@MelonLord7's One-shot:

With the sun glaring down onto Cianwood City's sandy coast, the air was blistering. The nearby tide splashed against the coast, as Wingull flew around the cloudless skies.

In the distant horizon, two silhouettes could be made out approaching the littoral. As they came closer, even a simple pedestrian could see the Politoed and Feraligator swimming side by side, each with a trainer on its back.

Upon finally reaching land, both boys jumped off of their steeds, and returned the Pokemon to their capsules. The black haired boy, wearing a red hoodie and shorts, grinned and began to stretch, "That sure was a long ride."

The other, a red haired male in a black jacket and long jeans, rolled his eyes, "What'd you expect?"

"I dunno, something shorter, I guess," He sighed. Suddenly perking up, the boy looked up with wide eyes at his sullen colleague, "Silver, can we go challenge the gym now?"

Silver merely glared, "No."

Gold pouted and began to whine, "Aw, come on, Silv! Don't be a downer!"

"Don't be annoying."

Before either could speak, the two's bickering was interrupted by a shrill voice yelling both names. Gold and Silver curiously looked up at the commotion, only to give with entirely opposite reactions. Gold's eyes widened in delight, while Silver's in horror. As the ravenette cheered, Silver whispered to himself in apprehension, "Dear Arceus, no..."

Lyra Katone ran down the sandy beach towards the water, where her two childhood friends stood. She immediately tackled Silver, hugging him before he had the chance to escape. Small curses could be heard emanating from his lips as the vice grip continued.

Once Lyra released Silver from the embrace, he quickly retreated, distancing himself from the perky brunette. Ignoring his dramatics, Lyra and Gold exchanged hugs and pleasantries, asking how the other has been and recounting stories from their journeys. The trio hadn't reunited since initially parting at the beginning of their adventure.

Throughout the conversation, Silver continuously rolled his eyes at the two. Growing bored, he finally interrupted them, "Gold. You wanted to challenge the gym? Let's go already."

Gold looked up. He smiled sheepishly, "Er... Actually I wanted to battle Lyra first. You know, for old time's sake." Seeing Silver's pissed expression, Gold averted his eyes. Trying to break the awkward tension building in the air, he looked back at his friend, "Maybe you can book us a room at the Pokemon center?"

Rage flared in Silver's face, and he venomously spit out a, "Fine," Before turning and storming away from the water and instead towards the city.

When he was out of sight, Lyra looked sadly down at her feet. She sighed, "Why does he hate me?" Gold gave no response other than to envelop her in an embrace.

~~~~

Silver made his way through the bustling town, pushing past tourists and ignoring street vendors selling souvenirs and food. He turned street corner after street corner, still fuming over the argument. Thinking about the two of them together, Silver deepened his glare. "I can't believe he would rather hang out with her than me," He muttered to himself.

Amid the dark thoughts in his head, Silver was entirely oblivious to his surroundings. Before he could even react, our Hamlet found himself sprawled on the ground, a petite blonde facing him, also on her ass.

The girl quickly scampered to her feet. Her eyes widened when she saw Silver, "Oh my gosh!" She rushed to his side, "Are you okay?! I am so sorry!" As Silver picked himself up, she continued to ramble, "I-I didn't watch where I was going and, and I was in a rush to get to--" She stopped suddenly.

With wide eyes she ran away. The girl did, however, manage to call over her shoulder before disappearing, "Sorry! I'm really really late for something!"

Silver blinked. That was an odd encounter. Shaking his head to regain his bearings, he scowled and continued on towards the Pokemon Center.

Upon entering the building, the first thing that Silver noticed were the decorations. Streamers and balloons were placed everywhere, in varying shades of yellow and orange. Giving them a weird look, Silver approached the counter, "Er..." He said to the Nurse Joy in front of him, "What's with all this?"

"Oh!" She exclaimed, "It's for our Sun Festival!" Seeing his confused look, Nurse Joy continued, "Every year around this time, the sun stays up longer than usual. During that time, all of our Corsola gather to absorb the light as it goes down. For some mysterious reason, it's only at this time that the light will reflect against their shells, creating a gorgeous incandescence. The added brilliance makes the sunset absolutely breath taking. The town holds a party on the beach every year to watch the sun go down."

Silver nodded, uninterested, "Can I book a room? For three--" Lyra's face flashed into his mind, causing anger to bubble up. He cleared his throat, "I mean, two. A bedroom for two."

Joy smiled and handed him a key, "We hope to see you again!"

Silver handed her the money, and left without a word. Once again, he was left to his own dark thoughts.

