[Pokémon] Aberdeen

Trying to improve my writing and also do some pokémon stuff for once. 'Deen' is a teen trainer from the roleplay Crossroads, which can be read in Roleplay Theatre forums here on PC (here ). That's not necessary though. Hopefully, the only thing you need to know from there in order to make sense of this here, is that the Quilladin has recently unlocked the ability to speak human language.
Happy reading! Any comments are appreciated afterwards <3



Aberdeen
a CROSSROADS story

1 - Enter

While Viridian Forest was said to be the oldest and most vivid forest on the Johkanto mainland, the woods to the west of Azalea Town could definitely rival it in mystery and depth. Ilex was not a happy place to carelessly stroll by on your way to Goldenrod. It was a myth for the townspeople, an obstacle to go around for the common traveler, and a challenge for a pokémon trainer.

Aberdeen just didn't feel like being a pokémon trainer at this point.

He still took the road through the forest. It was nearly overgrown, even though Bugsy had assured him that his assistants were clearing the path out once every week at least. Perhaps the forest was alive, and tried to erase traces of humanity as soon as the intruders looked away. However, none of these thoughts were really going through the trainer's mind as he trudged on beneath the thick canopy. Rather, they were swirling around in his trusty first pokémon's head.

Chocolate kept the pace up, but he threw Aberdeen worried glances every now and then. The shiny Quilladin had never disobeyed his trainer yet, and he had also never quite disagreed with him. But now... Things were different. Deen was different.

"I'm really happy that Winter is back!" Chocolate said, trying to break the dark atmosphere surrounding them. "Aren't you?"

The purple creature in Aberden's arms chirped appreciatively and fluttered its ears in its teammate's direction. Deen muttered a 'mm' in response and Chocolate could see his arms pull together a little tighter around the Whismur's body.

Chocolate sighed. "Ab! What are we doing? Why did you leave all the other pokémon back in the pokémon center?"

"They don't need me," Deen said, at least using actual words for the first time since they entered the woods.

"Of course they do! I need you, Winter wouldn't have been here now if it wasn't for you-"

"Pangea would have been alive if it wasn't for me."

The boy's words were not loud, but they were incredibly tense. Chocolate didn't take the hint though.

"You don't know for sure that she's dead! We could go back and-"

"She's gone!"

They stopped. The forest itself was listening in on them; Winter shuddered where he sat in the embrace. He felt a presence around them that the Quilladin and boy did not take notice of.

"She's gone and she won't come back and it's my fault for pushing her to fight my battle!"

"We are your pokémon, we are supposed to fight your battles!" Chocolate retorted.

"Are you listening to yourself?"

Aberdeen's eyes had never stared as intently at him before.

"You were grown in a lab, trained to be the property of a trainer one day, you are a great pokémon and partner, but Pangea..." The trainer took a few breaths and Chocolate wished that he could move up to steady the still shaken trainer, but he knew that he wouldn't let him. "A wild Pidgey, caught by me, forced to obey my orders-"

"She liked you. I mean, she respected you. I knew her, you know? I talked to her a lot, even if she didn't quite like, um, everybody else," Chocolate said, as calmly as he could, with the slightest apologizing glance at the Whismur.

Deen was quiet for a few moments, not even noticing that Winter was starting to twist in his grip.

"I'm sorry..." he then said. "She was your friend. I didn't even think about that."

"No worries!" Chocolate said and felt relief wash over him. Perhaps Deen's turbulence was over.

"I didn't even consider the fact that my team of pokémon were friends with each other. Much better friends with each other than with me. You don't need me."

Not over yet.

"We are all friends! I mean, sure, Honedge is a bit scary, Flaaffy is her own best friend, Dratini's still pretty new and I'm actually not sure of what Psyduck is saying all the time but - hey!"

Aberdeen had started walking again, still ignoring or not being aware of Winter's obvious wish to escape his arms. Chocolate fell into a sprint to catch up with them.

"Why did you bring me and Winter along, then?"

A few more moments of silence.

"Because I need you," came his trainer's simple reply.

"See, I knew it! And I need you, Ab! You are my trainer!"

Just as Deen looked about to flare up again, a horrible noise filled the air. Both the grass pokémon and the boy slammed their hands over their ears in pain, while the Whismur bounced down onto the ground just as the noise stopped. It didn't take them many seconds to realize that the sound had been an Uproar attack from Winter. By then, the small purple monster had already disappeared into the foliage beside the road.

"Winter?" Aberdeen called out.

"He likes battling, but he really doesn't like... Fighting," Chocolate explained weakly.

"Oh, no. Winter!"

