Typhlosion actually could go for some berries right now. He usually had to limit himself to things like HP Up and generic pokemon food sold at pokemarts, but once in a while he would nibble on some he had found while his trainer wasn't looking. Of course, he had sniffed them in the air as soon as he had entered the house, recognizing the berries' fresh scent, but was disappointed upon realizing that they were the wrong kind of berry. The pokemon had snorted, How typical of Mr. Perfume to like the sweet ones. While Typhlosion didn't mind sweet berries, he was left craving the spicy kind. Hm, he thought, the large pokemon didn't quite have the cute charm he used to as a cyndaquil, but maybe he still had enough left to win over some favors from the female trainer…
Silver spun around to face his rival. A year, huh? He hadn't exactly been keeping track of the time that had gone by, and whenever he thought about it everything was just "some months ago." It seemed that eventually, over their two skirmishes, it had been an entire year since Kotone caught him behind Elm's mailbox, sulking and waiting for the right moment to steal a pokemon. Everything changed on that day, and now that he thought about it he realized that he had gotten quite far in, well, everything in such short amount of time. Of course, it didn't compare to what Kotone had done. Finally, Silver broke up the eye contact as he felt himself blush.
"I guess… I've known you for a year now, r-right?"
The trainer internally face-palmed. Of course, the day he stole then cyndaquil was the same day he met her. Why did he have to be the idiot stating the obvious?
"Yeah, you're right!" Kotone only beamed a smile at him "Maybe I should make a cake too for both of us too." The girl returned to her previous task of getting all the materials needed to make her pastries, the noise of wooden cupboards opening and closing filling the first floor. "My mom went to visit my grandmother in Hoenn, that's why I'm stuck here house-sitting for a couple of days. Would you mind staying a while? Gold has to help his grandparents and it's really boring being in here alone. I mean… if you don't mind being around or anything. Now that I think about it, you probably have something to do." The girl had spoken the last part very softly in contrast to her previous chipper. This didn't really give Silver much of an option; He wasn't going to get much training today now was he? I guess my battle with Claire can be done later. Well, at least it was better than getting pummeled in battle as usual.
"No, I can stick around and… help out if you want I guess. J-just don't make me wear a stupid apron or anything."
Kotone grinned, clearly pleased. Silver's ability to be nice was clearly something that kept throwing her off guard, but she definitely could get used to it. She had been paying so much attention to the boy, expecting that he would chastise her and leave, she didn't notice Meganium's heavy growling and her rival's typhlosion pitifully crawling to her with the most pathetic look she had ever seen on a pokemon.
Meganium's growls grew louder with each step the typhlosion made. This was not his day. First, the rat barges into his house to mock him. Then, he had the gall to rub his stink on everything. And to top it all, that shameless imbecile had the guts to pretend he was a victim of sorts and go all bug-eyed on his trainer? The only way Typhlosion could be any more of a douche was if his trainer had nicknamed him Chad. Fortunately, there was no way Kotone would fall for his manipulating little scams.
"Aw, you look so cute! Do you want some berries too? Tell me, which ones do you like?"
… Right?
Silver raised an eyebrow at his pokemon's unusual behavior. Since when did Typhlosion look that hungry? The trainer had fed him as soon as they had arrived at New Bark Town, so what the heck was he doing? "Hey, hey, stop pretending like you're malnourished or something, you spoilt fat bastard. Get back here."
Kotone frowned. "Don't call your pokemon bastards. Or spoilt, or fat."
"I wouldn't if that wasn't exactly what he was!"
Meganium only growled louder at the shameless fire pokemon. Maybe not exactly fat, but definitely a spoilt bastard. Typhlosion only flashed a grin at its fellow pokemon, before using fake whimpers and crocodile tears in an effort for a treat and maybe some more in the future if Shrubbery's trainer could convince his to be a bit more… lenient. Meganium glared daggers at the other pokemon; he hated that Typhlosion had to ruin his day and probably the rest of his month for the sake of something as stupid as... Heck, who knew what the other pokemon wanted but it was pissing him off majorly. Kotone simply lectured him about Meganium's behavior, but fortunately in the end decided to ignore the typhlosion and get back to her original task. "You can share with Meganium, I'm sure he'll be happy to!" That was clearly a response neither of the pokemon liked, and they quickly huffed at each other. Defeated, Typhlosion grumbled, and reluctantly trotted back to the living room where he found a warm spot under the window where the sun shone through and promptly laid down. Good Riddance. This gave just a little bit more space for Silver to squeeze in, as Kotone's kitchen wasn't exactly big enough for two people and two large pokemon. Unfortunately for him, Meganium wasn't exactly budging and simply glared at the redheaded trainer as if to say he wouldn't be able to get rid of him anytime soon. Is everything and everyone working against me?
"I… never realized you liked to bake so much."
