newpokemonfan
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Hi everyone 
this is my first published fic so I'm excited to hear what people think
The air in Johto was beginning to get cooler. The trees were turning beautiful shades of wine red and ginger orange, the ground became carpets of the same hues. Stepping outside, the atmosphere smelled cleaner and it felt crisper. It was the perfect sweater weather. Everyone was pulling out last year’s boxes of warm clothes and getting ready to say goodbye to the hot summer nights.
Of course, weather like this meant only one thing for the region’s gyms: the annual Halloween festival. Every year, each gym was to host a celebration for the locals. It was mostly aimed at children. It had the usual fall activities. There was a “haunted house” set up inside the gym, there were carriage rides around outside. Some of them had corn mazes. The night ended with a costume contest and ghost stories.
The whole thing had been Will’s idea years ago. It was a way to provide the communities with something fun to participate in, even if not everyone was looking to become a Pokemon trainer. But for those who were, it was a great way to get them sort of introduced to the culture training. The events were all hosted by each gym’s leader and a panel of other volunteers, most of them trainers themselves. Will himself often made an appearance at one lucky gym, using it as an opportunity to dress up, mostly. He’d also treat the party-goers to a genuine scary story about the infamous Masked Man, always ending it with “And the worst part? This story is one hundred percent true.”
Bugsy, always a defender of the creepy crawlies, loved hanging up the Spinarak webs around his gym. Whitney’s haunted houses were always the perfect balance between scary and fun. Chuck’s corn mazes and apple-bobbing contests were Johto-renowned. Jasmine’s treats were always the tastiest. Pryce had the best old ghost stories. Clair’s costumes were show-stopping every year. And of course Morty, being a ghost type trainer, put on the region’s best festival every year
But Falkner? He couldn’t stand the holiday.
Every year, usually at the end of July, someone would mention it. It didn’t matter who it was. That early on, Falkner could say something about it being too hot to think of the fall yet, or to enjoy the rest of the summer, anything to push off talking about the holiday. And it would work for a little bit. They’d drop it, they’d get on with their lives. Other community events happened. There were end of the summer things. There were generic harvest celebrations. But then the dreaded holiday would be brought up again and it would be much too late for him to argue with it.
It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the community involvement. It wasn’t that he disliked Will, necessarily. He wasn’t too fond of the Elite Four Member. Always hiding behind a mask, always putting up some kind of a show. Falkner didn’t dislike him by any means, but he didn’t appreciate his conduct. It seemed to him that Will viewed training as some kind of a joke. Obviously it was not. It was a craft, a great skill to be treated with honor and dignity. Not masks and costumes. The Halloween festival was like the antithesis of everything Falkner believed a gym stood for.
Just Falkner’s luck that Will himself would be the one to remind him of the upcoming festival.
Falkner wasn’t expecting to walk into his gym and see anyone there. It was early. He and his Pidgeot were up around dawn. They had moves to practice for an upcoming battle. The things that the gym was supposed to be used for. But when they entered, there was Will, sitting right at the entrance of the gym with a smug smirk across his clown-like face and a mysterious gaze in his mask-hidden eyes.
“How are the preparations for the Halloween festival, Falkner?” Will asked. Falkner sighed and set down his bag.
“To be honest with you,” he said bitterly, still annoyed by the Elite Four Member’s unwanted presence in his gym, “I’ve had other things going on. Most of us are still working on our craft, you know. Practicing. Understanding our Pokemon. Perhaps a psychic type is not as delicate and complicated as a flying type, I wouldn’t know, but I would assume that your focus on such childish traditions would imply that I certainly have more work to do than you.”
Will’s smirk changed slightly. Almost surprised. Falkner regretted his thinly-veiled critique of how Will spent his time. He was dangerous, after all. This was the guy who joined the Masked Man out of sheer boredom. Perhaps such an unstable individual wasn’t to be criticized in such a way.
“Maybe some recreation would do you some good, Falkner,” Will said. He stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. “This festival, if you would only allow it, could be a great opportunity for you to unwind.”
“My apologies, Will,” Falkner said, carefully rotating his shoulder to allow Will’s hand to drop off of it. “My comments were unwarranted. I supposed it’s slightly too early for me to like to speak with anyone.”
“Well, Falkner, my comments were warranted and still stand,” he said. “I think this festival could really help you relax. I’ve got an idea for you. This year, I’ll partner you up with someone. They can teach you how they’ve been running this event for the past few years, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two about the spirit of the season, hm?”
