A/N: This Story uses concepts from HeartGold/SoulSilver, such as Mt. Silver being snowy, and there being Steelix's found inside Mt. Silver. And yes, Giovanni was confirmed to be Silver's father through the special Celebi Event.

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone in this story at all, nor do I own Pokemon itself. If I did, the Remakes for Gold and Silver would have been out a lot sooner, AND I wouldn't have removed the Game Corner from the English Games.

Plight of the Red-Haired Boy

"I will become a stronger man all by myself! ALL BY MYSELF!"

***

The doors to the Indigo Plateau entrance swung open, and coming out of them was a Red-haired teenager. He had six pokeballs attached to his waist, but his goal wasn't to defeat the Elite Four – it was to defeat his Rival, and become the greatest trainer ever. His name was Silver, a boy with a troubled past and a clouded future.

"I lost... I lost again to him." Silver thought to himself as he walked into the caves of Victory Road. "Gold. That weakling. How could I be beaten by such a weakling like him!" Silver kicked a pebble that was on the ground and sent it flying a far distance. It sounded like it made contact with one of the resident Gravelers in there, but Silver payed no mind to it.

"I need to get stronger. That's the only way I can achieve my goals... and there's no better place to start then Mt. Silver." Silver mused to himself, making his way to the entrance part of Victory Road. When he entered into the brightly lit building, he noticed guards on two sides of the room. One was blocking the passage into Kanto's Viridian City – There was no reason for him to go there of all places – and the other was blocking the passage into Rt. 28; the route that lead to his destination.

Silver groaned slightly and pressed his back to a shrouded corner so he wasn't seen. "This would be so much easier if it was outside." He said to himself, as he scoured around in his bag for something. "Ah-ha, here they are." Silver pulled out a pair of small suction cups and attached them to his gloves, then started climbing up the walls. He had pulled this maneuver off once before; when he stole the Totodile from Professor Elm's laboratory. Despite that being the only time, he was skilled at it, and if anyone ever found out his past, they'd know why.

He silently made his way across the ceiling, over to an open window which lead to the outsides of the gateway. "Idiots. Who leaves a window open to such a dangerous place like this?" Silver belittled the two security guards in his head. Before he crawled out of the window, he took one last glance at the passage to Viridian City.

"Tch." He said quietly, then slid his body outside the window. He landed firmly on grass and looked around the area; Lots of mountains, as far as the eye could see. Pokemon of the night were frolicking around, enjoying the light from the moon glaring down on them from above. The sounds that the Pokemon were making, though, didn't reach Silver's uncaring ears. He crept his way through the swarms of Pokemon, not bothering with the "weak" ones, and taking on the strong ones, yet defeating them with minimal effort.

"Pfft. I thought this place was supposed to be dangerous." Silver scoffed aloud. He returned his Feraligatr back to it's pokeball and stared at it for a few minutes.

"You'll never win any battles if you're mean to your Pokemon like that."

Silver clenched the pokeball tightly in his hand at the flashback of the Dragon Trainer, Lance's, voice in his head. He had a pained look on his face. He put the pokeball back onto his belt and continued walking forward, not paying much attention to the surroundings, only on what was going through his mind.

"Now you listen here, Silver. Pokemon are not your friends. They are not your companions. They are tools used strictly for battle, and to be discarded when something stronger comes along."

Silver stopped moving at that flashback. He stood there frozen in fear – an emotion he hadn't felt in a long time. Silver scoffed and shook it off, then went back to walking.

At the end of the trail was a large imposing mountain – Mt. Silver. This place was rumored to hold some of Kanto and Johto's strongest Pokemon, among them being Moltress of the Kanto Legendary Bird trio. But Silver wasn't here for rumors and legends. He was a man on a mission with one goal in mind – Strength.

Silver stepped into the pitch black cave and, before taking even a single step further, he tapped a pokeball on his belt. In an instant, a Magneton popped out.

