Chapter 73

"Shinobi! Shinobi!" Lily squealed with joy at the picture on her laptop, "Look at this baby Torchic! Oh my God, it's so fuzzy!" With a few clicks, the picture was quickly downloading into her folder entitled "Cute Pokémon Pics 3." There were over two hundred similar pictures in the folder. Many of them she no longer remembered what they were.

Lily loved the internet. Anything she could possibly want to see or learn about was only a few seconds away. Often, she would lose track of time and find that the past three hours had been lost to watching videos or reading through posts that her friends made. Even though she had grown farther and farther apart from her school friends since she started training Pokémon, she always knew what they were doing, thanks to the internet.

"Shinobi, you're not looking…" Lily whined childishly. However, she did not turn away from the screen to check if he was or not. She decided to save the picture for whenever Shinobi was ready and opened up a new tab so she could keep looking through more pictures. This particular site had been a favorite of hers for years. It was called, simply enough, . It always made her happy.

"Mistress," Shinobi spoke up, "is there nothing else you would like to do today?" It was not really his place to question his trainer, but he meant it with the best of intentions. He had been by her side ever since Silver and Aroma had left that morning. Lily had not left the room since. She had, in fact, turned on her laptop and done nothing else at all. She hadn't even eaten.

"No, I think I'm okay," Lily brushed off his question. "Awwww…" she cooed at the next picture: a Purrloin no bigger than her hand being bottle-fed.

"Mistress," Shinobi tried again, "the battle with Mark is a mere two days away. Are you certain we are prepared?"

"We'll be fine," Lily said off-hand. In order to reassure him, she began searching for a database on Pokémon. It was a few easy clicks to find a profile for Leafeon. "See? Right here," Lily called to Shinobi, "It says that Leafeon are relatively quick physical attackers with a limited move set potential. However, like most grass-types they are very weak to fire and ice. Also, Leafeon does not possess any attacks to counter flying-type Pokémon."

Lily turned away from her laptop to search the room for Shinobi. However, he was crouching right next to her chair. He had been there the entire time. The human Ninjask was so quiet it was sometimes easy to forget that he was even in the room.

"See?" Lily pointed, "You'll be fine. We won't even need Silvy."

"And the Charmander-girl," Shinobi reminded her, "Cherry?"

"Okay, maybe we will get Silvy," Lily sighed, "I'm sure he'll fight. It's no big deal."

"If you insist…" Shinobi conceded.

"Now, c'mon," Lily motioned, "look at the wittle Torchic!" She switched back to the first picture, but Shinobi paid no attention.

Lily stopped to rub at her eyes. She hadn't realized how much they hurt until she had looked away from her laptop. When she closed them, they burned for a little bit longer.

"Mistress, please, it's been too long," Shinobi cautioned her, "you need to take a break."

"I'm fine, Shinobi, it's no big deal," Lily blinked a few times, trying to relieve the pain in her eyes.

She didn't want to stop. Since she had started her journey, it was often rare for her to have this much time to spend on the internet. She often had to go for days on end without it and without her laptop altogether. She charged the battery as often as she could, but even still it only had a few hours. Her mother had suggested that she leave it at home, but Lily would not be parted with it. Even if it was an extra ten pounds to carry, she wouldn't leave it behind.

But here, in the hotel on Himitsu Island, she had plenty of battery power and internet access. Thus, she quickly lapsed back into her old habits of long hours on the internet. It made her feel better and she deserved that.

"Mistress…"

"Shinobi, SHUT UP!" Lily suddenly screamed at her loyal servant, "Leave me alone. If you want to go outside, then go ahead! I want to stay here. Can't you let me do that?" Her voice started to break. Shinobi was afraid his demands had brought Lily to tears, but she composed herself once more. Moments later, her mask was back on.

"Ohhh…sooo cute…" Lily swooned at another picture of a baby Pokémon.

Shinobi was at a loss. There was nothing he could do for his trainer. Her heart had broken when Silver had chosen Aroma over her. He was the only one left that the girl could rely on, but she didn't need or even want his presence.

He was helpless in these situations. It would help nothing for him to defeat Silver in battle and that was the only method for helping his trainer that he knew. The only thing he could do was stay by her side and help in any way he could. It was his duty.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Huh?" Lily asked, turning in her chair, "who could that be?" However, she did not rise to answer it.

