The world slowed to a halt before resuming, like a rubber band slowly stretching out before rebounding to its proper shape, with Chad finding himself in the hallway alone, seemingly right outside the doorway to Miss Pott’s classroom. He glanced around to notice Stanley was missing. “Uh, did something happen?” he asked in confusion, likely due to the sudden drop from the narrative fast-forward.

“Is the door locked?” Chad asked, rotating around in a searching pattern.

Chad paused, opened his mouth, then closed it again before shaking his head. He began to walk towards an ajar door in the hallway which happened to have ‘FACILITIES’ in big friendly letters on it. Peeking inside, Chad found Stanley staring blankly at the packed utility shelving covering the wall, utterly still and immobile. After a few seconds of this game of statues, Chad gently stepped inside and grasped Stanley by the hand, guiding him out and back into the hall, towards Miss Pott’s class.

At the family computer, Chad was still working, writing down notes from the computer, and drawing lines on a paper map he had out. The computer had a list of the regional gyms up, along with their types, and suggested routes previous trainers had taken. On the map, there’s a differently-colored line that heads across routes 22 and 21 towards Snowbelle, with a large question mark on top. The notebook currently is open to a page naming each gym, its city, and leader alongside the pokemon type, some of which have notes beneath them (such as Valerie and her Fairy gym, which simply has “see next page” right next to a crossed-out “wtf is a Fairy type”).

Seemingly completed, Chad changed the computer’s search, pulling up a bunch of anecdotes and travel tips. Each page, he would finish reading before writing a number next to each route on the map, before navigating the computer to the next page, with each number seeming to be in either hours or days. Once those were done, he pulled up the local grocer’s website and began writing down prices and items.

“Unless you can magically materialize food and money for us, I need to come up with a plan for logistics,” Chad answered, not looking up from his work. He paused for a moment, “And I don’t mean using your mind magic to force people to just give us stuff, because that wouldn’t work for your story either,” he clarified, having completed his estimates of vegetables.

“And that is exactly why I’m doing all this, especially since I’ll be cooking for us all on the trip. I want to trust Calem and Serena,” he started to explain, closing the foodstuffs and moving on to the miscellaneous gear such as tents and backpacks. “But there’s a good chance we may end up separating at some point on this journey, either by their choice or yours,” he concludes, before making a sour face at the price of space-folding backpacks.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Do you always want Stanley to be in their shadow?” Chad retorted, quickly trying to find used spatial bags for sale online. The prices had barely decreased, leading to Chad biting his bottom lip before writing the price of a new bag on a list titled ‘Things to save for’. “I can hold my own no problem, but I doubt the rest of our team will take well to a mute trainer. His device will be fine for a basic conversation, but it won’t be enough during the heat of a battle.”

Chad, gave a resigned sigh, before closing the notebook and moving away from the workstation. “Stanley isn’t a human. Honestly, I question if he’s even alive. Why did you make him?”

“Who never uses a toilet, doesn’t breathe unless you specify it during your narration, doesn’t move so much as a finger without your say-so, and hasn’t blinked a single time in the supposed two years I’ve been here. I would know, you just crammed the bulk of it into my head barely a few minutes ago,” he ranted, somewhat quietly, but potentially audible to the next room. There was a long silence, barely disturbed by the outside sounds of life in the night, before Chad leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling, “I’m right, aren’t I Author?”

Yes, Stanley is regrettably neither a real person, nor a living being.

My aim is to remain neutral, but to foster cooperation between you two where possible. You are free to also make your own inquiries if you like.

Narratively: nothing. Readers these days seem to enjoy worthwhile underdog stories.

Fundamentally though, his body is breaking down from the rotting food inside his cavity, among other things. I foresee him facing visible issues as early as Lumiose city. No heart or cardiovascular system means his body has no heartbeat and is also missing an immune system. No lungs equates to no breathing, no stomach means no acids or enzymes to break down food instead of just letting it all rot together. And no digestive system means the food never leaves his body, compounding the primary issue.

