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New Game +: Chapter 8, Human
Title: Human
Song Link: Human, behave yourself.
Characters: Silver, N, Black, Juniper, Black's Mother
Word Count: 1880
Silver and Julie, the next morning, knocked on the door to Professor Juniper’s lab in Nuvema Town, entering when no one answered. The main room was full of computers and equipment, most of it shoved against a wall, a few displays turned on and displaying scrolling numbers or graphs. A man in a blue jacket watched one of the displays, facing away from the two, mumbling to himself.
Julie called out. “Hello? Is Professor Juniper here?”
Black whirled around. “You!” He pointed a finger at Julie, who immediately stepped behind Silver, shrinking about three inches in height as her posture worsened. “Why the fuck are you wearing a dress?”
Silver turned his head to look at Julie, who reached down for her cube and, not finding it there, pulled at the fabric of her skirt a bit. “It’s a blouseandskirtcombo, notadress...” She looked down at the floor, feet pointing inward. Eevee nuzzled against her calf, but received no acknowledgement.
“Whatever,” said Black, grabbing a Pokéball from his belt. “I—”
“Hold up,” said Silver, stepping forward and lifting one arm sideways to make space between Black and Julie. “She’s not a trainer. She can’t battle you.”
Black snorted, pulling his hat down most of the way over his eyes. “Is that what he told you? I’m pretty sure he was a trainer when he defeated the former champion of Unova, isn’t that right N?” He tossed his Pokéball in the air and then caught it, other hand in his pocket. Julie kept staring at the floor.
Silver turned halfway to face Julie. “You were the champion of Unova?”
Julie shrugged. “Fora coupledays, I guess.”
“But you... Don’t have any Pokémon except the one.”
“Some friends helped.”
He turned back to Black. “You’re the champion now, anyway, right? So this shouldn’t matter now?”
Black pulled the hat all the way down over his eyes and shook his head. “Not anymore. I can’t take down six Kyurems.” He glared at Julie. “And it’s his fault that the Kyurems are out there, I bet. Everything else is. Because we were supposed to be heroes together and he vanished.”
Silver narrowed his eyes, and continued to hold his arm up, staring at the brim of Black’s hat. “Her name is Julie.”
“I know full well what gender my ex-boyfriend is, stranger.”
Silver couldn’t restrain a laugh, his arm slowly falling. “Is there even such a thing as a straight Pokémon trainer?”
“Cheren,” Black and Julie said in unison, and then Julie took another step back.
“Okay. Great.” Silver put his hand to his temples and shook his head. “But look. You know what gender she was, and now she’s something different, and you’re terrifying her and I would really appreciate it if you stopped and I bet so would she.” He took a deep breath. “Also while this is important, you just said that you’re not the champion anymore and that makes me very nervous. If Giovanni became Champion he’d have power advantages in Pokémon, weaponry, and politics.”
“That would be the guy.” Black lifted his head to look at Silver; his eyes reminded Silver of Kotone’s in their fierceness. “I woke Kyurem, captured it, and put it in the PC box; next thing I knew there were guys in uniform running around with copies, and most of them weren’t too hard to take out, but the boss was... too much. So I came back here, to plan, to figure out how to beat him. The last thing I expected to see was—” He nodded his head and bit his lip. “The person behind you. Also, who are you anyway?”
“Silver,” said Silver. “I’m Giovanni’s son.”
—
Black, Professor Juniper, Silver, and Julie sat at Black’s mother’s dining room table while Black’s mother prepared tea. Professor Juniper sat at the center of the table, while Black and Julie sat at the ends; Silver sat next to Julie, fidgeting with Crobat’s Pokéball. Julie counted the number of bends in the wood grain of the table; every now and then she would mumble a number in the hundreds. Professor Juniper looked at both sides of the table and hung her head.
“Look,” said Black, putting both hands on the table. “His Pokémon are just... broken, somehow. We’re never going to beat them in a fair match. Cynthia couldn’t do it, I couldn’t do it, who else is there? Dawn’s not bad but she’s not enough. Most of the trainers in Unova can’t even handle grunts if the grunts have Kyurem. We need to stop fighting fair. We need to train our Pokémon to attack trainers.”