Deen didn't hesitate. He jumped through the vegetation, arms first, fast determined to not lose his Whismur again. Chocolate was left standing on the path alone, unsure of what was the best thing to do. But certainly not unsure of what he was going to do. He would follow his trainer anywhere. Even if Aberdeen didn't know all of his dark history and made assumptions, it didn't make Chocolate upset. Anywhere.

"I can't believe I'm actually wishing that the Honedge was here now," he muttered to himself as he dove into the dark green after the others.

On the road through Ilex Forest, another vine slowly crept over the cleared path. It wouldn't be long until it had to be cleared up again, or become just another viridian myth of the past.
​

2 - Encounter

Walking through the uncharted depths of Ilex Forest was only slightly made easier by Chocolate's Vine Whip. Chocolate himself wouldn't have had much trouble, of course, but he aided his trainer as well as he could. Winter had run off very quickly, it seemed.

"Winteeeer!" the Quilladin called out occasionally as they were making their way through the vegetation. "Ab, why aren't you calling out for him?"

"Maybe there are wild pokémon that we don't want to attract the attention of," Aberdeen replied and practically jumped through a bush in front of him.

Unfortunately, there was a bit of a steep fall on the other side. The boy fell over when his feet finally hit the ground, and tumbled for a bit. The Quilladin saved himself as elegantly as could be expected from a circular pokémon using a Rollout move in the last second.

"You okay, Ab?" he said when he had found his footing again.

The boy didn't reply. He was still sitting on the ground, staring at something in front of him. Chocolate followed his gaze and saw that they had entered a clearing. Some daylight actually reached them here, but the remarkable thing about it was that there was a small building erected in the middle.

"What's that? Is it a shrine?" Aberdeen suggested, standing up. "There is supposed to be a legendary fairy around these parts..."

Chocolate thought he heard a bit of the old, curious Aberdeen shine through those words. "Perhaps the humans put a shrine up to try and make it happy!"

"Or try to capture it."

"Or that..."

They slowly moved closer. The shrine looked like a tiny cottage. Flower patterns were carved into the wood, which looked ancient. It must have been here for hundreds of years, at least. And when Aberdeen peeked inside...

"Winter!" he gasped and broke out into a smile.

The Whismur sat just inside of the shrine, but it looked upset and didn't quite move closer to his trainer when Aberdeen reached for him. Just as Chocolate had assumed.

"I'm sorry. Please forgive me. I won't argue anymore. We weren't fighting before, I would never fight with Chocolate. Or with you. Or with any of my pokémon! You guys are on my side, and I'm always on yours."

Winter's apprehension seemed to fade and it irked the tiniest bit closer to the entrance of the small cottage.

"Please forgive me?"

A jump and a hug later, and all seemed to be well again, with the Whismur sitting safely in his trainer's arms once more.

"At least he doesn't hold grudges!" Chocolate chuckled and started moving up to the pair.

A sudden movement in the corner of his eye made him stop. Instinctively, his Vine Whip shot out and came to hover protectively over his trainer and teammate.

"What are you doing?" Aberdeen asked, confused.

"There's someone here."

They were still. The forest was quiet, not even a gust of wind seemed to move the leaves on the trees. Winter let out a small squeak. Aberdeen noticed that it wasn't a squeak of fright though. Rather, he sounded happy.

"Stand down, Choco," he ordered. His pokémon obeyed without hesitation, retracting its vines again. "Who's there? Come out, we won't hurt you!"

Still, the forest was almost unnaturally quiet.

"And I won't capture you. I'm not looking for more pokémon... I need to learn to take care of the ones I already have," Aberdeen continued, giving Chocolate a determined look.

"You think it's a pokémon?"

Just then, something glimmered and made them look up towards the roof of the shrine. A small creature was sitting there. Pale, pink skin and large, green eyes peering down at them calmly.

"... Or a fairy," Aberdeen breathed. "Hello."

"Hello," the fairy replied.

"Wow, it's just like me!" Chocolate laughed, but then realized what that might be implying. "Were you taken by Team Rocket too?"

The fairy's expression turned more somber, and no reply came.

"I'm sorry for you," Aberdeen said, once again clutching the Whismur to his chest maybe just a little bit too hard. "But I will take Team Rocket down. I will do anything I can to prevent them from harming more people or pokémon. I promise!"

His voice had risen, as had the level of worry in his pokémon. After the events of Slowpoke Well, Aberdeen Montany was a changed boy.

The fairy's gaze focused on him, and became intense. "Do you mean that?"

"Yes!" Aberdeen practically yelled.

A smile came over the fairy's face, and it took off from the shrine's roof, apparently able to fly. Without another word, it raised its arms. The whole clearing began to shine.

"What's going on?" Chocolate asked, jumping closer to Aberdeen.

A blinding light filled their field of view, and the next thing they knew, nothing was silent anymore.

​