Hello everybody! Sorry for not posting earlier, I've had a pretty rough time of it recently, and I'm just about getting back on my feet and back on top of my workload - I'm trying to juggle 4 A Levels as well and it's not easy right now. I'm also going in for a minor operation on the 20th, so please don't expect quick updates.

And thank you so so much to the amazing Lunara for beta'ing this; it would probably have never posted (or even started) without your encouragement and constructive support :)

Blood vs. Ice Chapter #1

Two days earlier

"I'm sorry Silver. The woman I married... your mother... she died a long time ago... I should have told you before... and I'm sorry."

My Pokégear shook in my hand, and I had problems not dropping it into the deep water of the Dragon's Den. Phone calls from my father were rare, if slightly more than nonexistent. And this was not how I wanted our third conversation to go!

"Okay Father, thank you..."

"Again, I'm sorry Silver." He could be sorry all he liked, but she was still dead (although I didn't tell him that). I had hoped I'd be able to find something about her – even her name – but he hung up on me. It looked like I wasn't getting any answers from him.

Shit, I reached up to wipe the blood dripping down my cheek. The conversation I'd had with my father was distracting me, and I couldn't afford to get distracted now. I winced and continued running down the street, turning down an alleyway.

"Where the hell are you two?" Gold and Red were supposed to be helping me out here; this was meant to have been a joint mission. And they had both pissed off without me! I panted, running up another street. I couldn't keep running forever!

Oh double shit; dead end. I wheezed, turning around. Bright lights dazzled my eyes.

"There he is!"

"Get him!"

"He can't escape this time!"

I panicked slightly, searching for a fire escape, a ladder, a mesh fence, anything. No luck, unfortunately.

I'm screwed.

A knee rammed into my stomach, winding me, and another kick to my shoulder sent me flying back into a brick wall. I winced as something in my shoulder cracked; that would definitely involve a trip to hospital later. One of my assailants leaped forward, wrestling me to the ground. I punched him in retaliation with my injured arm; making my muscles scream in protest. I screamed when a razor sharp blade plunged into my shoulder. Pain. Pain was all I could feel. It wasn't just my shoulder; searing hot fire seemed to rip across my body, making every inch burn with pain.

The lights disappeared and after a few short shouts, everything went quiet.

I heard familiar voices. Voices that echoed and rattled my brain.

"Holy shit! Silver!" Pounding footsteps made everything vibrate.

"Gold! I told you we went the wrong way!" That was Red and Gold. I tried to move, but someone's hand held me down by my good shoulder.

"Don't move Silver." Something moved against the knife, and I groaned loudly. Make it stop... make the pain stop...

"Gold! Don't touch it!" Red's panicked voice rattled in my head. He was right, Gold couldn't touch it. If it moved then it could tear my shoulder open even more... or if he pulled it out then I might bleed to death...

"We're gonna have to carry him. There's no way he can walk like this."

No, no! I don't want to be carried anywhere! That would hurt! Just let me stay here, then it won't get any worse! I forced my eyes open and tried to push away at Gold and Red's hands. I didn't want them to move me. I just wanted to stay here... just drift off... that would be nice... I'm so tired...

"Silver! You can't go to sleep!" But I was so far gone by then, I didn't even remember whose voice it was...

"Silver~! Oh sweetie what are you up to~?"

I was hiding, that's what I was up to. I giggled from my hiding place. It was genius! There was no way I would be found! Spirit padded around the coffee table, purring loudly to me and flicking her tails in the air, which made a loud swishing noise.

I scowled at the cat. She was going to give me away! Mummy would hear her and then it would be game over. "Shoo!" I hissed, waving at her, and then I noticed my downfall. How silly could I be? Of course Mummy would cheat!

"There you are~!"I pouted, glaring at Spirit, who simply wandered off, oblivious to my angry stare. "You silly thing!" Mummy lifted me up and I huffed grumpily. "Aw, Silver; don't huff like that, baby!" Mummy giggled and poked my nose. Wrinkling it, I poked hers back. Mummy's white and grey eyes twinkled at me and she tucked her fiery hair back. Mummy always looked so funny when she laughed, it made me laugh too. "Love you baby!" Mummy hugged me closer, rubbing her cheek against mine.

