..Forged In Flames

by ..Beyond

PART ONE: THE INTERVIEW

- - - - -

So what's your name, young man?

Aiden.

Aiden. Okay. Got it. How old are you?

I'm nineteen, as of last week.

Happy birthday. Where are you from? Your hometown, I mean.

Thanks. Violet City. My dad is from Kanto, and my mom is from Johto. It's a much more suburban area than I'd have expected them to ever choose to live in, considering their backgrounds.

What backgrounds might those be?

Well, my mom is from Goldenrod. Born and raised. My dad used to live in Saffron. They both had steady, well-paying jobs. My dad especially. He used to be the security consultant for the Silph Company.

Am I being too specific?

Don't worry about it. The next question was going to be about your family regardless. We'll just combine the two.

(Laughs.) Thanks.

Anyway, my dad used to supervise the installation and utilization of surveillance and alarm systems at Silph Co. He retired from that a while after he and my mom met, dated, married, and settled down in the Violet area. My sister Kylie and I grew up there, but we're just as familiar with Saffron City as we are with Goldenrod, since we've taken so many vacations here in Kanto.

My mom works as a Pokemon groomer in the Goldenrod Underground.

Really?

Yeah. It's not anywhere near as grimey or shady as it used to be. Ever since they got rid of Team Rocket's equipment, they've been renovating it and taking advantage of all the space down there for more businesses that they couldn't make room for on the surface level.

She likes it well enough. I don't bother to ask her how well it pays, because I know she's content with how she lives. My mom adapts very well.

My dad started his own private investigation business a while ago. He's had some top executives from Silph as clients. Mostly he does industrial investigations for them. I never get too much information about work out of him, since a lot of it is confidential and is only obtained to be used for testimony in court as it is.

My sister is sixteen, and is a serious fitness enthusiast. She already is one of the main teachers in the local kickboxing classes. All of her martial arts studies have really disciplined her. She's much more judicious than she used to be. It's almost unnerving how much she's changed since we were kids.

As long as we're on the subject, how was your childhood?

I think I had a reasonably normal childhood. I didn't have too much to complain about. We had enough money to live comfortably, but we weren't rich. I grew up in a two-floor house, not including the basement, which was really just for storage. I had my own room, and I ended up being in it a lot after I got out of trainer school.

I didn't ever have to deal with divorce. I had one friend who did, though. My best friend. Jake. I remember the whole process. He was always so angry about it. They fought over him like he was just another piece of furniture. His Smoochum and I were the only ones he could trust.

My parents never understood how we became friends. We were so utterly different. Fire and Ice, they used to say. It fit pretty well, too, considering that our first Pokemon were Cyndaquil and Smoochum.

Then he just disappeared. It was right after we got out of school. We must have been about fourteen. I can't be sure, but I think I was the last person he spoke to before he left. We were hanging out by the edge of the ruins, watching the Magikarp jumping around in the ponds. Smoochum had made an ice platform for herself and Cyndaquil so that he wouldn't be uncomfortable with the idea of having all the water around him. Jake broke from our typical subjects of conversation and spoke for the last time about his problems with the divorce.

"I can't live this way anymore."

From the way he said it, I thought he was about to commit suicide or something.

"They still glare at each other when they trade me back and forth. They can never manage to remember the reason they're dropping me off. It's all about how much the one can't stand the other."

What he said next made me realize just how cold he really was inside.

"I hate them. I hate them for abandoning their promise. Their loyalty to one another. I hate them for their selfishness. They didn't even think about who else this whole stupid thing would affect."

I tried to calm him down, but I couldn't change his path.

"No. They don't care. I was just another compromise they made during the split."

Then he left. Smoochum followed. I didn't know, but it was the last I'd see of either of them.

I take it this was a very important moment in your life?

Yeah. More so than a lot of other moments I've experienced, anyway.

The following couple of years were anticlimactic. I hadn't really noticed it, but my parents did. I willingly isolated myself for long periods of time. I spent a lot of time reading about famous trainers and battle strategies. I would rarely leave the house for my own reasons. If I did, it would've been because Cyndaquil was unfairly cooped up for all those hours I stayed in my room.

Sometimes it would just be a regular walk by the ruins, and other times, it would be to find some trainers to battle.

I never really left Violet aside from vacations until my dad took me on one of his business trips to Cinnabar. I guess I was sixteen. My dad was hired during the power scandal.

When Blaine's supplemental electricity was cut, you mean?

Yeah. One of the executives at Silph Co. referred Blaine to my dad. Blaine had suspected foul play from the beginning. I remember there being some issue about how Cinnabar's power sources weren't enough to sustain the Gym's electric necessities. I guess that was after the tourism slash hotel boom that occurred after they cleaned up the mess from the volcano.

The Gym Leaders Commission looked into it, and managed to convince the guys running the Power Plant to send some more electricity Blaine's way. Sooner or later, the power lines had been cut. The Power Plant people didn't, and as they soon learned, couldn't, explain it.