The knock came again.

"Mistress," Shinobi was almost afraid to speak, "may I?" Lily nodded and Shinobi darted over to the door. When he opened it, Mark stood on the other side with Cherry standing next to him. Maple was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey," the boy greeted, looking around the room, "so…how's it going?"

"It's going good," Lily nodded. She bounced up onto her feet and walked over to him. "How are you?"

"Umm…good," Mark peered at the girl, "umm…your eyes look kinda…bloodshot."

"Oh, really? They don't really hurt," Lily lied before blinking a few times. She kept her voice light and cheerful, "where's Maple?"

"Oh, she's with Kim, right now," Mark told her, "we're actually about to go get her. But, I figured we would check on you."

"Oh, really, why?" Lily asked innocently.

"Well…" Mark wasn't sure what to say. The earlier text he received had been typed by Shinobi. Lily must have been able to answer, but hadn't. In fact, Mark was becoming suspicious that Lily had been in the hotel all morning. What was going on? "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine," Lily sighed, smiling warmly at him, "oh! I'm glad you're here, though!"

"Really?" Mark asked.

"Uh-huh," Lily nodded, "I wanted to tell you that Aroma isn't going to be fighting in our next match. She usually doesn't fight, anyway, but it'll just be two-on-two."

"Oh…okay," Mark nodded.

He hadn't thought about Aroma. Most of his concerns for the fight against Lily had involved Shinobi. Maple wouldn't be able to touch him and it would be up to Cherry to defeat the bug-ninja.

Aroma, though, was a human Meganium and a grass-type. Both Maple and Cherry would stand a reasonable chance of defeating her. But Aroma and Cherry had been friends in the Team Deus prison. With Aroma out, Mark wouldn't have to worry about Cherry being reluctant to fight her. It was a small change, but it was something.

"So, did you need anything?" Lily asked, still nothing but smiles despite her bloodshot eyes.

"No…I guess not," Mark shrugged. The only reason he was standing there was to make sure they were alright. With that answered, what else was there to do? He didn't really want to tell her that their small force for fighting Team Deus was falling apart, either.

"Okay, I'll see you later, then," Lily waved and closed the door.

"Bye, I guess…" Mark said to the closed door.

Aroma followed close behind Silver as the two human Pokémon ducked through the trees of Palkia's Woods. The two were alone except for the wild Pokémon that they passed. The Aipom in the trees squeaked and jeered at the human Meganium and Absol. Aroma couldn't help feeling somewhat depressed over their hostile reactions.

"Ignore them," Silver told her, "they won't bother us. They're just afraid of what we are." He knew her too well. Aroma couldn't help feeling sympathetic towards them. It was just the way she was.

As if to distract her, Silver began to walk faster. He left the path and began jumping over bushes and ducking under low branches. Smiling to herself at the game, Aroma began to chase after him. They wordlessly raced each other, gradually moving faster and faster until they were both running at full speed.

The woods seemed to stretch on forever and two or three times Aroma could've sworn that they passed the same tree again. But that was alright. She wouldn't mind it one bit if the woods went on forever. It was just her and Silver alone in the trees. Just like Silver said, the Aipom disappeared one by one.

Just us, she thought, just us, all alone in the woods.

Aroma was running as fast as she could, but Silver was still faster. Both she and he felt at home in the forest, but the human Absol was just naturally faster. He used it to his advantage, racing well ahead of Aroma.

"What's wrong?" Silver called back, playfully, "can't keep up?" Aroma felt completely out of breath, but Silver still had plenty more. She began to lose him as he weaved through the trees. He vanished from sight a few times as Aroma ran after him.

"Hey!" she called out, "slow…down…you know I can't…run that…fast…" The Meganium-woman panted, though still smiling to herself. Her heart was racing just as fast as the rest of her body.

A few moments later, she was too tired to keep up with Silver at all. He vanished the next time he turned around a tree.

"Silver!" Aroma called out, "Silver! I can't…keep up. Come on…stop it…" She groaned as she came to a stop, breathing heavily. She couldn't even hear Silver anymore. He was long gone. Now she would have to wait for him to realize she wasn't following anymore and come back.