~~~

Gold fell back against the sand, absorbing its warmth as he smiled in satisfaction. The match between him and Lyra had just ended, with him as the victor.

Lyra crossed her arms and pouted at him, "That wasn't fair! You have more Pokemon than me!"

Lazily shrugging from his spot on the beach, the trainer grinned slightly, "Then you should've caught more. It's not my fault that I'm so awesome."

She sighed and sat herself next to Gold. Staring off into the distant horizon, she asked suddenly, "Do you think Silver is okay?"

Gold nodded, "Yeah. He's just being a primadonna. He can't go a day without causing some kind of drama." He laughed, "Just the other day, he completely snapped at a waitress. She brought him the wrong order. He yelled that she should've spent more time working and less time flirting with me. The entire restaurant was staring at us."

Lyra laughed along with him, "That sounds like Silvy. Flipping his shit onto a poor waitress."

With the crowing dying down, Gold pulled himself to his feet, lightly brushing off the sand stuck to him, "We should go to the center." Lyra stood up as he spoke, dusting herself off. "Both of our Pokemon need healing, and I want to challenge the gym as soon as possible."

She nodded, "Yeah, of course. Let's go."

The two of them took their time traipsing through the town. At the vendors' carts, they browsed through each selection, occasionally buying trinkets and souvenirs. There was also foods of all types being served. Gold was a vacuum, eating everything he saw. His Pokemon were no different. Quilava and Aipom mischievously stole their master's meal when he wasn't looking.

After what was a rather enjoyable time, the dual trainers made their way into the Pokemon Center building. They looked at all of the decorations, confused. At the counter, both handed their teams to Nurse Joy.

"Hey, Nurse Joy," Gold started, "What's with all the decorations?"

~~~

Stray Meowth sat atop trash cans and window sills, silently watching him with wide eyes. The silence enveloped the area like a dense fog.

To collect his bearings, Silver stopped. Piercing the silence, the faint sounds of music could be heard. It was then that he remembered what Nurse Joy had said about the festival and its customary beach party. Taking a deep breath, he walking with purpose towards the babble.

After making a few wrong turns into dead ends, Silver found himself at the beach. The sandy coast was covered in flaming torches and picnic tables piled high with food. A stereo could be heard blasting said music. People were in random clumps, dancing or simply talking or eating.

Silver wandered through the festivities, not quite sure of what he should do. He settled for standing away from everyone else. Doing absolutely nothing.

He noticed that he wasn't the only one with this brilliant plan. A few feet away from him was a short girl with blonde hair in a pixie cut. She was wearing a red dress with a leather jacket over it. Every once in a while, she would tug the hem of the dress down, almost as if she was trying to extend its length. That's when he realized that it was the girl who had knocked him over earlier.

He frowned slightly and walked over to her, "You ran into me." With a puzzled expression, the girl looked up at him. Quickly recognizing Silver, her eyes widened in horror and embarrassment. Silver continued to speak, rolling his eyes as he did so, "It's fine."

"I-I really am sorry..." She stuttered, avoiding his gaze.

He glared slightly, "I said it's fine." She nodded. They stood in an awkward silence. He sighed, deciding to break the tension first, "Where were you in a rush to get to?"

She glanced at him before looking away again, "Um... To, uh, help out here."

"I see."

"Yeah." Most likely to avoid another silence, she continued on, "My friend volunteered me to help decorate for the festival. She's really into parties and stuff. I don't really like social events, but I would have felt bad if I cancelled on everyone. Then my friend ended up dragging me here with her, and somehow got me into, " With disgust the girl gestured down at her dress, "This."

Silver didn't really care about what she was saying. But he made an effort anyways, "You don't like dresses?"

"I hate them."

"I see."

They relapsed into silence once more. The girl cleared her throat, "Er... I'm Alice."

"Silver."

"That's a pretty name."

Before Alice could do anything, Silver gave her the meanest glare he could muster. Her only response was to burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" He snarled.

She continued to giggle, "You trying to be imtimidating."

He gave a small huff, "I am imtimidating." She only laughed more in return.

A third voice chimed into the conversation at that point, "...Silver...?" Both Silver and Alice turned their heads to see Gold, a look of hurt painted across his face.

Before anyone could say anything, Gold ran away. Silver looked between him and Alice, unsure of what happened. She looked in the direction that Gold had run off to, "You should probably go after him." She pointed at to other blondes, one shorter and one much taller than herself, who were talking to each other, "I have my own friends who I should probably go check up on."

Silver nodded, and left, running to go catch up with his friend.