"Magneton, illuminate the area using Flash." Silver said in a monotonic voice. Magneton let out a cry of acknowledgment. Electricity crackled around Magneton, then an orb of light. The orb faded after a few seconds, thus revealing the whole vicinity of the Caverns, and Magneton returned to its pokeball. Silver resumed his walking through the cave – he noticed tons of rare and strong Pokemon there; Ursaring, Donphan, even a Steelix. If one crossed his path, he sent out his Pokemon to do battle with it. These battles were harder then those outside the cave, but that was to be expected – if the Pokemon on the outside were weak, then the dangerous part must have been inside the cave. And sure enough, it was.

Silver kept wandering around the caves for what seemed like hours. By now he was sure that Gold had beaten the Pokemon League and become the Champion, but he didn't care about that... did he? He looked back to where he came from, focusing intently on the barely visible entrance.

"You better win. Or else I'll never let you live it down." Silver said to himself. He looked up towards the top of the Cave and began thinking. "I have to be nicer to my Pokemon... but why? What power comes from this Kindness?"

While being lost in thought, the ground started shaking from below him. Being startled out of his daydreaming, Silver looked around, trying to find the source of the shockwave. Even with all the light in the cave that there was, he couldn't spot anything... then it dawned on him; below. Silver jolted his head down just in time to see a large green figure exploding up from the rocky surface of the cave.

"N-No way. It's a.. a... Tyranitar!" Silver stated in shock. That thing must have been pretty strong to cause an earthquake like that inside the cave, not even the High-End Donphans or Steelixs could do that. Tyranitar let out a fierce battle growl and charged for Silver. Silver quickly jumped out of the way, but could feel the air pushing him further aside due to the Tyranitar. He fell back against a nearby rock formation, and quickly rose to his feet again.

"Fine, if that's the way you want it..." Silver spat out, as he quickly grabbed a Pokeball from his belt and threw it into the air, "Go, Golbat!" When the Pokeball was high into the air, a red beam of light radiated from the center of it and shone down on the ground. The shape of the base of the beam materialized into a red silhouette of the Pokemon released from it. The silhouette had two large bat-like wings extending from the center of its body, which was basically just its mouth and two eyes. The Pokeball returned to Silver's hand, and the fully colored version of Golbat took the place of the red silhouette. Golbat flapped it's wings to keep itself in the air, and glanced over at the Tyranitar with a piercing gaze. The Tyranitar, unaffected by this gaze, let out a mighty battle roar, and dashed at the Golbat. Using its wicked fast speed, it evaded the attack. "Golbat, Air cutter." Commanded Silver. Golbat, from behind Tyranitar, launched an insanely fast Air Cutter attack on the back of it's foe.. but it didn't do anything. Silver stood there and his mouth hung open in shock, speechless on what attack to give next. Tyranitar, on the other hand, turned around, and lashed its tail at the flying bat, sending it flying straight into a wall. The Tyranitar then faced Silver and was about to charge. An uncontrollable amount of fear overwhelmed the Red-Haired boy.

"You're a worthless child. Pokemon are tools for battle, they aren't friends. I will make you see that sooner or later." A voice rung in Silver's head. His whole body – even his mind – locked up after that. He couldn't move. He couldn't speak. He couldn't do Anything. Silver fell to the floor and looked up at the beast that was looming right over him. It was preparing to use Hyper Beam, and Silver shut his eyes, expecting the worse.

"Blastoise, Hydro Cannon!"

Silver opened his eyes instantly and looked at the Tyranitar, which was being blasted back by the most powerful Water type attack. The rampaging beast fell to the floor, defeated. Silver then blacked out after the whole ordeal. The last thing he saw before passing out completely was the figure of a person standing over him.

"You worthless boy. You're weak, you always will be weak. That's why you can't defeat your enemies. Only the strong will survive in this world."