Juniper closed her eyes. “Black, I understand why you think we have to do this. But what happens afterward? We teach Pokémon to kill, and then we take out Giovanni, and then we have Pokémon who kill, and no targets. You can’t come back from that.”
“Rocket killed first,” said Black. “Right, Silver?” Everyone looked at him, including Black’s mother, and Silver took a deep breath.
“Having Pokémon who go outside the rules is only effective as a surprise tactic, and probably only once. Giovanni has guns. He’s only interested in the rules because they amuse him; the instant one of us breaks a rule, they put holes in the Pokémon and then they put holes in us. Game over.”
Black mulled for a moment, and then sat up straight. “So we need guns, then!”
Juniper leaned back. “So you think teaching people to kill people is a better idea, then?” Silver shrank, looking away. Julie put a hand on his shoulder.
Black’s mother put down a teapot and four mugs. “It’s a lesson we used to know, Aurea.” The two held eye contact for a moment, and then Juniper shook her head again.
Silver reached up and touched Julie’s hand, sitting up straight, and spoke. “What is their goal? Giovanni is the Champion, so they control Victory Road. They can set policy for gyms, they’re technically in charge of Pokémon-related law although they will get pushback if they try to use that, they could halt distribution of starter Pokémon.” Juniper nodded. “I don’t think they need to collect all the legendaries for that. What are they actually after?”
Black grumbled. “Who cares? They’re bad guys. We need to take them out.” His mother handed him some tea, which he took in his hands but did not drink.
Juniper took a small sip of tea and nodded to Black’s mother in thanks, and then put down her mug. “We do need to stop them,” she said, “but...” The front door opened, and they were all silent, the professor and both trainers’ hands immediately moving to their Pokéballs.
Black’s mother walked in the front door cheerily. “It’s so good to see you back, Black!” She noticed Black’s mother pouring out the last mug of tea, who looked up and saw her. “Shit,” said each, in markedly different voices. Black’s mother pouring tea pulled off her mask to reveal Looker, smiling grimly.
“Sorry, ma’am,” he said. “This was important.”
Black’s other mother laughed. “Oh, no, you have...” She nearly doubled over, as Black looked on in shock. “No, see... Oh Looker this is great.” She stood up and took off her own mask, revealing Cynthia with her hair tightly bound in a lattice of bobby pins. “Your costume was totally better.”
Julie tensed up, and Silver squeezed her hand. Juniper shook her head, laughing quietly, and Black just stared slack-jawed. For a moment no one spoke.
“How much time do we have?” asked Looker.
“Not much,” said Cynthia. “The Rockets know we’re here.”
“I’ll make things quick, then.” Looker drank some of the tea he had poured for Julie. “Giovanni’s main goal is to clone Arceus and use the power contained thereby to ensure world domination. Ghetsis’s main goal is to destroy the world and bring about some sort of new order where there is only Plasma. I’m not sure why they’re working together.”
Cynthia laughed, gradually letting her hair down. “The hate-sex must be fantabulous.” Looker glared at her, and Silver and Julie stared at each other very uncomfortably.
“We’re collecting the legendaries because the more legendaries they collect, the harder it will be to skirmish with them while we try to prevent them from getting Arceus.”
Cynthia nodded, tossing her hair out. “But the real goal is to get to Arceus first and use his power to fix all of this. We thought Kotone had Arceus, but apparently not.”
Silver shook his head. “You don’t keep God in a ball longer than you have to.”
She nodded. “Sounds like Kotone.” This time Julie squeezed Silver’s hand, and Black just shook his head. “So what do we do?”
Looker frowned. “The plan was that Silver would go in after Giovanni, we’d find Arceus, and Black would organize resistance.”
Silver looked up at Looker. “You expected me to succeed?”
“No,” said Looker calmly, and he continued. “But now that he’s Champion we’re going to have bigger problems. I’ve lost contact with the Elite Four, and it’s only a matter of time before the gym leaders are replaced with cronies. We need to act fast.”