Surprisingly, this wasn’t the worst idea Falkner had heard come out of Will’s mouth. He was going to suggest Bugsy, maybe. A child. He would certainly not notice if Falkner simply allowed him to run the whole show. Or Clair. She was busy preparing her costume and likely wouldn’t see Falkner’s obvious boredom. Or maybe Pryce. He was probably too old to notice it.
“Who?” Falkner asked to humor Will. The same familiar smirk returned to Will’s face and Falkner realized he had made a mistake.
“Perhaps our region’s best festival planner,” Will said. “Morty.”
Morty? He would have been Falkner’s last pick for a partner. He’d actually have to be good at planning for this stupid party with someone who cared about it. But then again, Morty seemed like a pretty relaxed guy. Maybe he wouldn’t force Falkner to do anything at all. It would be hard to reason with him, though, but it was worth a shot.
“Fine,” Falkner said. “Perhaps you’re correct. I suppose it’s possible I could be overworking myself. I always tend to around this time of year especially. I feel as though it is my responsibility to pick up where others seem to… drop off in order to prepare for the season.”
“Attaboy,” Will said, patting Falkner’s shoulder a little too firmly for his liking. He could protest this time. He had made himself rather paranoid at the idea of criticizing Will too harshly now. Maybe he had been awake long enough now to realize that it was a dangerous game to play. “I’ll arrange everything, don’t you worry about a thing.”
“Oh, I won’t,” Falkner said, knowing full well that he still would worry.
A few days passed and Falkner forgot about his conversation with Will. After all, he was still very busy training, practicing, working as he always was. It was easy for him to lose himself in his craft. He didn’t have much time to think about what Will had said. That all changed one moring when he was on his way into his gym again with his Pidgeot.
There was a man standing outside. He had blonde hair, sort of messy and tied up with a mauve headband. His scarf was a matching shade, though the tips were a wine red. His top was a soot-black sweater with sleeves that matched the scarf and headband. He had powder-white jeans and some of the stupidest shoes that Falkner had ever seen. Somehow every color that he had in his outfit. It was coordinated, he had to give him credit for that. Falkner realized that the lilac shade throughout his outfit was the same color as his eyes. He didn’t know how long he had been looking into his eyes before he realized who he was starring at.
Morty.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” Morty said snickering. “Ready to start the day the Morty way?”
“I’ve been up for a few hours, actually,” Falkner informed him, huffing a little at the suggestion that he was anything close to being “sleepy.”
“And I’ve been up for twenty minutes,” Morty shrugged. “Obviously you’re already falling behind. Not to worry. I’ll have you caught up to speed in no time.”
Falkner couldn’t see how he was falling behind, but he wasn’t really in the mood to argue with Morty. He didn’t want to have to spend anymore time with him, but he realized that the sooner he gave in, the sooner he would be done having to deal with him. He was going to just play along and try to get it over with.
“Alright,” Falkner said, taking a deep breath, “What’s the plan for today?”
“Plan?” Morty laughed. “There’s no plan, we’re just going to go with the flow. Why don’t we start off with, I don’t know, some brunch?”
“Brunch?” Falkner asked, just to make sure he had heard the ghost-type trainer correctly. What did brunch have to do with the Halloween party? If that’s all they were going to do, it would surely be a waste of time. Falkner was annoyed that he was giving away precious time with his Pokemon to go out to brunch with his fellow Johto gym leader. He glanced over at his Pidgeot as if to ask what Morty was thinking. If his Pidgeot had an opinion, it was not clear what it was. He sighed and turned back to Morty.
“Yeah, brunch,” Morty said. “And since you’re on Halloween probation, you’re kind of stuck going, so you may as well just learn to love waffles and get used to it.”
“Why?” Falkner asked. “We’re only going this once.”
“Who says?” Morty smirked that irritating smirk that Falkner was beginning to despise. There must have been some ulterior motive that Morty was hiding from him, something that he really wanted. Maybe it was all a scheme set up by Will to drive him crazy, not to get him to participate in a regional festivity that the townspeople would appreciate more effort put into.
“Me,” Falkner said, deciding to put his foot down. “We’re only going this once.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Morty said, his face hardly changed. “You might find out that pancakes and orange juice are your kind of thing.”
Falkner rolled his eyes.
The two of them walked to a little breakfast place not too far away from the gym. Falkner couldn’t believe that he was about to sit down and eat a meal that he didn’t even believe in with a man he was not especially fond of. There was so much he had to do, but instead he was ordering waffles and orange juice at a restaurant.
“So,” Morty said with his mouth stuffed with cinnamon rolls, “Why don’t you like it?”
“Well,” Falkner said, “As much as I hate to admit it, this food is pretty good.”