I hugged Mummy around her neck, taking in her warm embrace. "Love you too Mummy~!"

I woke up in a bed, and the first thing I realized was that it definitely wasn't a Tuesday evening anymore. The second thing I noticed was that this room definitely wasn't my own. The third thing I realized was that whatever painkillers I was being pumped with were wearing off, and quickly.

"Silver," My head snapped round at the sound of a familiar voice, wincing at the thrum of pain in my shoulder.

"Blue?" I croaked, feeling fuzzy, like I'd slept for a week, "What day is it?"

She gave me a funny look, "It's Tue- well it's actually Wednesday morning now, why?"

I shrugged, so I hadn't been out that long at all. "Nothing, jus' got a sore throat s'all..." I trailed off, looking around the room. It was your typical hospital ward room, nothing special. Doesn't mean I was very happy about it. Blue picked up on that.

"Don't worry, Silver. The doctor told me that you can leave as soon as visiting hours open in the morning. They would have let you out earlier tonight but the nurses have to do a check up while you're awake first just to check there's no lasting damage." That was a relief, I hated hospitals. I hated any place where I was vulnerable. I glared at the IV in my arm. I wanted to rip it out.

Blue noticed the change in my attitude, "Hey! Don't you go pulling that out; you lost quite a lot of blood and they're just trying to perk you up a bit so you're okay to go home!" I nodded, resigning myself to lying back and staring at the drip. I was still tired, and the methodical drip, drip of the apparatus was enough to send even me to sleep.

"Alright kiddo, that's everything in order. You're free to go!" The man at the reception – he was a nurse or something similar, pathetically far from an actual doctor – gave me a wide grin that nearly split his smug, overly-handsome face and ruffled my hair. Alright, now I was ruffled too; nobody messes with my hair. I wanted to go home now.

He handed Blue a sealed paper bag in the typical hospital colour of obnoxiously bright green. No wonder you needed the medication on the inside, just looking at that bag made me feel sick. Those were supposedly my painkillers – and muscle relaxants, which Blue joked I needed anyways – but I knew they would go untouched. I didn't like taking painkillers, and I hated tablets even more.

"Now chances are you aren't going to have much use of your arm for a week or so, and it might be a good idea to steal an armchair from somewhere. I remember when I fell off my motorbike I had to sleep sitting for a month." The last bit was directed at Blue – and we all knew he was flirting with her now. It was unfortunate for him that only me and Blue knew what he had gotten himself into.

"Oh really, you ride motorcycles?"

"Yep, sure do. It's an old Harley; a real hog. Wanna maybe go out for a ride sometime?" Blue was leaning in for the kill now, fluttering her eyes, clutching the bag in such a way that she could give him a nice view down her shirt.

"Oh that's too bad sorry; I'm more of a Vespa kind of girl, if you get my drift." I smirked quietly as the nurse's face fell. Blue linked her arm with my good one, an identical smirk painting her delicate features, and pretty much dragged me out of the door.

"You know what the ironic thing is?" Blue whispered cheekily to me. I looked up at her curiously, "What?"

"He left his Vespa keychain hanging out his pocket." I couldn't hold back a little snort of derision, while Blue laughed openly. "Come on, let's get you home sweetie!"

"Crystal!" Professor Elm's voice blasted through the intercom in the lab.

I winced, pressing the red button, "Professor, you don't need to shout, I can hear you regardless."

"My apologies, dear; technology and I have never been the greatest of companions." I sighed; you're telling me. The Professor had paid to have the intercom system installed months back, but he hadn't bothered to learn how to use it. Thus, Gold, Silver and I had to endure the Professor's voice at full bellow through the speakers every time. I mean, it wasn't like he hadn't learnt now, Silver thinks he does it to keep us on our toes. Gold hardly ever passes comment, since he seems to live on the decrepit old sofa in the corner, and he's rarely awake, never mind working!

