The third arc :D
Many thanks to those who had read, reviewed, alerted and faved :D
Too many distractions while writing this (Claymore + Saiyuki Reload = MAJOR ones)
Mine Is Different Than Yours (Or Is It?)
"We'll be going then, Mom." Soul hugged her mother.
"Take good care of yourself, and don't forget to call sometimes, okay?" She patted Soul's hat. Soul nodded, grinning sheepishly – she knew her mother doesn't want a repeat of the last time. Soul stepped back and released Gale, her Pidgeot, while Silver called out his Crobat.
"Wait, Silver, can I talk to you? It won't take long." Silver was climbing up his flier, but climbed down again. It's not like I can refuse her, Silver thought as he retraced his steps towards Soul's mother.
"Yes ma'am?" Silver couldn't help yet again as he noticed the many similarities between Soul and her. He slapped himself mentally for the umpteenth time. She's her mother you dumbass, of course there're similarities!
"Silver? I need you to promise me something," her eyes penetrated him, making himself feel exposed – a trait passed down to her daughter. Silver nodded.
"Take care of my daughter." Silver smirked upon hearing this.
"She's the Champion, ma'am. I doubt she needs protection."
"No, I mean it, take care of her." Silver nodded indifferently, just to reassure her – but something in her eyes made him swallow. Something in her voice made him pause. Something in her words made him think.
"… I promise."
.x.
"What are we going to do here again?"
"Come on Silver, be a sport. There's no harm in helping people, you know?"
Silver gave Soul an irritated/annoyed look. They had stopped at Azalea Town an hour before – Soul wanted Kurt to make some balls from the apricorns she had collected. Then the Charcoal guy just had to ask Soul to find his Farfetch'd again in the Ilex Forest. He was about to tell him off (none too politely – he IS Silver, after all) when Soul agreed to help.
Silver leaned against a tree and crossed his arms. "Well, there's no harm in watching you help people too, so I'm going to do just that," Soul's eyebrow twitched in annoyance when he smirked his infamous – and irritating – smirk.
"Jerk."
"Say again, Soul?" He heard that remark, low as her voice was – he just wanted to make her feel even more irritated. She chose not to rise to the bait, and instead began to choose some pokeballs from her belt.
"Alright, Blaze, Gale, Phantom and Spark, I'll need help from you guys!" She called out her Typhlosion, Pidgeot, Gengar and Ampharos, leaving out her red Gyarados and Tyranitar. A wise decision, considering Gyarados's size and Tyranitar's speed, Silver thought as Soul began explaining the situation to her pokemon.
"- and if any of you found that Farfetch'd, signal to Gale, okay?" All her pokemon nodded, ever ready to carry out her orders, splitting to three different directions. "Alright then, off you go! Gale, stay above me!" Soul began to move herself to the last path.
"Wait, you are going to search too?" He raised an eyebrow.
"… Yeah?"
"Aren't your pokemon enough already? It's not like they're incompetent."
She retaliated by smirking, Silver-style (she doesn't pull that one often). "Well, unlike some people, I'm actually a very competent person," she double-jerked her eyebrows, the smirk still on her face. "So a competent person should speed up the whole process, isn't it?" A vein popped unexpectedly on Silver's forehead. Heh, gotta love the reverse psychology here, she grinned to herself as she heard a growl and footsteps following her.
They walked along a path until they reached the forest shrine. Soul looked upwards.
"Any sign of the Farfetch'd yet?" She asked the Bird pokemon, only to receive a negative response. She turned to Silver… only to find him leaning against the shrine.
"Silver! Get away from that shrine!"
"Make me," he shrugged. Soul reached over to pull him away – she didn't need to as the shrine began to emit bright light, causing Silver to jump away as a greenish-white creature flew out from it. Soul gasped, realizing what is the creature.
"It's Celebi!"
"What? You sure Soul?"
Soul didn't bother to give an answer as she stared at the pokemon, who stared right back at them both. Even as they stared, Celebi began to fly around them, twirling as it did so. The next thing they knew was a flash of intense white light, blinding them.
When they regained their eyesight, Silver looked around at their new environment. Soul was still dazzled.
"Uuuhhh… Where are we? This is clearly not Ilex Forest," she glanced at Celebi, who had hovered around them. A thought occurred to her. Silver, meanwhile, was tense. He was all too familiar with this place… to the point of disturbing. He dumbly watched her rifling through her pocket and withdrew her Pokegear, before tuning in to the radio section.
"Just as I thought… Celebi had used its mystic ability, called Time Travel. We're presently trapped back in time…" she paused as she listened to the radio. "… around seven years?" Soul looked up to Silver only to find him pale and expressionless.
"Seven years? Hell… Why? Why?" He mumbled to himself, but Soul heard it. She was puzzled as he didn't seem to heard her calling him. She held his hand with her free hand, worried.
She certainly didn't expect him to catch her hand and twisted it to her back, snarling as he did so. She whimpered in pain.
