They'd probably leave him alone by this point in time, and would never suspect that he would even set foot in a place like this. Silver's eyes shifted to take in the extent of the small space, a tea shop located on the outskirts of Maile City on Ula'Ula Island. It was a humble space with dark wooden shelves displaying the various types of tea, imported from regions located around the world; he took notice, however, that a large portion of the products were imported from Johto. That only made sense, especially since this entire city was designed and constructed by Johtoian people from what he heard. The redhead never imagined himself visiting this region in particular and he wasn't the biggest fan. It was beautiful, sure, but also very warm most of the time. Supposedly, it was still winter... Silver found that difficult to believe, since it hardly felt like that to him. The weather didn't even allow him to wear the coat that he was quite fond of and was hardly ever seen without. He could even go as far as to say that he felt... Naked without it. Even so, he knew this better than anyone: Things just changed, and they could change for inexplicable reasons.
What made his situation a bit more... Complicated, for not wishing to a use a more hateful term at this time, was the fact that his two friends had decided to tag along on what was intended to be a strictly-business trip. Ethan and Lyra pestered their companion for more than a week before Silver had ended up caving into their wishes, and he was certainly regretting it now. All they wanted to do was prance around, sight-see, goof off... How ridiculous. They argued that he needed a break from everything, and that a vacation would be a good idea- except it was the very same argument that had been used against him time and time again. It was a like a broken record that he couldn't change. He found himself feeling a bit frustrated just thinking about it.
"I have things to do, and they keep trying to distract me..." Silver's word left his lips in a low mutter, quiet enough that the average patron wouldn't be able to hear him. "What am I even doing here?" It was kind of ironic: Ethan and Lyra were continually trying to distract him, but here he was in some tea shop doing nothing productive anyway; he didn't even drink tea that much... Silver preferred the smoky bitterness of coffee. Who did drink tea? Did Ellie mention something about liking the various types of tea that some guy from the Unova region sent her frequently. Apparently, despite not being incredibly friendly, that girl possessed quite a few connections... It was amazing what a little bit of politeness could accomplish, honestly. But what kind of tea did she even like? ...Why was Silver even thinking about such a thing out of the blue? He hadn't seen Ellie in months anyway. Still... He couldn't help but wonder what she was up to, if she was still training... If she was taking care of herself properly...
Silver took of a box of tea bags off of the shelf and slowly flipped it between his fingers, reading over the label printed across it in black lettering. It was some kind of green tea, imported from Johto, with mint and matcha... Whatever that was. He couldn't help but find himself falling out of reality and immersed within his own thoughts- so much so that he hadn't noticed someone bump into him at first. The tea box had slipped from his hands and clattered to the floor, and a very irritated trainer's eyes flickered in the direction of the apologizing woman.
"Oh, sorry 'bout that. I didn't see you there..." She reached down and picked up the box of tea of that he dropped, holding it out for him. Silver was just about to give some snappy remark, but he refrained from doing so; he knew it was the wrong thing to do... Old habits died hard. Instead, confusion had doused his anger since this woman seemed to looking him in a very curious manner. The stranger was rather tall for a woman, he noticed, though still didn't surpass his own height; she was rather thin and dainty-looking regardless. She appeared to be somewhere in her early fourties, judging by the subtle age lines in her doll-like face, though it was difficult to know for sure: Her curtain of thick, somewhat wavy hair was completely white. Even her eyes were a colorless silver much like his own. How strange... The last time he had seen eyes like that, was when he was with Ellie some time ago.
There appeared to be a glimmer within her gaze, indicating some kind of unidentifiable emotion. Silver was about to ask her if there was something that she needed- except the words she had spoken completely blindsided him. "...K-Kamon..?"
"How... How do you know... My name?" No one had ever addressed him that way, not Ethan or Lyra, not anyone that he knew. The name 'Kamon' had died the day that he left his old life behind for the life of a trainer; he was only a child then. But even his trainer ID held the name 'Silver', not his birth name. The typical expression of slight scorn had left his face almost immediately, replacing it with a look of disbelief. He was attempting to piece it together, but his mind was reeling too quickly.
"I..." The woman placed the tea box back on the shelf, her eyes never leaving the red-haired trainer. She took a step forward and a small, shaky hand reached out to carefully brush his cheek. "You don't remember me... Do you? I don't blame you. You were so young, and your father probably didn't show you any pictures..."
"What are you talking about?" Perhaps if Silver was in his right state of mind in this moment, he would have shoved the woman's had away almost immediately. He just wanted to her to get to the point. He wanted to know- wanted to know why there was something so utterly familiar about her.
The stranger's small pink lips curled into a faint smile, pulling her hand away. "That has to be it. I thought I had the wrong person for a moment, but no. Your eyes... Like I said, you probably don't remember me but... I'm your mother."
