Coffee Tier - WIP Chapter + Author's Commentary - May 2025

Author's Note:

Before we continue, just a quick shout to say that I updated the previous "Under the Silver Moon" side story with the fight scene that was originally supposed to be at the end. I'm still not 100% on the fight just yet, but you'll be able to get a good idea of what I intended.

Anyways, so the reason why I'm making this post is because the upcoming side story is one that you guys have already read, the one titled "Sleepover".

I actually didn't realize that there would be an overlap until I was scheduling the chapter. So instead of reposting it, which would be unfair, I looked through my archives and decided to release this unfinished chapter instead.

For some context, this was supposed to be a bonus chapter that accompanied ch 165.

And frankly, I'm not entirely sure if I want to even release it since I'm really struggling with it.

There's only about two pages worth of content here, but I'll supplement it with a bit of personal commentary at the end.

Edit:

I added Nina's perspective which I quickly wrote up in this post as well.

***

“Thanks for the lift grandma!”

Melina Ashes laughed at the energetic little girl in front of her. Truly there was no one cuter than her granddaughter in this entire world. 

It really was a wonder how such an amazing Pokemon Trainer came from that wimpy daughter of hers and her fool of a husband. Or maybe Arceus saw fit to skip an entire generation and put all of her good genes in Nina instead.

Melina scratched at her Pidgeot to signal him to slow down, she wanted to spend a bit more time with her precious girl.

“You’re not heading off to your journey just yet right? Why don’t you stay with your favorite grandma for a bit. Been a long time since you last visited.”

Nina laughed and gave the old woman’s calloused hands an affectionate pat. “No can’t do grandma, I promised Kerry I would meet up with her in Vermilion City. She wants to get her home badge before setting off and I wanna go cheer for her. And besides, you’ve been coming over to visit me at least once a month since I got discharged…”

The girl then jolted as if she came upon some sort of epiphany. “Oh, I know. Why don’t I get mom and dad to come visit? Maybe grandfather and grandmother will want to come as well — I’m starting to think those two might actually be serious about settling down in Cerulean and I don’t know how mom’s gonna feel about that.”

Melina scoffed. “Pfeh. I’d sooner eat my own shoe than extend any sort of hospitality to that pair of irresponsible wrecks!”

Nina just returned the old woman’s words with a wry smile and turned her gaze towards the twilight.

***

“I’ve been meaning to ask, grandma. Why’s mom’s old room so empty? Did you guys clean it up at some point?” Nina asked, referring to Leanette’s barren childhood room. Usually these sorts of places would have some vestige of its former occupants, marking their most precious childhood memories.

“Heh.” Melina smirked. “That’s ‘cause I taught her well right from the very beginning. How can you expect to succeed in your journey if you get too attached to frivolous things? No idea how that no-good daughter of mine turned out to be such a wimp though — she didn’t even last a week before coming back crying with her tail between her legs!

“Kids these days are too spoiled I tell ya. Back in my day, we would have evacuation drills every other week and our teachers would bring us out into Viridian forest with nothing but a backpack of bare essentials on our back. I still remember that one time our whole class got chased down by a horde of Beedrills. Those other kids fell flat on their faces in panic but not your good ol’ grandma. Nope, haha! Remember Nina, you ain’t gotta outrun the Beedrill, just gotta outrun the slowpokes behind ya!”

“Haha… I see…” Nina chuckled in response, but Melina couldn’t help but notice an undertone of disappointment in the girl’s voice.

“What’s wrong Nina, are you feeling sick? Did one of those brats do something to you?”

In Melina’s eyes, Nina was everything that her mother failed to become; an illustrious young Gym Trainer and a decorated hero of the region, who fought Team Rocket not once, but thrice and came out on top each time, though that last time was a close call. But then again, a girl’s gotta have a few battle scars. Melina had quite a few close calls back in her day as well.

Not to mention, Nina managed to start off her Gym circuit strong with a Star badge right out of the gate. Truly, her granddaughter was her pride and joy.

“No, I’m good, grandma.” Nina responded to Melina’s words with a feeble shake of her head and a pitying gaze.

“Why don’t we cook dinner together, grandma?” The girl continued. “I feel bad about intruding on such short notice.”

“Nonsense! You don’t need to worry about dinner girl. We can always just eat out in the city. You really like ol’ Zeff’s place that we went to last time right? Ever since that bastard ran off to Fuchsia, the food’s been much more palatable. I’ll make a call to them and let them know to save a table for us. In the meantime, why don’t you go ahead and settle your stuff first.”

***

Nina's POV

Nina revelled at the soft and fluffy feathers of her grandma’s Pidgeot. Nitey’s scales were nice and all but at the end of the day, fluffiness is king!

From behind her, Melina Ashes let out a muffled laugh. The woman was clearly happy to have Nina around, even if she might now show it.

“You’re not heading off to your journey just yet right? Why don’t you stay with your favorite grandma for a bit. Been a long time since you last visited.”

Nina laughed. The old woman had clearly been feeling lonely. But in reality, Nina wasn’t that keen on visiting usually to avoid dealing with her grandma’s obstinance. The woman tries her best, but for a lot of people, they become set in their ways past a certain age.

And in the case of Melina Ashes, her past as a military drill sergeant had only become extra pronounced during her twilight years.

The young girl caressed her maternal grandmother’s calloused hands, admiring all the solid bumps and scars marking Melina’s lifetime of hardship.

“No can’t do grandma, I promised Kerry I would meet up with her in Vermilion City. She wants to get her home badge before setting off and I wanna go cheer for her. And besides, you’ve been coming over to visit me at least once a month since I got discharged…” Much to her parent’s chagrin, though that last part was left unsaid.