That's when he called my dad.

After some serious work, he figured out that it was Koga's doing. Apparently, Koga was resentful of the special treatment that he felt Blaine was getting. He decided to take matters into his own hands. Since he had managed to make his walls invisible, he thought that a man as intelligent as Blaine should be able to get by with less complex machinery in his gym. He took advantage of his skills in ninjutsu, and cut the extra lines of power without leaving a trace.

How did your dad figure out it was him if he didn't leave a trace?

I'm not sure. He's never told me. Those court cases were kept as confidential as possible. He confessed and everything, though.

I guess they planned to hush the whole thing up by moving him into an Elite Four position.

Beats having a sub-par gym.

Sure does.

Mostly my focus was on Blaine. Since less and less people were coming to the gym because of the loss of power, he was losing local sponsorships. He could barely afford my dad's rate, which is very fair, considering his wide range of clients. They made a deal that my dad would do the investigative work at a discounted rate, but Blaine would have to teach me everything he knew.

He was nowhere near as resentful as I figured he'd be. He welcomed me into his training facility, and taught me how to best make use of Cyndaquil's abilities. I slowly became much more quietly observant and analytical than I ever had been. I was relaxed, but not to the point of ignorance. I was taught to be alert and to think ahead. I was to be able to think on my feet and change tactics immediately as the need would arise, just as a fire flickers.

After the situation with the power was handled, I asked to stay for a while. Cyndaquil had even become a Quilava at that point, and my dad was impressed enough with my progress to agree with my choice to remain on Cinnabar. He and my mom wanted nothing more than for me to be happy like I used to be. Training with Blaine opened me up to an entirely new mindset, and I was waking up from the sleep that Jake's disappearance had left me in.

He had always implied that it would be interesting to see me succeed him as the next leader for Cinnabar.

I ended up leaving on a journey to find out who I was. Even though I was enjoying the training, I never really expected him to mention anything about being a Gym Leader. It was an intimidating concept, and I felt that despite all I had done in terms of learning from him, I wasn't prepared for such a responsibility. I caught some Pokemon along the way, and I met my current girlfriend on a trip to Hoenn. She found me training on Mount Chimney and forced me to take a break. We were actually in similar predicaments. She was about to become the Gym Leader for Lavaridge Town, and she was nervous about meeting the expectations of her grandfather and the rest of the town.

So you're dating Flannery?

Yeah. I think we're coming up on six months. A lot of it is long-distance stuff, but we go places and hang out whenever we get the chance.

It's really because I moved back here. I couldn't find Blaine anywhere, and when people told me he retired and moved away, I was really disappointed. I mean, I knew he was getting on in years, but I never expected him to retire without my knowing.

I'd done a lot of training, and I'd added a significant number of Pokemon to my roster. After some consideration, I decided to apply to be the Gym Leader as a sign of apology to and respect for one of the most influential people in my life.

That's pretty much all I have, story-wise.

Okay then. On with the technical questions. We already know that you started with Cyndaquil, and that your chosen type is fire, right?

Right.

So what is your current roster?

Typhlosion, Flareon, Magmar, Camerupt, and Magcargo.

It seems that journey of yours spread across several countries.

Yeah. I've been to quite a few places.

Do you have a particular approach to training?

I think that a wide range of abilities on a team is key, especially for monotype trainers. It's a risky thing to apply yourself to the art of training and battling with only one specific type of Pokemon.

What is your typical trainer battle style like?

I'm very careful, but at the same time, I'm about hard offensive strikes. I like to use techniques that compromise the opponents' defenses. Often times I take advantage of the several side-effects of burns, such as additional damage and hesitation, which typically results in lowered speed.

If you were to battle as a gym leader, would this style change?

Not too much. In a regular battle, I play to win. If I battled as the Gym Leader, it would be much more about teaching than winning. Competence would be emphasized rather than competition.

That's very interesting. Do you have any ideals that you would like to imbue in those training with you?

Think ahead, and play to your strengths. Always have an ace in the hole, but be able to change that ace at a moments notice. Don't limit yourself. Always make room for passion, which the flame best represents.

Do you have any hopes for innovation in the gym?

I'd like it if it were more intimidating than technical. Less light. I'd keep the quizzes, but have less obvious answers. It should be about knowledge rather than common sense. I think that more difficult, out-of-the-box questions would open a trainer's mind up to the senses that they would need in order to defeat me.

I especially like that last bit. Thank you for participating, Aiden. The Gym Leaders Commission is hoping to find the best replacement for Blaine, and we are glad that you have volunteered to be a part of this organization.

No problem.

Before you leave, Aiden, there's something I'd like to tell you. Off the record, of course.

Yeah?

I hope you get the job.

Thanks. It means a lot.

... ... ...

And that's it for the first part. Part Two is when the story kicks in, and it'll be more like a regular story instead of an interview.

To tell you the truth, I like it.