“Right, it was subtle but some of those things were pretty obvious after a month together. So, with Author’s guidance, I made some backup plans, just in case,” Chad explained, seemingly bracing himself in the chair.

“Simple, because you still get your story, but we change the driving motivation,” Chad explained, tense with sweat starting to form on his brow. “You were planning a simple coming of age story, but you know what else people love? Drive. A character with no drive is boring, and rarely of interest to the audience. And what’s one of the most famous drives to push a character to go above and beyond?” Chad led on, leaving the answer unsaid.

“Yea,” Chad admitted with a twinge of guilt. “Though we have three options for that route, each with a different type of impact on the story. First being a sudden passing, like an aneurysm or heart attack. This symbolizes how quickly your life can turn upside-down and would resonate with readers who have lost someone in a similar manner. Second is to have it onset slowly, and have Stanley try to do everything he wanted before he can’t go on anymore. Most people would happily root for the cancer kid to really enjoy life while they still could.” He explained, raising a claw on his left hand for each option, lingering before raising the third and final talon. “Third is harder to do, but the Heroic Sacrifice route is tried and true. Though I question how well the readers may take it, Stanley hasn’t exactly done enough for them to be emotionally invested yet.”

No; we need Chad, Calem, Serena, Shauna, Trevor, and Tierno to all survive. That’s too risky.

“In his defense, I have a feeling the last three will be inconsequential to the story at some point. None of them have any drive to push far, and half the party is aiming for the very top,” Chad spoke, explaining his opinion on the Narrator’s stance. “That said, I think option 1 might be our best bet. It lets the Narrator focus on the actual story itself instead of needing to manage Stanley’s condition over a period of time, and accurately time it to fail at the most consequential moment.”

“You didn’t erase all of my memories,” Chad answered, tapping his right index claw to his temple, “and I read a LOT of fan fiction online when I was alive. I could probably write out entire books and sell them here for cash if we wanted to follow that trope.”

Yea let’s not; I’m deliberately trying to avoid the pitfalls and meta-knowledge tropes that so many other stories use. It’s the main reason you’re here in Kalos.

No, not a rival, She’s taking care of his love interest, who just happens to be living a power fantasy arc instead.

“Wait, love interest?!” Chad responded, caught off-guard.

Don’t worry about it, you’ll meet them just after obtaining your badge in Lumiose city. Though I am sorry to inform you this is not a romance story, so try not to get your hopes up.

“WHAT!?” Chad was up and out of the chair at this point, likely having woken the whole house with his outburst.

Narrator, don’t.

Smooth. But He isn’t wrong. I do regret that you were denied-

“Is- is that why I can't remember how I died?" Chad whimpered, his eyes wide with panic. "I was going find my life partner, you had me killed instead, and weren’t even planning to tell me?!” Chad shouted, falling to his knees as tears began to well and fall. He fell forward, bracing both hands against the floor as the metaphysical gravity began to skyrocket around him.

Not helping, Narrator.

Gradually, Chad began to rise to his feet, deep breaths slowly clearing away the distraught that had wrecked him a few minutes previous. With two quick motions, he wiped away any lingering tears, staring defiantly at the ceiling. “Lumiose City huh? Pretty sure that was going to be my third badge, so that sounds like a workable goal,” Chad responded, seeming to be pulling a 180 from despair to decisive. That or putting on a brave front.

Because it’s not just a location. Based on my storyboarding and timeline, you won’t earn the Voltage badge until you have at least 4 other members on your team. And don’t rush to fill those four with a bunch of Zigzagoons and Pidgeys; the right four will be easy to spot. Just trust the process.

“Fine, I’ll ‘trust the process’. So we have an agreement? Stanley dies tonight, and in his memory I carry on the journey myself with the other 5. I’ll hold off on recruiting any other team members unless Author gives me a heads up. And I’ll conquer all 8 gyms on my rise to the top, for Stanley,” Chad lists off, counting each one with a claw, resulting in his entire left hand being opened upwards. “Anything else?”

And I’ll try and figure out a way to get you a bag; those things are way beyond what you’ll probably earn on this journey. Good night everyone.