That didn't make a single fragment of sense, not to him. His mother was gone ages ago and he was left in the care of his father... Except, she did refer to him by his birth name. His thoughts were contradictory beyond belief and Silver had not the faintest clue of what to believe. "No, no- you have to have mistaken me for someone else. My mother died when I was kid, and I hardly remember her..."
"Did she?"
"Yes... She disappeared, but no one could find her. She had to have been dead. Besides... My mother's hair was red. I remember that."
"Really? Was your mother's name Evelyn, by chance?" The woman asked calmly, gaze never tearing away from his.
"So, it is you... But how? And why?" As if a switch had been flipped within his mind, Silver's disbelief had crumbled into nothing and a new emotion emerged; it was something powerful, but foreign. He had never experienced anything like it. The gray-eyed trainer wanted to be happy, but another part of him was angry with her. He wanted to question her so deeply, along with having the urge to punch her.
"I know, it's been a very long time... Just give me a chance to explain myself, Kamon. I promise that you'll understand."
"Fine... But don't call me Kamon."
A spark of befuddlement could be seen within her expression, raising an eyebrow in curiosity. "You don't me to call you by your name... Well, what do you want me to call you then?"
"Call me Silver."
Silver couldn't believe that an event within his life could be anymore surreal; he thought for sure that having to fight a homicidal pokemon poacher stronger than a Champion had topped literally everything else. But even so, this was not something to immediately dismiss and he desperately wanted to know: Was this actually his mother, standing with him in the flesh? A few more unimportant words had been exchanged in the shop and Evelyn had to make her purchases before they could leave for somewhere more private. Silver had bought the green tea that he was looking at, though didn't think he would drink it himself. It was only a very small and quiet stroll through the very Johto-like city until they reached their destination.
"The Malie Gardens... It's gotta be one of my favorite spots in Alola. Johto immigrants designed and built it based off of their own culture, and it's normally a very popular tourist spot. Except, it's time for dinner so there won't be many people around," Evelyn explained as they crossed the small golden bridge. The Alolan sun was sinking over the horzion, painting the remainder of the daytime sky in bright hues of orange; it would be a hot day tomorrow, Silver reminded himself, indicating that winter was coming to an end. The aroma of various Johto-native flowers permeated the air, and the faint sound of rustling could be heard from the patches of tall grass. He had taken notice of the various structures and pavilions placed throughout the land... It really did give him this sense of his home region. That could easily explain why Evelyn was rather fond of this place.
Then again, Silver could be getting far ahead of himself with such an assumption. He needed to hear the entire story.
"Look, if you really are my mother... Then what happened? How did you end up escaping your kidnappers? And why didn't you ever come back?" It was rather obvious that his disbelief was not completely gone, and the redhead wouldn't let such a feeling of suspicion go until he knew everything; only then could he make a proper judgement. If this woman was actually his mother, then she would know exactly what he was talking about. Silver's words would seem strange to anyone else. The two had stopped at one of the pavilions and sat down underneath of the wooden canopy. Silver couldn't help watch intently as Evelyn folded her thin hands in her lap, her chest rising as she took a deep breath.
"Silver... Before I go telling you what happened... I just want you know that, sometimes, people have to make decisions that seem selfish. But that doesn't mean that they don't care at all," the white-haired woman explained, colorless eyes flickering from the lush grass beneath her feet to look at her son. "You promise to listen carefully?"
There was no doubt that this was statement was a bit puzzling, as well as being suspicious. Still... He decided to that he would give her the opportunity to elaborate. "Fine."
"I'm sure that you know how your father could be... I don't even understand why I fell in love with him after I came to Johto. I was his rival, actually, but we were friends and whatnot. The polish... It just wore off and I could start seeing the person Giovanni was underneath, and I was scared. His talk about creating a pokemon powerful enough to challenge the pokemon in legends and myths... That he'd stop at nothing to get his hands on the Master Ball. I couldn't take it anymore. So... I took some money and hired a friend of mine. He was already in a gang, by the way. I met him before I met your father. But, I paid him to kidnap both me and you... It's just that we didn't have the chance to get to you, because someone had called security. I had no choice..." Her fingers were fiddling with a silver pendant strung around her neck. "I had to leave without you, and I came here to live. I thought I could come back to get you... But I never got the chance. Some years later, I was to but I found out that Giovanni abandoned you... That it was too late. I thought you were gonna die out there on your own with no pokemon..."
Silver remained silent despite the fact that Evelyn had stopped speaking. It was almost as if that feeling that overcome him earlier was controlling his every movement- even the words that he had spoken. They were there, but the redhead couldn't grasp them and anything that was on his mind was simply out of reach. He watched as the woman's fingers fiddled with the oval-shaped pendant, but a very small could be heard and she carefully opened the charm; it was a locket. One the left side, there was a very small photo that resembled the person wearing the necklace: Evelyn was much younger in this photo with bright, hopeful eyes and crimson hair. On the other side was a photo of a familiar young child with pale gray eyes and short hair the same shade of red.
"But even if I wasn't there... It doesn't mean that I never stopped loving you, Kamon."