Silver awoke suddenly from this nightmare he had. He was breathing heavily and was sweating bullets.

"Goddamn... can't I go one day without him appearing in my damn thoughts?" Silver thought. He looked around his surroundings and noticed it wasn't the same place it was before. It looked like he was in a tent with a large fireplace in the corner. On the other side, Silver noticed that all 6 of his pokeballs were on what seemed to be a portable healing machine. He worked his way over to the machine and flipped the switch on, just to make sure his Pokemon were fully healed. The machine played a few small dings, and the Pokemon were healed. He re-clipped the Pokemon to his belt and he walked outside the tent, and was in for a big surprise.

The second he stepped out of the tent, he got hit by a massive cold front.

"The hell!?" Silver said in shock as he looked around to see where exactly he was. It looked like the top of a mountain. When Silver stood up fully, he saw that he was at the peak of Mt. Silver. He started walking around, trying to find his way back, as he didn't have a flying Pokemon to get him off the mountain.

After what felt like hours of walking (It was only around 10 minutes or so), Silver collapsed onto a rock, frozen cold. Not even his clothing was able to keep him warm. He sat there for a few minutes, and stood up again, continuing his walk. Finally, he came upon a small area a bit higher up then the top of the peak. Silver ran up the stairs and noticed it was a makeshift Battlefield in the snow. It was also a lot warmer up there, apparently.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up." A voice from behind Silver said. Silver turned around and faced a person – looked no older then 13 – wearing a red cap and a familiar outfit. "I take it you're here to challenge me to a battle, but it's odd. I don't remember getting any calls from Professor Oak about any trainers coming." the trainer said. He walked beside Silver and over to the other side of the battle field. He stretched his body out a bit and looked over at Silver. "What? No thanks for saving you?" He asked.

Silver snapped back to reality and, as he was about to say something, he scoffed and turned his head away. "I didn't need your help, whoever you are."

The trainer laughed a bit and slid his hands into his pockets. "Sure didn't seem that way to me; a few more seconds and you would have been lunch for that Tyranitar, and I'm sure someone who has the guts to take on the only Tyranitar in here must either have some serious plans for the future, or a death wish; I doubt you have the latter." He said.

Silver scoffed again and replied in a harsh tone, "Yeah, whatever. Thanks." The trainer nodded in return and asked what his name was, as well as where he came from, saying it was traditional in a battle between people (Yet lost to the ages). "My name is Silver. I come from..." Silver hesitated when he started to say where he came from. The Hat-Boy tilted his head, waiting for him to continue. "...I have no true home anymore. I'm a wanderer."

"Well then Silver from everywhere," The trainer said, as he tipped his hat to the side a bit. "My name is Red, I come from Pallet Town and am the Champion of the Kanto Pokemon League"

Silver darted his head straight in Red's direction. His face changed from his normal look to one of a more serious look. In a heartbeat, he changed moods completely. And with that, he had a flashback.

"My name is Red, and I come from Pallet Town. Can you tell me where the Gym is?" a younger version of Red asked. The person he asked was a small 7 year old boy with red hair – Silver, 3 years ago.

"Yup! But you'll never beat the gym leader, he's wicked strong!" A younger version of Silver replied, "I hope to be just like him one day – so strong and everything."

Red laughed and patted the child Silver's head. "Who knows, maybe one day you will be. But you have to keep training and never give up." The younger version of Silver nodded excitedly and led Red to the Gym.

"You..." Silver said angrily. Red tilted his head confusedly. "It's all your fault..."

"What are you talking about?" Red asked, completely confusedly. Before Red had a chance to continue with what he wanted to ask, Silver had thrown down a pokeball, revealing a Haunter.

"No more questions... You wanted to battle, right?" Silver asked. His voice was different from the monotone it normally was; it was instead filled with complete anger. "Here's your battle then, Red of Pallet Town!"