"Silver!" Hearing his name brought back his attention to the current situation. He immediately released her when he noticed their position. Somewhat panicked, he grabbed her hands, examining them as he did so.
"I'm sorry! Are your hands hurt? Did I break any bones?" Soul momentarily forgot her pain as she stared at Silver.
"… Silver, what's wrong with you?"
He froze upon hearing the question. Knowing she's onto something, she looked up, only to see him turn away from her.
"Silver. Look at me." When he didn't, she gently pulled him back and slowly cupped his face. "Silver, what's the matter?" Seeing his stony expression – almost like withdrawal, denial – she didn't know what to do. Soul was exasperated. He never acted like this before, she stared at his eyes – once the beautiful silvery gray ones looked lifeless. She was nearly at her wits end when he spoke.
"Follow me." He pulled himself away from her before taking her hand. She found herself nearly running to keep up with his pace – Celebi trailed them from behind. They arrived at a hill, where Silver pulled her sideways to the bushes. At that moment she saw the people before them and gaped.
.x.
Is that… Silver? Soul stared at the red-haired boy – obviously younger – and another man before the younger Silver. She heard voices floating towards her and tuned in to listen.
"… shall witness one day the revival of me and my Team Rocket!" the older man spoke. The boy just looked at him, an unreadable expression on his face.
"I don't understand you! You don't make any sense!" The man just watched the boy, before turning away.
"...One day, you will understand." He left the boy, walking out from her view. At this point Silver tightened his hold over her hand, causing her to glance towards him. She never saw such intense hatred on his face before – even during the Team Rocket incident. Soul's attention was diverted back to young Silver when he spoke, fist clenched.
"I don't want to understand you! I will never become someone like you. A coward when you're alone and acting like a tyrant when you're in front of other cowards!" The boy's voice raised a volume higher. "I will become strong! I will become a stronger man all by myself!"
The boy screamed towards the man's direction – "All by MYSELF!"
There was a silence before boy-Silver started to run towards their direction, but didn't see the three (Celebi included) lurking behind the bushes. Once he vanished from her sight, Soul turned to Silver, already adding two and two altogether.
"… Giovanni's your father, right?" She asked quietly. Silver's grip tightened, causing Soul to wince at the pressure. Silver didn't seem to realize it as he nodded mutely.
That explains his hatred towards Team Rocket… Soul didn't know what to say. Celebi chose the moment to fly around them again – she realized the Time Travel pokemon is going to use its ability again.
Another blinding light ensued, but this time Soul was ready. She held to Silver tightly as they travelled through time again.
.x.
She nearly fell as she felt the ground below her, if not for Silver.
"You okay?" He muttered, to which she nodded as she righted herself up. Her eyes travelled around the surroundings – they were in a cave. Celebi tugged her arm, pointing to an opening. Without word, the two teenagers walked silently through it into another, smaller cave. The first thing - man - she saw is Giovanni. His face registered surprise when he saw them both, but smoothly slid into a calm expression as he recognized the red-haired boy.
"Ah, Silver… You've grown up to be a fine young man, son," Giovanni eyes were on Silver, whose face was twisted with a mixture of hatred and repulsion.
"Do not call me son." He growled.
"Why? You're my son, after all," Giovanni, if anything, was amused to see Silver's reaction. "And you have a girlfriend with you, aren't you a little bit young to have one? You're what, fifteen?" If they're in any other situation, Soul would have blushed – but not this one. Then she heard the radio.
"…pleased to declare Team Rocket's revival. ...Giovanni? ...Can you hear us? We have finally made it!..." She recognized the voice as Archer's. She then knew they were still in the past – four years ago.
"Touching as it is our reunion here, I have to go, son -" Silver growled again upon hearing the word 'son'. "- my old associates need me... Perhaps you two want to join us?" Giovanni asked.
"Never," Soul and Silver answered in unison, one angered, another defiant.
"Why not? We will not repeat the failure of three years ago! Team Rocket will be born again, and I – we - will rule the world!" Giovanni spread his arms as if trying to sway Silver's opinion. "No? Pity then. Prepare for defeat!" Giovanni took out a pokeball and enlarged it. Soul stepped forward, ready to battle when two things stopped her. One was the fact that she only had two pokemon with her.
Another was Silver's hand pulling her back as he stepped forward in front her protectively, a pokeball in his other hand. She looked at his expression and knew he will act rashly.
"Silver." She tuned out whatever it is Giovanni was saying as Silver face turned slightly towards her. "Believe in your pokemon." She smiled a little. "You can win. I trust you."
Silver's hatred expression slowly melted away, to be replaced with something else that she couldn't comprehend. He held her hand firmly as he released his Sneasel against Giovanni's Nidoking.
"You should prepare for your defeat, Giovanni," Silver spoke.
.x.
The battle ended quickly. Silver was obviously better trained than Giovanni (after all, he was her rival). Giovanni stared in disbelief at his fallen pokemon.
