THE FIRST THING I did was check the time. 5:03 am. I fell asleep 3 hours earlier. I sighed and sat up. I went to the kitchen, started to make coffee. I walked out on the balcony while it was brewing.

There's a certain calm to Goldenrod in the early morning hours, like these. There are less cars on the street, less people on the sidewalks. Less noise. I almost smiled. Times like these are when I truly appreciate this city.

The Poké Gear rang. I pulled it out of my pocket, stared at the Caller ID. Unknown. I pressed the send button, and put it to my ear.

"Who's this?" I asked.

No answer.

"Hello?"

"You're awake. At this hour. I never expected you to be an early bird."

I nearly dropped the Poké Gear. The voice sounded familiar. Too familiar. But it couldn't be him. Not —

"Now, don't be rude," he said. "Talk to your father."

I stared at nothing in particular. I was gaping. "How did you get this number?"

"Yellow Pages. It isn't exactly hard to find a person named 'Silver'."

I paused. Then, "What do you want from me?"

"What does any parent want from their kid who ran away? For them to come home."

I gritted my teeth. "No. Never again."

I heard Giovanni suck in air, then blow it out. "I thought you'd say that. But you haven't thought about your friends. About Gold."

I gripped the Poké Gear so hard, I thought I'd crush it. "You wouldn't fucking—"

He chuckled. "No, I wouldn't. Not me, anyway."

Neither of us said anything for a time. Then, I said, "I'll do whatever you want. Not come home, but I'll do what you tell me. Just… just think of something. And don't hurt him, or — or I'll find you."

"And do what? Kill me? We both know you won't do that."

I sighed. He was right.

"Well," he said, "I can't guarantee that I won't bring you home. But I will think of something. And I will get back to you. Don't change your phone number, or I'll know."

Dial tone. Shaking, I put the Poké Gear back in my pocket. I turned toward the apartment, made a beeline for the kitchen. The coffee was done. I poured some and sipped it. I'm gonna need this, I thought.

HANGING ON TO a relatively large bird-like thing while it flies 50 feet in the air isn't as fun as it looks. It's terrifying, actually, knowing if your grip slips, you're dead. No ifs, ands, or buts. In any other situation, I'd have taken a cab, but this was important. I used my Honchkrow to fly over to New Bark Town, Gold's hometown, because it was faster.

We approached the ground. Honchkrow slowed down as my feet touch the ground, and I hit the ground running. I nearly stumbled, but I steadied myself. I pulled out a Poké Ball and pointed it at Honchkrow. "Return," I said. It turned into a stream of light, and it went toward the Poké Ball. Then it disappeared. I walked toward the general direction of Gold's house.

"House", though, isn't really the correct term. It'd take quite a few houses to match up to the height, length and width of Gold's home. It's really more of a mansion. The roof was black, the bricks a fading red. I went up to the door, knocked on it thrice. No answer. I pressed the doorbell. I heard footsteps a few seconds later, and then the door opened, but Gold wasn't standing in the doorway.

A tall brunette wearing a red shirt and a big smile was there instead. She looked in her mid-40s. "Hello!" she said.

"Hi," I said. "Is Gold around?"

"Oh, yes," she said, and she nodded as if to emphasize that. "Right this way." She gestured for me to come in, and I did. Every room, it seemed, was lined with open windows, through which light poured in. Another thing about the place was that it was clean; no place looked dirty. The Pokémon, I figured, were in the backyard.

The woman guided me to the staircase. She took a breath, and yelled, "Gold! Your friend's here!"

I heard a door open. "Come on up!" I heard Gold yell. I went up the staircase, and faced Gold. He was smiling. I wasn't.

"Hey! What're you doing here?" he asked.

"We have a problem. A big one." I stepped inside his room.

Togebo, Gold's Togetic, was on the bed. It scowled at me. Gold followed behind me and shut the door. I noticed his smile went away. "What sort of problem?" he asked.

I sat on his bed. Togebo jumped back on the floor, walked around the room. I drummed my fingers on my knee, opened my mouth, closed it. If there was one thing I was bad at, it was figuring out how to word things.

"C'mon," he said, and he sat next to me. Put his arm around my shoulder. "Out with it. You can tell me."

I inhaled, exhaled. "Father…" I trailed off.

"Yeah? What about him?"

I told him how he called me, what he said to me, what I said to him, what I asked of him, what he threatened to do with Gold. For a moment, he was gaping.

"I — I don't — ah, jeez…"

Silence. Then, he pulled me into a hug. I just sat there, dumb. Staring at him.

"You're hugging me, Gold," I said.

"I know, it just…"

"What?"

"...It seemed like you needed it." He let go of me. "That's all."

I didn't need a hug, though. I needed advice. Hugs can't compensate for that. "What should I do? Just go along with what he says?"

"No. Let me see him. I'll give him a piece of my mind, the no good…" he trailed off, and punched his hand.

I glared at him, but I couldn't help myself. Unless Gold had some death wish I knew nothing about, that was easily the stupidest thing I've ever heard. Giovanni is the kind of person to start an argument if you even look at him the wrong way. "I'm sure he could stand up to a teen," I said. "He'd kill you."

Gold looked at me, saw my glare. He took his fist out of his palm and grinned, blushed. Chuckled. "Sorry. Just… you know. Wishing."

'Wishing.' I couldn't blame him. "Forget about me," I said, "what should you do?"

He leaned back, sighed. "I'm still going to the Pokéathlon."

"No."

"Why not? This is a once in a 4 year thing, you know!"

"If he's been released, then he'll find some way to get to you. To get to me."

He opened his mouth, then stared at me. "How'd he know about me, anyway?"

I just looked at him. Then looked down at my shoes. "I...I'll find that out."

Silence again. Then, "You don't know?"

"Giovanni never tells his secrets." Then I get an idea. I frowned, shook my head. She'd never —

Gold tapped his foot. "Look, man. If you need anything, like backup or some shit like that, I'm your guy."

I glared again. "I can handle myself, Gold. Have been for 6 years."

He laughed. "I'm very aware! Just saying."

I sighed. The Poké Gear rang. I took it out and looked at the screen. My face fell. "It's him."

He stared at me, stone-faced, said, "Answer it."

I stood up, went to the door, opened it, went into the hall, then answered the call. "Thoughts?"

"I have an idea," Giovanni said, "but it's too hush-hush. I'll need you to meet me to talk about it."

I gritted my teeth. "How do you know you won't try to take me away?"

"You don't. But I won't. I'm a man of my word, Silver. Remember that."

I sighed. "Yes," I said half-heartedly.

He paused. "Do you doubt me? I can prove it to you."

I blinked. "No, father. Not at all."

"Good. That's what I thought. Anyway. The place is at the Ilex Forest. We meet at twelve noon. Come alone. Don't disappoint me."

Dial tone. I sighed. Twelve noon was three hours from now.

I looked at Gold's door. I stepped to it and opened it. Put on my best apologetic face. Told him what he said. Gold offered to be a lookout, I said no. After that, we went to the backyard and watched his Pokémon play. We battled against each other for the last 10 minutes or so, him winning. He refused payment. After that, we said our goodbyes, and I left for Azalea Town.

All the while, the idea never left my head. The time when I left was 11:20.