Silver stood up. “I’ll go after Giovanni,” he said, and Looker smiled. “But I’m going to do it my way.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out the gun Looker had given him, and put it down on the table. Looker frowned. “The way Kotone would have done it. I will collect eight gym badges, and challenge the current Champion.”
Black shook his head. “You’re not going to be able to take him down.”
Silver shrugged. “Maybe not.”
Julie stood up. “I want to go, too.” She turned to Professor Juniper. “But I don’t have any Pokémon. Can you start me off?”
Juniper smiled. “Yes. Yes, I can.” She reached into a pocket of her lab coat and pulled out a Pokédex. “What’s your name?”
“Julienne Harmonia.”
Juniper frowned at the Pokédex. “I’m sorry, I’m required to ask you this. Are you a boy or a girl?”
Julie stood up. “Yes,” she said. “I am a boy or a girl.”
Juniper looked at the Pokédex. “I, um.” She slid her finger around on the screen. “Actually, it seemed to take that. Excellent. Here you go. I’m afraid I don’t have starter Pokémon right now.” She handed the Pokédex to Julie, who stared at it.
“Do me, too,” said Silver.
“You’re already registered,” said Looker. “We don’t have—”
“As Giovanni’s son. If I start over, it will take them a while to catch on. Professor?”
Juniper pulled out another Pokédex. “What’s your name?”
Silver pulled at the front of his old school jacket; it was ratty and faded, the threading on the red trim starting to come loose. He ran a hand through his hair, feeling how thin it was by the roots, fingers following the skin up his temples as his hairline receded. He looked at Black, sulking, and over at Cynthia, whose smile made it clear she was enjoying something about this. He looked at Juniper, who waited. Eevee nuzzled his ankle.
“My name is Gray,” said Silver.
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Okay but yes, I can totally see why you were freaking out over an October deadline. You did get to a good ending point, but I absolutely cannot wait for this story to be continued!!
I can see what you mean about Black; yeah, the poor boy did get his characterization kind of shafted. Still, you know that, so there's no point in lingering over it.
No one ever, ever writes future!fic for Pokemon. This fic was such a treat because it was so far after the end of the games, and I loved the fact that they were older, and seeing how characters and relationships had deepened, changed, and evolved. You have converted me to Julie(N)/Silver and I want to read it forever, I loved Julie's snarky response to Juniper when asked what her gender was, and I loved the way you wrote the Pokémon with as much sensitivity as the people. Bill's short part in the beginning made me laugh, but also made me really stop and think. It was good, and I appreciated it.
Silver was such a delight to read in this. He changed so subtly and everything he did made perfect sense to me. He's flawed and crippled but still him, still here, and that sort of...strength that goes beyond endurance is so endearing. I feel like I love him a lot more than I used to, thanks to this fic.
One of the things that really impressed me was how you evoked so many different sorts of emotions, but your actual writing itself never really deviated from a sense of calmness. I'm not sure how to properly express this, but in keeping the tone even, you were able to write about sadness, violence, anger, and humor without any of those very different emotions ever feeling out of place. I didn't think you went too fast or too slow anywhere. The very last conversation where they're all in Black's house felt a little narrator-y, but I feel like that was a necessary evil there, and overall, I was completely enthralled by every last character interaction.
But seriously, though, I flinched every time guns and holes were mentioned. NO MORE GUNS. NO MORE HOLES. I do wonder, you do have reasoning for why Giovanni and Ghestis are working together, right? I was a little afraid that you didn't, and the fic ended before I could figure it out.
I am glad you at least mentioned Red, a lot, enough to assuage my concern and pique my interest. But my interest! It is piqued! Was his story somewhere else and I missed it?
oh god please don't let him be dead tooBut seriously, seriously, please tell me you're going to be continuing this. Write it for the next pokebb (sign-ups start next April) if you have to. I WANT SO MUCH MORE. I WANT THIS FIC TO CONTINUE AND BE EPIC AND ALSO POSSIBLY NEVER, EVER END.
You really hit this out of the park, hon. Great job!!
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I hadn't initially planned to continue this just because of the work involved, but I... might have to do it for next year's Big Bang, yeah. If I make better use of my time in the summer, and outline before I get there, I might be able to actually get through the whole story. Maybe.
