran to battle.
"Let's have a re-run! Bite again!"
"Dodge and Razor Leaf!" The Bellsprout dodged and aimed a Razor Leaf at Croconaw once behind its back.
"Deflect it!" Croconaw used its large tail to swat away the leaves easily, causing the Bellsprout to be unnerved.
"Poison Powder!"
"I don't think so! Water Gun!" A large deluge of water emerged from Croconaw's mouth and soundly knocked the second Bellsprout out.
"Sprout! No!" The sage went to his Pokémon, placing it next to the waking "Bell". "You've done well, friend."
The sage then turned to Silver. "Well done, challenger. You have defeated me. I, Sage Nico, hereby allow you to continue onward to the next floor. May your battles go smoothly."
Silver, smirking, strode to the staircase leaving Croconaw in his wake, who ran to catch up.
Noting that the next floor would be empty, he was surprised to hear noise coming from up the stairs. Briskly climbing the steps, Silver's heart skipped a beat. Standing just five feet away was none other than Amber—alive, well, and talking to her immense Charizard, Charry.
Finding it hard to breathe, he shook his head to clear the vision from his mind, as surely it couldn't have been real. She's dead. She can't be here in Johto. That's just absurd.
Sure enough, though, she was still standing there with her attention now fixated on him. She looked at the Croconaw at his side, and then back to him, giving him a disappointed look, which just about made his heart sink.
It's just your guilt talking, Silver. That's not who you are anymore. Amber is dead. Whatever or whoever that is, its not her. It can't be her…can it?
Curious and very hopeful, he slowly approached her. She made no move to go towards him. Looking back, he saw Croconaw was still standing where he was a few minutes ago. Obviously, Croconaw wasn't going to approach this Amber, real or not. Walking even closer, he could feel her presence.
She's really here, isn't she? I don't understand this… Can it really be her?
"Amber? Is it really you?" He asked in the most earnest voice he could muster, trying to let his old self show for once at least.
Amber just smirked back at him, as if in a non-verbal "who else would it be".
At that point, Silver didn't know quite what to do next. He didn't know if he'd yell at her for dying, or hug her, or cry because of everything that happened and how he changed and how different he was. Or if he'd just stay there, frozen still by her judgmental gaze.
She took one step toward him, eyeing him down. She was exactly how he remembered her last, the night before she died.
"Please tell me I'm not hallucinating." He finally blurted out.
At this, Amber smirked once more, stepping another step closer to him. They were only about three feet apart now. Deciding to embrace his long lost friend, he closed the rest of the distance and wrapped his arms around her. Caught up in the moment, he closed his eyes and let a small tear, held back for so long, trickle down his cheek.
Only then did he notice something was wrong. Amber felt cold. Too cold. She didn't hug him back, either. Holding her tighter, he noticed as her body began to dissolve in front of him into thin air.
"No, don't do this again… Don't leave again." He was desperate, unsure of what exactly was going on, but so sure he was losing Amber once more.
"Amb, please. Don't do this to me again…" He started to sob, broken at the core.
It took a lot to break his resolve, but when the right spots where struck, he went down quickly. "You can't leave me alone again. Stay. Fight Team Rocket with me. I…I don't know if I can do it alone," he pleaded—as much as Silver could, anyway. He was a dignified person after all—as Amber's figure dissolved into a thick black smoke.
Certain the next image he'd see would be the one that haunted his dreams every night—her charred body which was beyond recognition—he closed his eyes to prevent the image from surfacing, only to hear a faint whispering, which he couldn't quite comprehend.
"I can't understand you…" He trailed off.
The whispering grew louder, but he still didn't quite understand it. Suddenly, startled, he felt something bone-chillingly cold and wet run up his face, going from his chin to his forehead.
"Gastly!" Replied the voice, now fully comprehensible.
He opened his eyes to see that he hadn't left his spot, and Croconaw was gazing anxiously up at him. Floating before him was a chuckling Gastly, which had obviously been messing with him. It clearly used its Hypnosis on him.
The sight of this just about made him blow a fuse. "Why you little! What gives you the right to delve into others' memories and mess around with them?! You'll pay for that you weak little coward!" He growled, fuming.
"Gas?" The Pokémon asked, intrigued at Silver's behavior. It was clear never before had it encountered someone with such tendencies for mood swings, nor someone who was so angry at its antics.
"Croconaw, get it!"
"Croco!" The Pokémon leapt forward, only to fly through the gas Pokémon, which made the Gastly chuckle.
"Ugh! Fine, screw battling. It might just prove useful yet. I'll just capture it and be on my way!" Silver fished a dusk ball out of his side pocket, and quickly, efficiently—just like Amber taught him—captured the Pokémon, making certain the ball hit a certain spot: the Pokémon's weakest point.
Looking at the Pokémon through the ball's semi-transparent top, Silver smirked. "Who has the last laugh, now?"
He then looked at Croconaw and stated, "Come on. Let's keep going, worthless wimp. Might as well get this damn challenge out of the way."
He then stormed up the next flight of stairs, making Croconaw run to catch up with him yet again.
Upon reaching the fourth floor, he had to make it an effort not to outright laugh. This younger, bald, sage was prancing around with three Bellsprout. Upon seeing Silver, he stopped and addressed him.
"Welcome. I am Sage Edmond. I focus on the aspect of battle rhythm. Are you ready to challenge me? It'll be a three on three."
"Sure," Silver stated, regaining his composure. He quickly did his best to banish Amber from his mind for the moment.
The battle commenced, and before long, Croconaw easily defeated all three Bellsprout. The sage had his "sappy moment" caring for his injured Pokémon and replied that Silver could proceed to the second to last floor.
Continuing, Silver was met by two sages, who introduced themselves as Jin and Neal. They each had a one on one battle, both using Bellsprout, which Croconaw easily defeated.
Being granted permission to continue to the last floor, he was met by an older sage, who wore a black robe as opposed to the other sages' white robes. "Welcome. You have done well to get this far. I shall be your last test. Only those who have a truly strong bond with their Pokémon will pass. Are you ready?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Then I, Elder Sage Li, shall teach you a lesson!" The elder sage replied, readying for battle. Silver was just ready to get this over with.