Morty laughed. “I’m glad to hear it, but I was asking about Halloween.”
“Halloween?” Falkner asked. He had almost forgotten that’s how they had ended up there. The two were having a peaceful time eating their meals, making small talk. He had completely forgotten all about the Halloween party.
“Yeah,” Morty said, “Why don’t you like it?”
“It’s sort of a stupid reason,” Falkner said.
“Try me,” Morty smirked.
“My parents went missing on Halloween,” Falkner said quietly.
“Oh,” Morty said, his face dropping, “I’m so sorry, Falkner, I didn’t know.”
“Nobody knows,” Falkner said. “It had something to do with the masked man. It happened Halloween night a long time ago. I guess I could never think about that day after that, which seems sort of silly. It’s just a day. But I guess to me it is the anniversary. They loved celebrating it, too, it just seems sad to do anything special for it without them.”
Morty, for the first time since Falkner had started spending time with him, looked genuinely sorry about this story. It was not the first time Falkner had ever met Morty, they had of course met before, but it was the first time that the two of them had ever really gotten to know each other.
“If that’s what it is, then you shouldn’t have to participate,” Morty said. “I’m pretty much in charge of the whole thing, you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”
Falkner couldn’t believe it. Was Morty really understanding him? Was he really offering him the opportunity to get out of the party? Maybe he was wrong about him. Maybe he had judged him too quickly. He was touched. He also felt a little sorry for being too harsh on him
But then again, maybe this was the bare minimum. Afterall, it wasn’t really a ridiculous reason. It was a good reason not to like the party. Anyone would have told him not to worry about it. Of course, most people wouldn’t say they could get out of it altogether. Morty did. It was hard for Falkner to see a way that this could possibly be anything but a kind gesture.
“Thank you,” he said quietly, realizing that he didn’t regret telling Morty. He had never told anyone before, but it didn’t feel that way. He couldn’t believe that he was just thinking how crazy this guy was earlier in the day.
“And you know what?” Morty asked.
“What?” Falkner asked.
“Maybe the two of us can get to know each other a little bit more while everyone else is celebrating,” Morty winked. Falkner felt his cheeks turning red.
“Yeah,” he said, “Maybe we could.”
this is my first published fic so I'm excited to hear what people think The air in Johto was beginning to get cooler. The trees were turning beautiful shades of wine red and ginger orange, the ground became carpets of the same hues. Stepping outside, the atmosphere smelled cleaner and it felt crisper. It was the perfect sweater weather. Everyone was pulling out last year’s boxes of warm clothes and getting ready to say goodbye to the hot summer nights.
Of course, weather like this meant only one thing for the region’s gyms: the annual Halloween festival. Every year, each gym was to host a celebration for the locals. It was mostly aimed at children. It had the usual fall activities. There was a “haunted house” set up inside the gym, there were carriage rides around outside. Some of them had corn mazes. The night ended with a costume contest and ghost stories.
The whole thing had been Will’s idea years ago. It was a way to provide the communities with something fun to participate in, even if not everyone was looking to become a Pokemon trainer. But for those who were, it was a great way to get them sort of introduced to the culture training. The events were all hosted by each gym’s leader and a panel of other volunteers, most of them trainers themselves. Will himself often made an appearance at one lucky gym, using it as an opportunity to dress up, mostly. He’d also treat the party-goers to a genuine scary story about the infamous Masked Man, always ending it with “And the worst part? This story is one hundred percent true.”
Bugsy, always a defender of the creepy crawlies, loved hanging up the Spinarak webs around his gym. Whitney’s haunted houses were always the perfect balance between scary and fun. Chuck’s corn mazes and apple-bobbing contests were Johto-renowned. Jasmine’s treats were always the tastiest. Pryce had the best old ghost stories. Clair’s costumes were show-stopping every year. And of course Morty, being a ghost type trainer, put on the region’s best festival every year
But Falkner? He couldn’t stand the holiday.
Every year, usually at the end of July, someone would mention it. It didn’t matter who it was. That early on, Falkner could say something about it being too hot to think of the fall yet, or to enjoy the rest of the summer, anything to push off talking about the holiday. And it would work for a little bit. They’d drop it, they’d get on with their lives. Other community events happened. There were end of the summer things. There were generic harvest celebrations. But then the dreaded holiday would be brought up again and it would be much too late for him to argue with it.