First off, you start off with an unusual setup that might intimidate some grammar nuts, but the way you work it looks like a magazine interview and sounds like something you'd expect to find on 20/20. You quickly establish Aiden's character -- or at least the way people speak in a "casual interview" -- and you maintain it for the most part throughout the installment. Oftentimes, I could definitely hear the character's voice, a little detached from his past but nonetheless acknowledging that it's a part of him.

Same thing goes with the interviewer as well. You keep his lines short, but you let him react enough to what Aiden is saying to appear genuine.

One thing that I'm not entirely certain about, though, is the way dialogue is presented. It feels as if you're breaking away from the interview format to drift back into the past for one line. If that was intentional, then okay, but otherwise, it just feels a little jarring, especially since Aiden really doesn't lead into those quotes.

Overall, the storyline was well-written. The character has had rough times, but they follow a logical pattern and feel like the series of events could have happened to anyone famous, if that makes sense. In other words, Aiden's history just seems fairly true to life and very believable for someone who would be sitting down with an interviewer.

(I especially liked the part where they discuss how and why Koga got promoted to the Elite Four. You've managed to come up with a logical but unique reason, rather than simply the "because he has skills" explanation that many other writers who bother with staying very true to the GSC storyline tend to use.)

In any case, I'm interested in what else you do with this character and this story, so I'll keep an eye out for the next part. Keep up the good work.

Thanks. I actually made up the whole power scandal without the prewriting (surprise!), and I thought it came out to be pretty interesting. I'm glad it seems realistic. I hope the story lives up to what I've prepared so far.

I actually like this one. I have a feeling this is going to grow into a good story.

The main thing I really liked was how you make connections to the game, as mentioned by Jax. The Koga power scandal thing was great. Also, dating Flannery is a nice touch. Hottest gym leader in my opinion, no pun intended. Anyway's can't wait to see more of her hopefully.

The interview seems to be casual but does give us a lot of useful information for the beginning of the actual story. I have a feeling that this Jake from Aiden's past is going to show up. I think this story could go a lot of ways, which is what intrigues me to read the next chapter.

My rating for Part 1: 7/10

I put it on suscribed threads, excited for more! :D

AUTHOR's COMMENTS - PART ONE:

As you all can see, the story starts out with an interview. It was my original concept while the story was just barely beginning to come together in my head.

There are allusions to some of the changes made between the time of the Metal Generation and the Advance Generation, but I intentionally left Sinnoh out of the picture. I feel that it gives the story a slightly more "retro" vibe, and by taking the focus off of the ridiculous number of Pokemon in existence, it puts more emphasis on the actual story (at least that's how I see it). Also, leaving Aiden with a Magmar rather than a Magmortar is a connection to Blaine's TV roster, as well as the fact that he will always have room to grow, whether or not he becomes the Gym Leader.

I did enjoy coming up with a reason for Koga's promotion to the Elite Four. However, I don't really know what to do with the cliffhanger I ended up making (how Aiden's dad figured it out).

Most of the interview concerns Aiden's past, which I believe helps define his character and his reasons for being who he is.

Jake is a key part of the story. Even if he doesn't appear later on, his disappearance is what caused Aiden's apathy, which consequently led to the trip to Cinnabar. I chose divorce because many people go through divorce, and the children involved occasionally become scarred by it and go through radical changes.

Accompanying his dad was a different way for Aiden to have gotten to Cinnabar than I'd originally planned. At first, it was supposed to be a very short meeting on a field trip, and he was to be inspired by the few words Blaine would have spoken to them. I thought the personal training help would be a much more legitimate reason to have been so strongly influenced by him (as an answer to the question). I also had to change it because I made Aiden and Jake graduate from trainer school before the meeting with Blaine.

There isn't much known about Aiden's parents yet in terms of personality, but that'll change as the story moves forward. Typically, when someone makes such a dramatically different choice in occupation, (for example: well-paid top security consultant/supervisor to a small business private investigator) it implies that something went very wrong with the previous career. Even though it would appear that it was due to the change in location, something might be amiss in Silph Co.

Blaine's influence is a strong one. To be honest, I've never made it far enough in the game to battle Blaine in his prime (RBY/FRLG) save from quite a few years ago in Blue, so I don't know enough about the Blaine's personality or the quiz system to effectively recreate either. I basically went with my own ideas with connections to his TV persona, the Special manga, and the circumstances.

The beliefs he instills in Aiden will be ever-present as the story moves forward, and more will be revealed as the story progresses.

I decided that his goals for Aiden would be what broke the mentor-student partnership. This began Aiden's journey, which ended in Lavaridge Town, where he met Flannery and found common ground for discussion and encouragement. After staying for a while, he gained enough confidence to return to Blaine, or at least to Cinnabar.

Blaine's retirement is still unexplained, but it opens the position up for new people to come in. What could be better time for Aiden to return at the apex of his bravery?

Descriptions of the area (most likely with a reminiscent tone), meetings with current Gym Trainers (possibly with a battle or two to ensure competence?), and a visit from someone special with be in the next segment.

Keep reading, and thanks for all the comments so far!