The girl then jolted with an epiphany. “Oh, I know. Why don’t I get mom and dad to come visit? Maybe grandfather and grandmother will want to come as well — I’m starting to think those two might actually be serious about settling down in Cerulean and I don’t know how mom’s gonna feel about that.”

She was hoping to reignite the wanderlust of Percy and Annabeth Jones. Her paternal grandmother had been doing too good a job of taming her husband as of late. To the point where he was really seriously coming around to the idea of settling down.

Melina scoffed. “Pfeh. I’d sooner eat my own shoe than extend any sort of hospitality to that pair of irresponsible wrecks!”

Nina let out a wry chuckle and gazed towards the setting sun, opting not to reply. It was true that the elder Joneses were highly irresponsible absentee parents. But Melina and her way of using overbearing trauma and force to approach parenting was arguably worse depending on the perspective. 

Not long after, the pair landed in front of Melina’s daycare only to be greeted by an incensed Aunt Seki who was not too pleased about their late return.

***

“I’ve been meaning to ask, grandma. Why’s mom’s old room so empty? Did you guys clean it up at some point?” Nina asked, referring to Leanette’s barren childhood room. Usually these sorts of places would have some vestige of its former occupants, marking their most precious childhood memories.

It really goes to show just how strictly Nina’s mom was brought up. No wonder she went crazy.

“Heh.” Melina smirked. “That’s ‘cause I taught her well right from the very beginning. How can you expect to succeed in your journey if you get too attached to frivolous things? No idea how that no-good daughter of mine turned out to be such a wimp though — she didn’t even last a week before coming back crying with her tail between her legs!

“Kids these days are too spoiled I tell ya. Back in my day, we would have evacuation drills every other week and our teachers would bring us out into Viridian forest with nothing but a backpack of bare essentials on our back. I still remember that one time our whole class got chased down by a horde of Beedrills. Those other kids fell flat on their faces in panic but not your good ol’ grandma. Nope, haha! Remember Nina, you ain’t gotta outrun the Beedrill, just gotta outrun the slowpokes behind ya!”

Nina held back her sigh. “Haha… I see…” 

She would have loved to call out the woman on her callousness. But with such a huge generational gap between them, it wasn’t like Melina would understand. And Nina certainly could not relate to growing up in the midst of a war, both in her current and past life.

“What’s wrong Nina, are you feeling sick? Did one of those brats do something to you?” Melina asked, with a great deal of concern in her hardy eyes. Once again, a reminder that Nina’s  grandma loved her greatly, despite all her flaws.

“No, I’m good, grandma.” Nina responded to Melina’s words with a feeble shake of her head and a reassuring smile.

“Actually, Why don’t we cook dinner together, grandma?” The girl continued in an attempt to change the subject. “I feel bad about intruding on such short notice.”

It was getting late and Nina was really starting to feel her hunger. Especially after such an arduous Gym battle.

“Nonsense! You don’t need to worry about dinner girl. We can always just eat out in the city. You really like ol’ Zeff’s place that we went to last time right? Ever since that bastard ran off to Fuchsia, the food’s been much more palatable. I’ll make a call to them and let them know to save a table for us. In the meantime, why don’t you go ahead and settle your stuff first.”

Nina nodded fervently. She still remembered the restaurant ran by the peg-legged, mustachioed savant. Just the thought of that delectable lobster thermidor was enough to make her salivate.

***

Author's commentary:

So the character of Melina Ashes, Nina's grandma, was one of the ones that received the most hate in the public release of this story.

I suppose people were expecting some sort of karmic retribution or redemption arc for the way that she treated Nina's mom.

But that was never really the point of her.

I won't go into too much detail, but the character of Melina was spliced from various different personalities in my own life.

The fact of the matter is, people, once they reach a certain age, becomes set in their ways and even undergo a sort of regression. Life is circular that way.

And often times, we go through life not really learning from our mistakes or even realizing that we had done wrong to begin with.

In the case of Melina, none of the abuse that she subjected her children to during their childhood was malicious in any way. Her spartan approach to childrearing was done purely out of love and concern that reflects her own values as an active wartime soldier with her own fair share of trauma.

In Melina's eyes, all the rough treatment that Leanette was subjected to was for her own good, to prepare her daughter so that she may never experience the pain and suffering that she herself went through.

The reason why I'm struggling so much with this chapter is because I'm attempting to write this from Melina's perspective. Which, quite frankly, I just can't relate to.

I can understand the optics from the outside looking in, and I can sympathize somewhat with the character's thought process from my own experiences. But I am unable to put myself in her shoes.

The chapter is supposed to end with either Melina going on a drunken rant about how remorseful she was that her children had all forsaken her, or Sekihara, Melina's daycare employee confiding to Nina about her grandma's inner turmoil and asking for her understanding.

But I can't find the words that could properly convey the message that I wanted to express. Hence why I'm stuck.

Heck, I'm not even happy with these two pages that I wrote and might go and delete them in their entirety.

I think the solution is obvious. Instead of writing from the perspective of Melina Ashes, I should just stick to what I know and write it from Nina's perspective instead.

Edit: I have since written up a quick version of Nina's POV. I think that version is waaay better. But what do you guys think?

I'll continue to work on this little bonus chapter during my vacation. If I am still not happy with it in the end, then I simply will not release it.

Anyways, thank you all again for your generosity. The next side story chapter is a brand new one from the perspective of Nitey that you guys have not read yet. So look forward to it.