Kotone was too busy spraying the pan to look up. Silver blushed slightly, the girl had the same expression whenever they had a pokemon battle. She looked determined, but not overconfident. It was an expression that always sharply contrasted his cocky yet insecure attitude, which had always bugged Silver at first – just like everything else about her, but ultimately made his crush grow stronger.
"Well, there's only so much you can do when you're a pokemon trainer cooped up in a house. Besides, there's good reason behind it. My mom and I used to make them all the time when I was little and we were bored. Haven't you ever done something like that with your mom? Here, wash the berries, won't you?" Kotone didn't want to probe too much into Silver's childhood, knowing who exactly his family was, but she thought it'd be a harmless enough question.
It wasn't; her rival's expression changed instantly.
A wave of vile memories filled Silver's head as a scowl drew itself on his face. It was a long time ago that his mother had died, and he was just a little child, but he remembered it pretty well. Too well.
"My mom passed away when I was a kid, and we never baked or anything like that… No soap or anything, right?"
The redhead quickly turned around to face the sink, and opened up the water tap to do the task on hand. Silver had never really set foot in a kitchen to do anything but get a quick snack, as he grew up with chefs to cook for him, and in the last year he always had made enough money from winning battles that he could afford to buy precooked food. It was safe to say that the boy had never done anything in a kitchen in his life, and couldn't tell a spatula from a pan. Hopefully this wasn't disaster waiting to happen, like everything else in his life seemed to have become.
"That's… awful." Great, did he just get her down? "And here I was thinking your mom was that pretty rocket executive."
"Sister." Silver grunted, not wanting the subject of conversation to even veer near Team Rocket.
"Ah… that explains it. And no, don't put any soap! Just make sure they're rinsed properly and stuff."
Seriously, wash fruit with soap? Had Kotone's rival been living under a sheltered rock all his life? If he would have done that, the berries would have been totally ruined for consumption. She couldn't think much about it though, those thoughts going back to Silver's mom. With a mother figure gone and a dad like… well, like the team rocket boss, it was pretty clear why the boy had become an abusive and arrogant trainer. In a way, it kind of reminded her of her own missing dad. Kotone sighed through her nose. Maybe the two weren't so different after all.
"O-okay…" Silver tilted the plastic colander slightly under the falling water, not knowing any better, and his thoughts started to wander. With the two having a house all to themselves, Kotone in an apron and him helping out the boy was starting to feel like… No! Silver shook his head slightly. He was getting way too ahead of himself, however, he was unable to stop the blush from creeping up into his face, and it only got worse when Kotone decided to help him out. "Here… like this…" Silver's crush had gotten really close to him, enough to be able to reach into the colander and start shuffling the mago berries around. The boy was only glad that she was too busy concentrating on it to notice the red of his face. "Seriously Silver," Kotone giggled. "Have you ever even stepped into a kitchen before?" Great, Silver thought, was she making fun of him now?
"W-we had private chefs." Previously, Silver was not afraid to say he came from a wealthy family, but nothing was ever the same with Kotone. He only hoped that she wouldn't see him as the rich brat type, which to be honest, wasn't far from the truth at all. The redhead really had been a rich brat for most of his life, at least until he met her.
"I see, that explains it." Kotone felt stupid for not figuring it out earlier. It was clear that Giovanni must have had quite the money to be able to sustain and employ such a large organization like Team Rocket. Of course Silver must have grown up with servants and private cooks and all that fancy stuff. Kotone blushed lightly, feeling a bit self-conscious about her modest sized house for once. "Here..." She grabbed the red colander from her guest after giving him a smile. "I think they're rinsed enough now." The boy simply looked away and nodded slowly, much to Kotone's disappointment. Would it kill him to smile for once?
"Meg, I know you want your treat really badly, but can you please wait outside of the kitchen?"
The grass pokemon grumbled. Why did he have to go but not Typhlosion's useless trainer? At least he was cute to look at. Offended, Meganium trotted out of the kichen and up the stairs to Kotone's room – far away from the obnoxious and ill behaved guests. Kotone put her hands on her hips as she watched her pokemon leave her sight. The trainer knew that Meganium was always cranky around Silver and his typhlosion, but now that Silver had become far more of a nicer person and less of a cocky rival Kotone didn't quite understand why her pokemon insisted on being overprotective.
"I don't understand… he's usually such a friendly pokemon. He's only this big of a grouch around you."
"I told you that Typhlosion is spoilt, cocky, and arrogant. It's rare for him to get along with other pokemon, so it's probably him." Silver huffed and crossed his arms.
I guess old habits die harder on pokemon. Kotone managed suppressed her giggle into a smile, and grabbed for the fridge now that there was a bit more room to breathe and less of tripping hazards. The girl spotted the butter and pulled it out before setting it on the counter. "You're going to have to wash your hands for the next part."
"R-right!"
It was odd to see her long time rival, who used to be completely cocky and confident about battles be totally clueless about something. In fact, it was almost… cute.