Red silently bit his lip and pulled out a pokeball, tapping the center button and releasing the Pokemon inside – a Pikachu. The Pikachu let out a loud yawn and stretched its body; it had been cooped up inside it's pokeball for a while apparently. Red walked over to the Yellow electric rodent and rubbed it's head. The Pokemon purred, and instantly glared over at Silver's Haunter. Red walked over to his side of the field again and stood there with one hand in his pocket. Without being given a command, Pikachu launched a Volt Tackle at an insane speed. Silver, slightly shocked by this move, ordered his Haunter to dodge the move, but it failed to evade and took a massive hit, nearly KO'ing it.

"Haunter, Hypnosis! Now!" Silver shouted. Every time he spoke, it sounded like he got angrier and angrier. Haunter launched a Hypnosis on the Electric Pokemon, but it was too fast for it's glares and jumped out of the way. "Goddammit!" Silver yelled. Right after that, a voice rang through Silver's head.

"Your team is pathetic and weak."

Silver flinched up and started snarling a bit, an attitude completely foreign to him. He had never been this angry before ever. Infact, there was never a time he was angry at all.

Red's Pikachu had, again without a command, launched a Thunder attack on Haunter, knocking it out with that move. A scowl formed on Silver's face and he returned the Pokemon to it's pokeball, clipping it to his belt while he muttered something to himself. The battle continued on like this for a while, with Silver completely unable to make a single dent in Red's team. Silver had gone through 5 of his Pokemon and was on his last, Feraligatr. With each passing moment Silver was growing more and more aggressive. His eyes were fixed in such a manner that looked as if he was glaring straight into your soul and ripping it to shreds.

"Feraligatr, Hydro Pump!" Silver ordered. Feraligatr obeyed his trainers command and launched a powerful blast of water from it's mouth. The Pikachu skillfully dodged it then, yet again without verbal commands, launched an Electric attack at the stream of water. The electrical current traveled through the water, amplifying it's original power, and connected with Feraligatr. With the effects of being both electrocuted from the Hydro Pump and the type weakness it has, the Feraligatr fell to the ground, paralyzed and completely unable to move. Silver, stunned by this, fell to the ground also. His knees dug into the snowy surface. He stared at the ground in shock. His mouth hung open, his eyes wide as golf balls.

"You pathetic weakling! How did I ever have a son like you; can't even defeat one trainer."

Red called back his Pikachu to it's Pokeball and walked over to Silver, who had the most distressed and pained look on his face. He bent down to Silver and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Are you alright, kid?" Red asked concernedly. Silver kept his head down.

"It's all your fault..." Silver started to say. His body began to go through slight convulsions whenever he tried to say more.

"What's all my fault?"

"He left... all because of you."

Red tilted his head and asked curiously, "Who is he?"

Silver stayed quiet for a few minutes; he seemed to be calming down, but he was like a ticking time bomb – he could go off at any moment. Silence filled the battlefield for a while.

"My father... You made my father leave..." Silver replied weakly.

"Who is your father? Red asked. He bit down his lip; there was only one person who it could be, and he was expecting the answer.

Silver looked up at Red. His eyes were covered by his long hair.

"Giovanni.. The leader of Team Rocket."

It was three years ago, right after the battle with Giovanni and Red at Viridian Gym. Stealthfully, Giovanni had left the gym. He had a regular black suit on – the only thing different about this one was that it didn't have a big red "R" etched into it – and a black hat to cover his face. He couldn't bear to be seen by his Subordinates, if there were any still around. But there was one person in particular he didn't want to see him...

"Dad!" A figure said from afar. Giovanni stiffened up a bit and stood where he was. There was no escaping it now. The figure caught up to Giovanni and started panting, completely out of breath. It was a little boy, no older then 7 years old. He had long red hair and a very confused look on his face.

"Father, where are you going?" The boy asked.

Giovanni was silent for a few minutes before answering. "Silver, my son... I need to go. I cannot stay here anymore." He began to walk off again, but stopped when he felt the eyes of his son staring at him.