"Impossible…" He stared at them as he recalled Kangashan. "How is this possible...? The past three years have been a waste...?" Giovanni was bewildered. " How can my own son manage to destroy my team again? The precious dream of Team Rocket has become little more than an illusion..."
"Accept the fact, Giovanni. You lost," Silver said calmly. Giovanni still stared at them – particularly Silver – before walking past them, to the outside of the cave. Soul kept her gaze on him until he couldn't be seen anymore, then she glanced at Celebi who started twirling again.
This time they landed back at their starting place, with a frantic Pidgeot rushing towards Soul and literally tackled her to the ground. Celebi glanced at them before entering the shrine and vanished. Soul patted her Pidgeot, trying to calm her down.
"Hey girl… It's alright, I'm right here," after some cajoling, the Pidgeot finally flew upwards again to keep watch on any signal from the other pokemon. Soul turned to Silver, who was standing a few feet away from her. She stood up, brushing away the dust and dirt from her clothes, but not picking up her fallen hat.
"Silver."
"Hm."
"You alright?" She mentally smacked herself for asking such a stupid question.
"Hm." His tone was flat. Then, just as unexpectedly, he laughed. A bitter laugh that made her cringed inwardly. "See how stained my blood is, Soul? My father is – was – the leader of Team Rocket. Team Rocket," he spat the word, disgusted. "The very organization you defeated four years ago."
She was speechless at his outburst.
"I said I don't have a dream before, did I? I lied. I had one, but not as innocent as yours. Mine is different. Selfish. Ugly. My dream – my wish, my target, aim – was to take down Team Rocket once and for all. Team Rocket was the reason why my mother died in the first place. Do you know how, Soul?" Not waiting for an answer, he continued on, albeit in a dejected tone. "He was too busy with that organization that he didn't realize her health was failing. I tried again and again to bring his attention to Mother, but failed. When he did realize her condition, it was already too late." Silver's gloved hands clenched and unclenched at the memory. There was a moment's silence as he remembered.
"She died soon enough. I was actually glad because she was in so much pain that I couldn't even bear to hear, let alone see her condition. I cried for the first, and the last time at her funeral. I promised myself not to cry ever after that." Silver's face was a mask of calmness – only his eyes betrayed his emotions. He turned away from Soul.
"Then I was neglected and yet cared at the same time. I was raised to believe that power was everything. And yet, it is nothing," He chuckled darkly. "I am the same as those scum you defeated, Soul."
He turned around only to see tears falling silently from Soul's eyes.
"Wh- Why are you crying?" He walked towards her, closing the gap between them, but was unsure on what to do.
She smiled weakly as she tried to wipe the tears, but they kept falling. "You promised yourself not to cry anymore, right? So I'm crying for you."
He tried to smirk, but failed. "Stupid girl."
"You're the stupid one, Silver. Why make a promise like that?" She blushed a little as he also tried to wipe her tears away, but it went unnoticed by him. "Do you feel better now?" He nodded, realizing that his chest felt lighter – as if some burden had been lifted. It had - he'd told her his long-kept secret. "Good. Now, listen to my story."
.x.
"I don't even know who my father is." Soul wiped away the remnants of her tears – they had finally stopped. "Ever since I was little I asked my mother about it, but I never got an answer. I guess it stopped somewhere around eight or nine, because I knew then my mother would never give one." She lifted her face upwards, meeting his eyes. "I don't know whether my blood is stained or not. I don't think I'll know it. But, if there's anything I know, I know I – like you, Silver – hated my father. Still do, I guess," She looked down at her feet.
"I lied to you about my dream. I set out on a pokemon journey four years ago to find my father. And it was purely for selfish reason, Silver. I only want to tell him my hatred for him." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but grew stronger as she spoke again. "And when time passed by, I gave up. Two years ago, to be exact. I searched the entire Kanto and Johto region and found no trace of him. But then, my mother is still here. I learned to cherish her. To forget the hatred and to enrich the love."
She smiled forlornly. "In some ways, we – and our dreams – even though different, are the same. That's why I never gave up on you, ever since we first battled. You had the same look in your eyes as I had when I looked at myself in the mirror." Then looking at him again, her smile widening a bit, she said, "At least your dream is fulfilled, Silver. I may have defeated Team Rocket, but you defeated Giovanni. We took them down together." She hugged him. "At least we can find a new dream now, also together?"
Silver smiled, a full genuine smile. He hugged her back. "Together."
Perhaps he already understood the hidden meaning of Soul's mother's words.
And finally! It's over (not really).
The epilogue should be up on tomorrow (not that there's much time now).
I re-written this a few times – several scenes doesn't play out quite well compared to when I thought of them. And I think there're plot holes in there. And it feels rushed. Uhhuu. =/
Not to mention I dissected and reconstructed the Celebi event to suit my story.
This is the longest one so far. I never realized it O.o
Anyways, R&R!