With nothing else to do, she looked around the trees. Even underneath the gray sky of the day, Palkia's Woods possessed a serene beauty. It was quiet, safe, and, best of all, private.

Back in the city, there were so many people it was impossible to be alone with Silver. Even worse, Aroma had seen how Lily had looked at Silver before. She would have to be a fool not to recognize that Lily had feelings for Silver. The problem was; Silver did not return those feelings in the slightest. Instead, he looked at Aroma. And she couldn't say she didn't like it.

Suddenly, Aroma heard something rustling around the bushes to her left.

She whirled to look for the culprit. It couldn't be Silver, he was too far away. He would have to double back to be able to find her.

"Hello?" she called out, her voice shaking. She was still out of breath from chasing Silver.

There was no response.

Was it some kind of Pokémon? It hadn't sounded like any of the Pokémon she had seen in the woods. It was much too big. No, it had to be a person.

She wasn't alone. Somehow, something had followed them into the woods.

"Silver?!" Aroma called out, her long, mint-green hair swirling as she looked from side-to-side. Panicking, she struggled to think of what to do. If she screamed or ran after Silver then whatever was lurking in the woods might just spring out and attack her.

Her imagination began to run wild as she pictured what horrible creatures could be waiting for her. The worst of all was the man that had kidnapped her on the first night of the tournament. She had never felt so helpless in her entire life and he had enjoyed every moment of it. He had vanished once he had left her in the prison cell and Aroma had never seen him again. She didn't even know his real name. What if he was back?

Keeping her eyes locked on the spot where the noise had come from, she began to back away slowly…

Suddenly, a pair of arms circled around her waist and lifted her clean off of her feet with almost no effort. She kicked and screamed and tried to twist away.

"Gotcha!"

Aroma instantly recognized Silver's voice. All of her terror switched to delight as she realized it was his strong arms that were wrapped around her.

"You…you!" Aroma stammered, happy and angry at the same time, "How?!"

"You'd be surprised what you can get Substitutes to do," Silver grinned as he set Aroma down and turned her to face him. He was referring to the Silver that had outran her and vanished behind a tree. It had only been a copy.

"You tricked me!" Aroma lightly pounded on his chest, "don't do that!"

"Ohhh, come on," Silver scoffed, "it was fun, wasn't it?"

"Well…" Aroma didn't want to agree, but her heart was beating so fast it was hard not to. The "danger" had been scary, but…fun at the same time.

Gently, Silver lifted her chin up and kissed her. It was light and quick, more playful than passionate, but with her heart racing, it was hard for Aroma to tell the difference.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Aroma dropped her gaze from Silver's bright and mysterious, red eyes.

"And why's that?" Silver asked, playing with the flowers that rimmed the neck-line of her mint-green dress.

"Well…what about Lily?" Aroma had never brought it up before and she didn't want to. Still, Lily was her best friend. She owed her that much.

"Lily?" Silver seemed genuinely surprised that she asked. Hurting Lily's feelings must have never crossed his mind. "Look, I know she likes me, but…I just don't like her back. She should be able to realize that."

"Will you at least talk to her?" Aroma asked, "She'll only feel worse if she keeps seeing us together."

"I know, I know," Silver nodded, "I'll talk to her. I don't even know why she likes me. I mean," he paused and ran his hand along the curved horn extending from the side of his head, "this thing isn't exactly the kind of thing a girl should chase after."

"What about me?" Aroma asked, "I don't think it's bad at all."

"That's different," Silver shook his head, "we're the same. But me and Lily? No, I don't think so," he paused before his next confession, "I doubt she knows what she really wants, anyway."

Aroma sighed. It was ugly to think about, but Silver was probably right. Humans and their human Pokémon shouldn't be together. Maybe there were people that thought differently, but did it ever work out? Aroma doubted it and had never heard of a time when it did.

They may look, talk, and act like humans, but they were still more Pokémon than human. Perhaps they shouldn't pretend to be like humans at all.

"And what do you want?" Aroma prompted. Her heart was still racing, but now it was for a different reason.

In answer, Silver kissed her again.

And then he kissed her again.