Even now, he was snoring loudly on that stinking piece of furniture, but I couldn't really blame him today; he'd shown up on the Lab's doorstep at six in the morning, just after I arrived. Apparently he'd been sent away from the hospital, having spent all night with Silver, hiding in the toilet when anyone came in to check on him. Blue had been there too, apparently, but he had simply mentioned her in an off-hand way before collapsing onto that Arceus-forsaken couch and passing out.

That had been about five hours ago now, and he was still out. It was nearly lunchtime and according to a brief text from Blue at about 8am; Silver was going to be checked on by the doctors at about ten, so if it all went well then he should be coming home soon. And I was determined to make sure this place was clean and manoeuvrable for him. Not that I agreed with the thought that he should be working; if I had my way he'd be on bed arrest until he was fully healthy, but I knew for a fact Silver would be back to work, stab wound or not.

I sighed and booted the corner of the sofa. Gold leaped up with a snort, "I'm awake!" He yelped.

"Jeez, calm down Gold. I just wanted to let you know that Silver and Blue might be back soon," I wrinkled my nose in disdain, "and you need a shower!" Gold sighed, yanking his shirt over his head. I let out a squeak and covered my eyes, "Go change somewhere else, stupid!" He slouched on the seat for a bit then walked off in what I hoped was the direction of the bathroom.

I shivered as the freezing water rushed into my face and down my body. Goosebumps rolled down my back and I let out a hiss; why do I always end up with the cold water?! When we were at home, it was Silver stealing the hot water (he would rather deal with the crappy, unreliable shower in our apartment than use someone else's) and Crystal always made it to work earlier than me. I rubbed myself down with the soap and turned to look for the shampoo-

"Dammit!" No shampoo. Silver was coming over, I hadn't washed my hair in three days, and we pick today to run out of bloody shampoo! Wait, why I am I so worried about what Silver thinks? One, when did his opinion start to matter to me so much, two, he's a guy like me, why should he care what I look like, and three, where the fuck is the fucking shampoo?!

"Crystal I am going to kill you..." I cursed under my breath as I turned off the water and wrapped a hand towel (where the hell had all the normal-sized towels gone?) around my body. The bathroom was cold, thanks to the lack of steam, and I started shivering straight away. Damn Crystal and her stupidly long showers. Why was she even showering at work anyways? I know we make it sound like we live at work; in truth the three of us actually have an apartment in Cherrygrove, but the heating's iffy and the shower isn't too nice so we practically live at the Lab right now until we've saved up enough to fix all of the problems.

"Shampoo... Shampoo... Where the hell is the shampoo?" I rooted through the cupboard in the bathroom: nothing; nada; zilch; naught. Ah crap. I slid on my trainers and slipped out of the bathroom. There's a storage cupboard in the basement directly below the bathroom: that has to have some shampoo in it.

I rifled through the closet, opening boxes and moving crate lids. And still I found nothing. Seriously, is today just meant to be my bad day? I sighed and thumped the wall angrily. I was about to move away when I turned and heard a faint click. Looking properly at the wall across from me, I noticed a faint outline in the wall. Now I noticed it, there weren't actually any shelves or units attached to that particular wall. Clearing away a broom and a box of what looked like dish rags, I felt around the crevice. I heard another click, and the section of wall slid back.

"Whoa!" The room inside was dark and musty. The air was stale-smelling and heavy, like there had been no circulation in the place for years. It was pretty creepy, but a little spookiness (is that a word?) never bothered me. So I stamped my damp sneakers and adjusted my embarrassingly small towel, and pressed on into the dark room.

Feeling around the walls told me that yes, this was the only room in the whole lab that had not been reached by Crystal's wrath, meaning the wiring was shot and the bulb popped the moment I flicked the light switch. Crap.

I was going to have to do this the hard way. I made sure my towel wasn't going to fall down (not that anyone would notice considering I was alone in a dark room, but I have some sense of personal decency) and spread my arms to feel around the room and began walking forwards.