No one ever, ever writes future!fic for Pokemon.
Really? Huh. I just... it seemed like the natural thing to do? I love the characters so much but in the games they are kind of kids and I wanted to write about people who had had a chance to grow and heal (and... scar, poor Silver). I'm glad that it worked and that you liked it!
I feel like I love him a lot more than I used to, thanks to this fic.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! SILVER IS SO GREAT I mean okay maybe not sooooo great but Silver is the person I identify with most in all of Pokémon and that is probably kind of messed up but whatever. I love Silver and want him to be happy and wish that weren't so hard.
I do wonder, you do have reasoning for why Giovanni and Ghestis are working together, right? I was a little afraid that you didn't, and the fic ended before I could figure it out.
I had reasoning that made complete and perfect sense when I was outlining. Then I got like 12000 words in and was like "Wait, why does Giovanni need Ghetsis again? Did I write myself into a corner?" I don't think so, thinking about it more, but I'm going to be revisiting that and writing the two of them more if/when I come back to this to make sure that everything is watertight. Giovanni definitely needed Ghetsis to start the project, I'm 110% sure of that.
I am glad you at least mentioned Red, a lot, enough to assuage my concern and pique my interest. But my interest! It is piqued! Was his story somewhere else and I missed it? oh god please don't let him be dead too
...I'm so sorry. ;.;
I am so glad you liked this and that the tone/genre stuff I was aiming for worked for you! It makes me feel really great about writing it! I respect your opinion a lot. <3 Thank you.
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Overall I found this a fun ride and a neat look at some familiar game characters. I too would love to see a continuation of Silver's story.
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You had some pretty interesting interpretations of the social politics and constructions of the Pokemon world and it was very interesting to read... but I definitely became far more interested in the plot. So I'd definitely read more if you did write more.
...also I wanted to punch Black in the face.
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he gets better I promiseI'm glad that you liked it! The pacing early on is kind of incongruous with the rest of it; I really wanted to set up why all of this mattered and show that the loss was real and I wasn't sure how to do that except to have this big shear. I'm glad that you appreciate it; I'm curious if you think there might have been a better way to do it? Just because I didn't see one doesn't mean there wasn't one there.
I do think a strong plot helps carry along some of the ridiculous social politics stuff I wanted to do --- on its own or in a character study I think it would really bog down. I'm glad it was interesting in its own right, too, though. :) Thanks so much for reading and commenting!
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That's the thing -- I'm not sure that there is a better way that wouldn't be detrimental to the rest of the story. It did mean it took me a little longer to get into it, but I think that was worth it in the long run.
Oh, definitely. I didn't mean to sound like I was possibly suggesting one would be better without the other, because that's not the case at all, I was just grumpily having a 'oh my god YOU CANNOT LEAVE ME HANGING LIKE THIS' moment.
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Okay maybe I have to continue this next year then :) I didn't realize it would be such a cliffhanger!
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I love Green. Watching him die was a bit heart-wrenching. At the same time, I realize that this was necessary. But damn, you are definitely bold to kill off so many characters at once. It cemented the severity of the situation and tempered the humor with seriousness. It was necessary, and you made your point with a devastating bang (no pun intended).
There were so many things I loved about this piece... though first and foremost has to be the inclusion of the cloning trick. I still look back fondly on how I used to exploit that trick again and again and again with my legendaries so that I could trade with my friends for other ones, but you just reversed my opinion of that trick. The fact that you included it was pretty awesome, mostly because I haven't read anything that deals with its potential consequences. You've done this in spades, and I'm kind of in shock at how someone like Giovanni or Ghetsis could exploit the situation... (and it fits, too, given Giovanni's history with cloning)
Um. Julie? She's definitely one of my favorites. She's funny and snarky at the right times (love her response to Professor Juniper's asinine question; also, the fact that you included that just makes this fic all the more special), but still keeps enough of that naïve personality we saw from N in Black and White. I wasn't too sure how I felt about the idea of N being a male-to-female transgendered person. I'd seen the idea pitched and requested on places like pokanon but had never seen something done about it. You executed it rather well and have made me a believer.