It wasn’t that he didn’t appreciate the community involvement. It wasn’t that he disliked Will, necessarily. He wasn’t too fond of the Elite Four Member. Always hiding behind a mask, always putting up some kind of a show. Falkner didn’t dislike him by any means, but he didn’t appreciate his conduct. It seemed to him that Will viewed training as some kind of a joke. Obviously it was not. It was a craft, a great skill to be treated with honor and dignity. Not masks and costumes. The Halloween festival was like the antithesis of everything Falkner believed a gym stood for.
Just Falkner’s luck that Will himself would be the one to remind him of the upcoming festival.
Falkner wasn’t expecting to walk into his gym and see anyone there. It was early. He and his Pidgeot were up around dawn. They had moves to practice for an upcoming battle. The things that the gym was supposed to be used for. But when they entered, there was Will, sitting right at the entrance of the gym with a smug smirk across his clown-like face and a mysterious gaze in his mask-hidden eyes.
“How are the preparations for the Halloween festival, Falkner?” Will asked. Falkner sighed and set down his bag.
“To be honest with you,” he said bitterly, still annoyed by the Elite Four Member’s unwanted presence in his gym, “I’ve had other things going on. Most of us are still working on our craft, you know. Practicing. Understanding our Pokemon. Perhaps a psychic type is not as delicate and complicated as a flying type, I wouldn’t know, but I would assume that your focus on such childish traditions would imply that I certainly have more work to do than you.”
Will’s smirk changed slightly. Almost surprised. Falkner regretted his thinly-veiled critique of how Will spent his time. He was dangerous, after all. This was the guy who joined the Masked Man out of sheer boredom. Perhaps such an unstable individual wasn’t to be criticized in such a way.
“Maybe some recreation would do you some good, Falkner,” Will said. He stood up and put a hand on his shoulder. “This festival, if you would only allow it, could be a great opportunity for you to unwind.”
“My apologies, Will,” Falkner said, carefully rotating his shoulder to allow Will’s hand to drop off of it. “My comments were unwarranted. I supposed it’s slightly too early for me to like to speak with anyone.”
“Well, Falkner, my comments were warranted and still stand,” he said. “I think this festival could really help you relax. I’ve got an idea for you. This year, I’ll partner you up with someone. They can teach you how they’ve been running this event for the past few years, maybe you’ll learn a thing or two about the spirit of the season, hm?”
Surprisingly, this wasn’t the worst idea Falkner had heard come out of Will’s mouth. He was going to suggest Bugsy, maybe. A child. He would certainly not notice if Falkner simply allowed him to run the whole show. Or Clair. She was busy preparing her costume and likely wouldn’t see Falkner’s obvious boredom. Or maybe Pryce. He was probably too old to notice it.
“Who?” Falkner asked to humor Will. The same familiar smirk returned to Will’s face and Falkner realized he had made a mistake.
“Perhaps our region’s best festival planner,” Will said. “Morty.”
Morty? He would have been Falkner’s last pick for a partner. He’d actually have to be good at planning for this stupid party with someone who cared about it. But then again, Morty seemed like a pretty relaxed guy. Maybe he wouldn’t force Falkner to do anything at all. It would be hard to reason with him, though, but it was worth a shot.
“Fine,” Falkner said. “Perhaps you’re correct. I suppose it’s possible I could be overworking myself. I always tend to around this time of year especially. I feel as though it is my responsibility to pick up where others seem to… drop off in order to prepare for the season.”
“Attaboy,” Will said, patting Falkner’s shoulder a little too firmly for his liking. He could protest this time. He had made himself rather paranoid at the idea of criticizing Will too harshly now. Maybe he had been awake long enough now to realize that it was a dangerous game to play. “I’ll arrange everything, don’t you worry about a thing.”
“Oh, I won’t,” Falkner said, knowing full well that he still would worry.
A few days passed and Falkner forgot about his conversation with Will. After all, he was still very busy training, practicing, working as he always was. It was easy for him to lose himself in his craft. He didn’t have much time to think about what Will had said. That all changed one moring when he was on his way into his gym again with his Pidgeot.
There was a man standing outside. He had blonde hair, sort of messy and tied up with a mauve headband. His scarf was a matching shade, though the tips were a wine red. His top was a soot-black sweater with sleeves that matched the scarf and headband. He had powder-white jeans and some of the stupidest shoes that Falkner had ever seen. Somehow every color that he had in his outfit. It was coordinated, he had to give him credit for that. Falkner realized that the lilac shade throughout his outfit was the same color as his eyes. He didn’t know how long he had been looking into his eyes before he realized who he was starring at.
Morty.
“Morning, sleepyhead,” Morty said snickering. “Ready to start the day the Morty way?”