"You told me... You were the number one in the world!" Silver exclaimed. "Are you gonna quit all because you got beaten by a child?!"

Giovanni silently turned around and faced Silver. Giovanni simply stated, "One must acknowledge one's defeat before he can move on.." He pulled off his hat and held it in his hand, continuing, "I will go solo... for now... so that one day I will form a stronger organization!"

Silver kicked the ground where he stood and glared up at the older man. "What aspect of you was number one? Gathering so many only to be defeated by one child!" He yelled. At this point, Silver was trying his hardest to hold back his tears from spilling out.

"Putting together the potential of many is how you produce a huge power... That's what an Organization is... That's the Strength of an Organization!" Giovanni chuckled at the end of that, realizing something. "I failed to make the best use of my subordinates potential...!" He stated, then declared, "But one day, and mark my words on this Silver, you will witness the revival of me and my Team Rocket!"

Silver, trying as hard as he possibly could to keep from crying infront of his father, walked up to him. "I don't understand you! You make no sense at all!" He said. Giovanni put his hat back onto his head and turned around again.

"One day soon, son... you will understand" He walked off into the gates of Victory Road and vanished behind the doors. Silver started shaking his head and hung it down, looking at the pavement below him. He wanted to cry so bad at this point, but there was no reason he should.

"I don't want to understand you..." He muttered to himself. "I will never become someone like you... someone who uses people to act like a tyrant, but is really a coward when alone." Silver shot his head up, glaring at the gate to Victory Road and declared, "I will become strong! I will become a stronger man all by myself!" He took a few steps closer to the gate and yelled as loud as he could, "ALL BY MYSELF!" He ran away from the gates of victory road and came up to two people – a male and female, no older then 10 or 11 - who were standing there. He payed no attention to them except for when he said "What are you looking at?" and pushed the male one, who had a black and gold cap on and a Typlosion following him, aside and darted past him without looking back. When far enough way that he couldn't be seen, he started to cry and he promised himself "One day father... when you and your subordinates make their return, I will be waiting, and I'll put an end to you and your dreams forever!" Silver broke down crying and passed out moments later on the outskirts of Viridian City.

Red sighed and sat down beside Silver. Silence overtook the two trainers for quite a while. Red tried to say something, but wasn't sure how to start.

"Why did you have to defeat him..."

Red looked over at Silver, who was drawing infinity symbols in the snow for no reason. Red gulped a bit.

"Silver, you have to understand," Red began. He slid his hands into his pockets and stared at the sky, continuing "Your father had very twisted logic. He believed all Pokemon should be used as tools. That's not what they should be used for." He looked back over at Silver, who had stopped messing with the snow. "Pokemon are our friends; our companions. Developing a bond between Pokemon and Human is one of the best things you can achieve."

Silver picked his head up and looked over at Red again, and asked in a quiet tone, "Then why was I always scolded whenever I tried to befriend any Pokemon... Why did my father always leave me feeling Emotionally torn and..." Silver cut himself off from speaking after that; That was a part of his past that should stay locked away, no matter what.

Red rubbed Silver's head. He had no idea how to comfort the child, what with his past being the way it was and all. The only way he could think to help was to help him create a better life – not just for him, but his Pokemon as well. Red rose to his feet. Silver looked up at Red and blinked.

"You can't change the past," Red started, then held his hand out to Silver. "But the future is what you make it."

"I see great potential in you, Silver. You have the ability to be a better person then your father was; not just in Pokemon Battling, but in general." Red said with a smile on his face. "Let me be one to help you reach it."

Silver looked at Red's hand and grabbed onto it, lifting himself up as a grin formed onto his face.

"Ya'know. I think I'll take you up on that offer."

~The End~

So, yeah. I got bored when I wrote this, and it took me 5 days to fully write. Rate and Review, if you so wish.