~~~

Gold had gone to the other side of the beach. He sat in the sand stroking his Quilava. 'Why did I react like that?' He thought, 'He was only talking to that girl...' Heaving a sigh, he buried his face in his Pokemon's fur.

"Gold!" At the sound of his name, Gold looked up to see Silver running down the beach towards him. Reaching him, the red head sat himself down next to his friend, "Why'd you run off like that?"

Gold sniffled, "I dunno." He took a deep breath and returned Quilava to its Pokeball, "I guess I didn't like that you were with her instead of me."

Silver scoffed, "How do you think I felt about you and Lyra?"

He shrugged, "That's different and you know it."

"No it's not. You know that I can't stand her, and you still decided that you would rather hang out with her than me." Silver looked Gold straight in the eyes, "You're supposed to be my best friend."

"I am!" There was a pause and they both turned back towards the sunset. Gold whispered softly, "It really is beautiful."

Silver turned back towards Gold, "Yeah."

Their eyes met. Gold eased in closer to Silver, their breath mingling. Just as the sun was swallowed by the swelling sea, the scarlet haired boy smirked, his forehead touching Gold's. The golden eyed trainer became as red as his friend's locks, his heart feeling as if a Butterfree was caged. Seconds from any sort of action, Silver's thin lips parted, "You're still annoying."

With that, the pale boy broke away and strode down the shore. Gold took his time trying to settle from what just occurred mere moments ago. He watched how Silver's boots laid marks in the sand, only to be washed away by the foaming ocean.

"You coming?" The brooding trainer called over his shoulder.

"Y-Yeah!" Gold stuttered. He quickly jumped to his feet and chased after Silver.

@DreamBeliever11's One-shot:

“To! Totodile!” my partner exclaimed in a tired voice.

“I know it’s early,” I returned with a yawn, “but this is seriously the best time to catch water-types, and I just have to show those girls that I’m not a quitter, Totodile!”

“To-To-Totodile,” he replied.

“I know Misty said not to worry about it,” I continued, not really listening to him, just ranting to myself as we continued walking down the path to the beach, “but I just...I hate those girls, Totodile....”

“Toto….”

I let out a light chuckle and continued to walk. The view of the beach came just over the horizon, and I heard Totodile cheer. Being a water-type, he loves the beach. Besides in a battle, it’s his favorite place to be. I love watching him swim around while we’re there; he looks so carefree and doesn’t have a thought in his mind (in a good way).

As we approached the vacant shore, he ran to the water right away. He dove down and popped back up only seconds later.

He began to flail his arms and shout at me as I finally reached the water’s edge.

I gave him a confused and concerned look before he dove under again.

When he came back to the surface, he wasn’t alone. He swam on his back towards me with something that looked like a Pokémon on his stomach. As they got closer, I could make out the shape, and it was indeed a Pokémon: a Poliwag. The poor thing didn’t look like it was moving, barely even breathing. It looked abnormally thin and small.

Totodile and the Poliwag reached the shore where I had been waiting, and I scooped him up in my arms. His breath was uneven and wheezy. I also noticed right then just how much worse of shape he was really in. His tail had multiple tears in it, he had so many scratches on his stomach to the point where it looked like the spiral was really just dotted lines in a circle pattern, and one of his legs were gone. Those injuries, however, looked like they happened a long time ago, but it still doesn’t justify as to why someone would do something like this to the poor little guy!

I set the injured Poliwag down half in the water and half on the beach sand, and with panic in my voice, I addressed my partner, “Totodile, I need you to protect him, okay? Make sure he stays moisturized, and keep all Trainers and Pokémon away from him! I’m going to get help.” And with that, I took off in a sprint back the way we came.

About fifteen minutes later, I made it back to Cerulean City, grabbed Misty from the Pokémon Center, and we made our way back to the beach, this time on bikes so we could get there faster.

Misty brought a lot of Potions, Full Restores, and Max Revives with her and some other things that I didn’t know what they were; I figured they were things used for treating Water-types, being that it is Misty and water is her specialty.

Totodile had moved himself and the Poliwag down the shore because people had started to make it to the beach (even though it was still rather early) doing what I told him, and I was very grateful; I wouldn’t want someone to catch this poor thing and have him suffer inside the ball even more.

Misty worked with him for a while (it was probably an hour or two), and eventually, according to her, he was going to be just fine.

“Good thing you came to get me right away,” she sighed after we set the Pokémon in a sand bed we created. “I don’t know how much longer the little guy would’ve lasted.”

“I’m just glad you were there and not one of the Joys. They don’t know Water-types like you do.”