She felt his hands move around behind her and hug her tighter against him. She did the same, gripping onto his muscled shoulders and drawing him in. His breath mingled with hers as she opened her mouth and kissed him more deeply. His mouth began to move downward, kissing her neck as she continued to caress his back.

She brought her hands around and felt for the edges of his jacket. They broke apart just long enough for the two of them to finish tearing off his jacket and toss it aside. The instant they were finished, they pulled back together. They began to kiss each other faster and faster.

Aroma gasped for breath as Silver's hands began to caress her waist. He kissed her at the base of her neck leaving behind spots that were wet and cool at the same time. She grabbed a hold of his belt and practically ripped it from his jeans. His shirt came next. Together, they lifted it up, careful not to rip it on his horn. Then that too was tossed aside and forgotten about.

Aroma leaned in and kissed Silver directly on his firm chest. He hugged her tight and rubbed her back as she soaked in the feeling of his warm, strong body. Her heart was pounding in her chest and she could feel her body growing warmer by the second. She drew back and once again they breathed together as they kissed each other open-mouthed.

Time all but stood still as the forest faded away around them. They were the only two people in the entire world.

Just us, Aroma thought for a brief moment, please, let it be just us. Here. Alone. Forever.

Silver's fingers found the zipper at the top of her dress. As he started to pull down, Aroma could feel the cool air against her bare back.

Fate's eyes shot wide as she broke off the connection with the Meganium-girl.

Her body was shaking uncontrollably. Just like Aroma, Fate could feel her heart racing. Her throat was dry and her whole body felt warm. She gasped for breath as she forced herself to return to her present location.

"What's with you?" Whisper, still disguised as Maraca, peered down at the Gardevoir-woman.

Without answering, Fate stood up. Her legs were so wobbly she could barely stand. The lingering effects of the psychic link were overwhelming. Part of her could still feel the strong grip of Silver's hands against her back and his hot breath inside her mouth.

Breathing heavily, Fate began to walk away. She needed to calm down and she needed air. The stifling alleyways of the docks and Whisper's irritating presence could not help her. She clung to the walls for support as she continued forward.

Fate had never felt anything like that in her entire life. She was completely unprepared for the intensity of the sensation. She might have kept the connection if she could, but her mind wasn't prepared for it. Her powers were not strong enough to maintain the connection if she lost her concentration even for a moment.

"Maybe I could…I could…oh, holy Arceus," she said aloud without meaning to.

She slumped against the nearest building, sliding along the side. The concrete wall was cool and soothing. She struggled to focus on it and forget about the heat that had spread throughout her body.

Still panting, she turned to look out at the ocean. She focused on the sound of the waves and the smell of the sea breeze. They were sensations that helped remind her of whom she was and where she was.

At long last, Fate could breathe easier and the intense heat that had spread throughout her body began to fade away. Her hands stopped shaking a little bit at a time. She closed her eyes again and breathed deeply.

She was back to herself. She was back on the docks of Himitsu Island and away from that spot in Palkia's Woods. The spot where Aroma and Silver were now…

Fate put her hand to her head, covering up the one eye that wasn't obscured by her hair.

"It was so strong," she whispered to herself. There was no explanation why. She had made psychic connections with many targets before. She saw what they saw and felt what they felt. Sight, smell, taste, and even pain were always conveyed straight to her. But nothing had ever affected her like this. It was the first time she had ever felt the passion and intensity that two lovers could have for each other.

She sighed and leaned back against the building. She needed to be alone to rest and recover. If she waited and helped fulfill Aroma's wish, she would be fine in just a few more minutes.

It was odd to think so, but Fate actually felt grateful to Aroma. After all, she and Silver had given her an experience that she knew very little about. Perhaps next time, if she could concentrate, Fate would stay with them until they finished.

She smiled to herself at the idea and felt her body grow a bit warmer.

But even though she was grateful to Aroma, this changed nothing. The Meganium-girl still needed to die. Cal wanted it. And what Cal wanted was more important than anything.

Still, Fate would have to thank Aroma before she killed her.

AN: so…yeah…that just happened

In some ways, it's actually kinda cool that I got to do this chapter so close to Valentine's Day. I mean, I didn't write it because it's Valentine's, it's just rather convenient that it is.

So…Happy Valentine's Day, I guess!

Anyways, thanks for reading and I'll cya next time!