I also really enjoyed how you took into account that time had passed and the characters were developed. At first it was a bit off-putting to see Silver be more open about his emotions, but when I took into account that this was set in the future, it certainly made a lot of sense. Kotone's insistence that Silver is shy and your portrayal of him as insecure really strikes a chord in me, mostly since insecure!Silver is definitely a staple in my headcanon. You wrote him beautifully, I think, though I would have excepted him to be a lot angrier after what Giovanni did to Kotone.
I'm kind of distressed that it ends here. I can't wait for the continuation. I want to see what happens and how you develop Black (I understand that the time constraints didn't allow you to characterize him as you would have liked, so I'll forgive him for his insensitivity) and what happens between Silver and Julie and Cynthia, oh god, I really enjoy your Cynthia. She gives a whole new meaning to the term cougar (I'm assuming that she's been aged up as well; your mention of her wrinkles seemed to imply this).
All in all, I really enjoyed this and can't wait for your continuation!
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I'm really surprised that no one has ever taken on Pokémon cloning or hacking before. I mean, you can digitize living beings and then get them out the other end. What's to say you couldn't make copies and screw with their stats and do who knows what to them? And Giovanni would be all over that. And so I had to try it. I'm glad you think I did it well!
I don't think trans is the only way to handle how N doesn't fit into Unovan gender roles, but it works, and Pokémon doesn't have any canonically trans characters I can think of. I hadn't actually realized this was a thing other people thought, I just... it made sense to me? I am glad that it worked for you.
Handling Silver's anger was really hard and I am still not sure I got it quite right. He's furious, he's livid, but he's also spent the last fifteen years with Kotone learning not to let his anger overtake him, learning to respond by bending instead of breaking, and now when it's almost appropriate to break he is just curling up into a ball instead. But still trying, because for all that he is insecure and terrified, he wants to do right. To me the most important part of this story and the reason I felt like I could end it here was that Silver got from being in complete shock to choosing a path forward --- not having it pushed on him by Looker, not running away from Cynthia, not blindly following his father. And Julie, for all that she's also damaged, is a huge catalyst for that.
I love Cynthia so much. Cynthia is my favorite everything. :) I am glad you do too!
Thanks so much for reading and for your comments! I am really glad you enjoyed this story and hope that you enjoy any continuation I do as well.
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The registration part is where everything new about Silver and Julie/N fell into place. It would be epic. I want to say 'Write the sequel please', but maybe leaving it open like that is a better choice as it leaves room to imagination.
If there's something to complain about... It felt like there's not enough exploration. Some plot points seemed to be waved off instead of developed, like why Team Rocket decided to use guns out of the blue, why Giovanni let the fainted Silver there instead of carrying him back to the base, why Ghetsis decided to cooperate with Team Rocket and how did they meet, did they had a chat over tea and had fantabulous hate-sex or did it went like a business negotiation? Then again, this was mostly from Silver's eyes, so maybe he just wasn't observant or up-to-date in the gossips. Still, there must be ways to have more actually-first-person-third-person exploration. It'll be good to see more of that universe. We also need more... scenery? Most stimuli from this fic are meant to be simulation of stimuli to the eyes and ears, but what about touch, smell and taste? Not that I remember writing them in my fic (or maybe I did? I can't remember what I wrote), but just suggesting.
Anyway, good job!
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I think your critiques are right on, especially the stimuli thing --- there's more of them in the beginning because that's the part I revised more. ^^;; But even there it's a tendency I have toward the cinematic, which while it isn't always bad can get to be a real problem over a long span of text. You're right to call it out, so thank you.
I do have a pretty detailed explanation of what's going on with Team Rocket and why Ghetsis is cooperating, but I'm going to hold on to them for if/when I actually write more. I think that since right now their policy is strikes wiht no survivors, there's not a lot of information about them around, and so the reader and the protagonists are both in the dark; of course Looker knows more, and so Cynthia knows more, and so there's more that could have been said. And, in a couple of places, should be.
Thank you so much! I'm really glad that you liked it, and I appreciate the detailed commentary. :)