“Well, it would have made a whole bunch of difference if I hadn’t gone to med school. I wouldn’t know how to do half the stuff I just did.”

There was a moment's silence before we heard a noise from below us. We looked down, and the Poliwag was waking up.

Totodile clawed at my leg anxiously as I crouched down to his level, Misty doing the same. The Poliwag struggled and rolled around in his little sand bungalow and opened his eyes slowly. He immediately had a scared expression and tried to move, but then his face turned to one full of pain and stopped, but he was still suspicious and scared of us.

“Hi, little guy,” I spoke in a soft voice and took a crouching step closer to him. “My name’s Molly. This is Misty and my Pokémon Totodile. We’re not going to hurt you.”

“To. Toto. Dile.” He also spoke in a hushed voice to the frightened little Poliwag. He continued to talk to him while he listened to my partner attentively.

When he stopped his explanation (at least that’s what I assumed he was doing with all his hand gestures), the Poliwag turned to both Misty and I and smiled thankfully at us.

“Poli. Wag.” His voice was low and heavy, but you could hear his gratitude.

“Poliwag?” Misty spoke from my side. “I brought you some food. You need some strength if you’re going to recover quickly.” She set the food next to him and he struggled to roll to his side to eat it.

“Totodile,” I addressed my Pokémon, “could you ask him what happened to him?”

He nodded and proceeded to talk to his new friend. Poliwag had already finished eating not long after, and he started speaking to Totodile. It didn’t take long for him to finish.

Totodile turned to me and tried to explain to me what Poliwag had just said.

“So,” I thought over everything, “he was abandoned? How could someone do something like that?! You poor little guy! Then what happened? His trainer didn’t do that to him right? Was it a wild Pokémon attack?” He nodded at the first. “Even your leg? That’s so terrible….”

The Poliwag sighed and nodded again. “Pol….”

“Wow…. You’ve been through a lot in your little life.”

“P-Poliwag?” Misty asked with a depressed sigh. “C-can I spray you with this Max Potion? Just one more should do the trick, and you’ll be up and moving around again.”

He nodded excitedly and sat up with a struggle, but he was eager enough. She sprayed him, and I saw improvement right away; he looked much happier and was talking to Totodile happily. It made me smile to know that he was recovering so quickly.

“Hey, I have an idea!” Misty said enthusiastically. “Let’s go for a swim! We can all help you relearn how to, Poliwag!”

“Poli! Poli!” he cheered enthusiastically.

“Great!” I cheered after. I picked him up in my arms to carry him into the water. He immediately struggled out of my arms to dive in, but I just set him in the shallow part while I took off the clothes covering my swim suit; Misty did the same as me.

Totodile rushed to Poliwag’s side and helped him get further into the water. Misty and I followed close behind them.

We spent the entire day at the beach, and we had a lot of fun. It made it even better that we stayed away from all the people that were at the public beach part.

Poliwag regained most of his strength. He and Totodile swam and played together the whole time. It was really cute to see Totodile getting along with the little guy. He treated him like a little brother, and it made me have the urge to catch another Pokémon for him to play with.

It was growing closer to night, and we decided to set up a bonfire in the sand while we fed ourselves and our Pokémon dinner. I had to carry Poliwag over because he couldn’t hop on his one foot, but he was definitely feeling better.

“So, Poliwag,” Misty spoke between mouthfuls of food, “I think you shouldn’t stay by yourself in the wild.”

“Pol?”

Misty nodded. “I think you need a trainer. I know you didn’t have a good experience in the past, but I think if you gave Molly a chance, you’d really enjoy yourself!”

“Wait,” I cut in, “me? Why me?”

“Well, you care for him don’t you? Plus, I don’t think Totodile will leave his side.” I looked over at them. Poliwag went from talking to us into a conversation with Totodile. They were talking excitedly and laughing with each other. I smiled. “It should definitely be you that takes him along.”

I smiled at Misty and then at the Pokémon again. “Hey, Poliwag, what do you say? Do you want to travel with Totodile and I?” He looked up at me with a slight hint of fear, and I understood why. “I know you deserve to be happy and to be with someone who cares about you. So, I promise that Totodile and I will always care about you. No matter what, we will care for you, be there for you, and most of all, we will never let you down. So?”

Poliwag looked from me to Totodile, who smiled anxiously, and then back to me. He smiled. “Pol! Poli! Wag!”

“R-really?! That’s great!!” I scooped him up in my arms and hugged him tight. “I’ll never break those promises, Poliwag. Never.”

Misty went home, but the rest of us slept at the beach that night, and every year we go back on that day to celebrate the day we all became friends.