“I’ve been up for a few hours, actually,” Falkner informed him, huffing a little at the suggestion that he was anything close to being “sleepy.”
“And I’ve been up for twenty minutes,” Morty shrugged. “Obviously you’re already falling behind. Not to worry. I’ll have you caught up to speed in no time.”
Falkner couldn’t see how he was falling behind, but he wasn’t really in the mood to argue with Morty. He didn’t want to have to spend anymore time with him, but he realized that the sooner he gave in, the sooner he would be done having to deal with him. He was going to just play along and try to get it over with.
“Alright,” Falkner said, taking a deep breath, “What’s the plan for today?”
“Plan?” Morty laughed. “There’s no plan, we’re just going to go with the flow. Why don’t we start off with, I don’t know, some brunch?”
“Brunch?” Falkner asked, just to make sure he had heard the ghost-type trainer correctly. What did brunch have to do with the Halloween party? If that’s all they were going to do, it would surely be a waste of time. Falkner was annoyed that he was giving away precious time with his Pokemon to go out to brunch with his fellow Johto gym leader. He glanced over at his Pidgeot as if to ask what Morty was thinking. If his Pidgeot had an opinion, it was not clear what it was. He sighed and turned back to Morty.
“Yeah, brunch,” Morty said. “And since you’re on Halloween probation, you’re kind of stuck going, so you may as well just learn to love waffles and get used to it.”
“Why?” Falkner asked. “We’re only going this once.”
“Who says?” Morty smirked that irritating smirk that Falkner was beginning to despise. There must have been some ulterior motive that Morty was hiding from him, something that he really wanted. Maybe it was all a scheme set up by Will to drive him crazy, not to get him to participate in a regional festivity that the townspeople would appreciate more effort put into.
“Me,” Falkner said, deciding to put his foot down. “We’re only going this once.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Morty said, his face hardly changed. “You might find out that pancakes and orange juice are your kind of thing.”
Falkner rolled his eyes.
The two of them walked to a little breakfast place not too far away from the gym. Falkner couldn’t believe that he was about to sit down and eat a meal that he didn’t even believe in with a man he was not especially fond of. There was so much he had to do, but instead he was ordering waffles and orange juice at a restaurant.
“So,” Morty said with his mouth stuffed with cinnamon rolls, “Why don’t you like it?”
“Well,” Falkner said, “As much as I hate to admit it, this food is pretty good.”
Morty laughed. “I’m glad to hear it, but I was asking about Halloween.”
“Halloween?” Falkner asked. He had almost forgotten that’s how they had ended up there. The two were having a peaceful time eating their meals, making small talk. He had completely forgotten all about the Halloween party.
“Yeah,” Morty said, “Why don’t you like it?”
“It’s sort of a stupid reason,” Falkner said.
“Try me,” Morty smirked.
“My parents went missing on Halloween,” Falkner said quietly.
“Oh,” Morty said, his face dropping, “I’m so sorry, Falkner, I didn’t know.”
“Nobody knows,” Falkner said. “It had something to do with the masked man. It happened Halloween night a long time ago. I guess I could never think about that day after that, which seems sort of silly. It’s just a day. But I guess to me it is the anniversary. They loved celebrating it, too, it just seems sad to do anything special for it without them.”
Morty, for the first time since Falkner had started spending time with him, looked genuinely sorry about this story. It was not the first time Falkner had ever met Morty, they had of course met before, but it was the first time that the two of them had ever really gotten to know each other.
“If that’s what it is, then you shouldn’t have to participate,” Morty said. “I’m pretty much in charge of the whole thing, you don’t have to do anything if you don’t want to.”
Falkner couldn’t believe it. Was Morty really understanding him? Was he really offering him the opportunity to get out of the party? Maybe he was wrong about him. Maybe he had judged him too quickly. He was touched. He also felt a little sorry for being too harsh on him
But then again, maybe this was the bare minimum. Afterall, it wasn’t really a ridiculous reason. It was a good reason not to like the party. Anyone would have told him not to worry about it. Of course, most people wouldn’t say they could get out of it altogether. Morty did. It was hard for Falkner to see a way that this could possibly be anything but a kind gesture.
“Thank you,” he said quietly, realizing that he didn’t regret telling Morty. He had never told anyone before, but it didn’t feel that way. He couldn’t believe that he was just thinking how crazy this guy was earlier in the day.
“And you know what?” Morty asked.
“What?” Falkner asked.
“Maybe the two of us can get to know each other a little bit more while everyone else is celebrating,” Morty winked. Falkner felt his cheeks turning red.
“Yeah,” he said, “Maybe we could.”
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