Thump. Ow. Okay, that was a wall. This room must be smaller than I thought. Turning, I saw the doorway to the storage closet on the adjacent wall. So the room wasn't that small, I just can't walk straight. Good to know.

I froze as I heard the familiar sound of Blue knocking on (read: pounding her fists rapidly against) the front door.

Oh, holy crap on a cracker with extra toppings of shit. I'm screwed. I'm so screwed.

Why, you ask, because currently; Blue and Silver are the one big obstacle between the bathroom and me in all my barely-concealed glory. And my only change of clothes is sitting on the cistern of Professor Elm's loo. Perfect. Absolutely spiffing.

Come on Goldie, you can do this.

I took a deep breath and peered over the side of the doorway. Blue and Crystal were chatting over cups of coffee and Silver seemed to be off in his own little world, staring into space from where he was perched on his desk. His arm was strapped tightly against his body in a sling attached to a Velcro band around his waist. I stood there for too long, however, and Crystal made eye contact with me. Her eyes widened and she opened her mouth like she was going to say something, but I waved my hands frantically in a shushing motion. She seemed to get the message and turned back to Blue, continuing her conversation with a smooth, effortless attitude that only Crystal could pull off.

I darted past the door and shot into bathroom, slamming the door behind me. I hurriedly yanked my clothes on, rubbing furiously at my wet, unwashed hair. Screw it; tomorrow morning I'm going to fix our shower!

Blue left after about an hour of chatting with Crystal, and the group locked up early, heading home while it was still sunny out. Gold walked ahead of the other two, arms stretched wide as he enjoyed the last of the day's summery weather. Ambipom bounced along by his feet, chirping happily and inspecting every aspect of the warm environment.

"What's the plan for tonight then?" He turned to the others, walking backwards so his dark hair soaked up all the sunlight.

"Well when you're all done being a massive Sunflora, you two are gonna go home and I'm going to get ready for my girls' night out tomorrow!"

The two boys groaned in unison. They had both forgotten about girls' night, and every week they dreaded it. Usually they managed to avoid spending it together; Silver would go out training and Gold would...well, Gold always found something to occupy himself with. Neither could remember when they'd last spent any time alone together, but with the rather awkward turn their relationship had taken recently, neither really wanted to share the other's company.

In theory, Gold could have been blamed for this sudden drop in communication between the two – who had once been the closest of friends. He had gotten drunk at a party several weeks ago, and at some point during said party, had exploited the 'I was drunk' excuse to its fullest extent by forcefully making out with Silver, then pretending to forget it ever happened. Silver had been so embarrassed and flustered when he tried to talk to Gold about it the next day, that he had avoided him entirely for a fortnight afterwards, and it had left them with a grey area neither knew how to cross, a metaphorical no-man's land in between them. And come tomorrow night, they would have to camp in their respective trenches, because it was no-man's land for a reason.

"Don't be like that! I'm sure you guys will have lots of fun!" Crys clapped her hands cheerily, slowing to a stop when she clocked Silver's raised eyebrow and Gold's frankly irritated look.

"Oh who cares? I don't." She gave up and opened the door to their apartment block. They all made their way up the stairs, wincing as they passed 3C on the way up and heard the shrieks and clatters that usually followed Mr Andric's return home from work.

"I think he cheated on her again. I don't see why she doesn't just leave him." Crystal commented, hearing an angered shout and the sound of shattering glass coming from behind their door.

Gold rolled his eyes, "Because every time she tries to; he goes to the gym, comes back with a six-pack and a six pack and they go at it like rabbits for a week."

Heh, I like that joke at the end, I personally think Gold is going to have a sense of humour bordering on risqué, but we'll see. I don't even know what was going on with that Vespa joke, oh god it was so bad -_-

I haven't even gotten Chapter 2 finished yet, so don't hold out for an update before New Year, I'm writing really slowly at the minute sorry.

Anyways, thanks for reading, leave a review if you like and I promise to update as quick as I can (and not leave it for a month and a half -_-)

Bye for now,

-Bug xxx