Typhlosion grunted and nudged Silver. The pokemon was getting bored out of his mind as his trainer had spent the last half hour staring at the metallic trinket and the other humans were beginning to stare. Of course, his trainer's unusual red hair always drew a decent amount of attention anywhere, but there was something suspicious about an intimidating young man staring at a stupid device for so long. The fire pokemon grunted at his trainer once again, trying to get his attention. Silver had been training him and his comrades extra hard the last week so they could be ready to face Flower Power and the Nincompoops but now he was worried that his trainer wouldn't have the guts to even arrange a rematch. Typhlosion let out a soft growl. This was starting to get on his nerves and it didn't help he was hungry enough to eat a wailord. After a few more ignored nudges and growls, the pokemon gave up and decided to take a much needed nap next to the occupied bench. He and his trainer had come to the National Park to relax, after all. The pokemon grumbled, believing that the redhead's behavior was absolutely ridiculous.

Silver was thinking the same thing.

The boy sighed, being one push of a button from the hardest phone call in his life. The name Kotone, along with a number, was printed on the pokegear's screen just begging to be called. Silver had just spent the last half an hour trying to figure out what to say as to not make a fool out of himself yet again. The trainer took one last deep breath before finally pressing the button and holding it to his ear. With each ring the gear made, Silver felt like his heart's thumping doubled in speed. It only got worse when the girl in question finally picked up.

"Hello?"

"K-k-kotone?"

"Hi! Silver, is that you?" The boy brushed off Kotone's happy change in voice tone as his imagination. "I thought you'd never call! In fact, I was thinking about calling you later today myself. I'm guessing you want to battle, right?"

"Y-yeah…"

"Hm, well… I'm a bit busy right now."

"O-oh…" Silver couldn't stop himself from showing his disappointment in his voice. He groaned at his own stupidity for doing so, and face-palmed. Now she was going to think he was some sort of obsessed weirdo.

Kotone giggled. "Ah, sorry, I know how impatient you can be, Silver. Well, if you're really feeling up to it and you don't mind waiting a bit you can come visit me in New Bark Town. My house is the one on the right of Professor Elm's laboratory. Or… is this a bit too informal for you?"

"N-no… not at all. I'll be there in a couple of hours. That's fine, right?"

"Awesome! I'll see you then, later!"

Click… …. …

The pokegear trembled in Silver's hand. His heart had skipped a beat when Kotone had actually mentioned inviting him to her house, and it was still beating really hard from the ordeal. The young trainer shook any wrong thoughts from his head. No… it was just going to be a friendly visit. Her parents would probably be there anyway… Silver covered his now tomato-red face with his hand as he noticed the stares. Crap, was there no end to his public embarrassment? Anyway, he had to get to New Bark Town as soon as possible. Nudging the fire pokemon slightly with his toe, the redheaded trainer got up. However, Typhlosion wasn't exactly happy about his nap being interrupted. The pokemon grumbled and turned around to face away from his trainer. Damnit, he was having such a nice dream with all those pretty flareons too, why did everything have to happen at the most inopportune moments?

"Come on, Typhlosion." Silver nudged his pokemon again, a bit harder this time. "This is no time to be taking a nap. We have to go." The pokemon growled and kept ignoring his trainer. It wasn't time either for you to be staring at your dumb device like a stupid psyduck either. The now just as irritated trainer then gave up. Maybe he had gone a bit overboard with the whole "believing in your pokemon" thing and now they had gotten just a bit too spoiled. Or maybe Typhlosion was just a little too much like his trainer. Silver sighed in frustration. "All right, if you're not going to cooperate you're going back in the ball." Said pokemon simply grunted in apathy before returning to the capsule. At least he would have some peace for a while inside it instead of having to put up with his trainer's recent behavior.

It was quite the little corner between Professor Elm's lab and the mailbox. Silver took a deep sigh. There wasn't anything to worry about; the professor had already sorted everything out with the police when he had come to return Typhlosion. Yet, he felt awkward in New Bark Town, his past behavior still hovering over that small spot where everything started. The boy looked over at the pokemon he had stolen on that fateful day, which was now grumbling at the windy weather that always seemed occupy the town. Silver rolled his eyes at the Typhlosion. Was this pokemon ever in a good mood? Not that he was one to criticize… The trainer determinedly glanced at the house where he was being waited for before slowly making his way to the painted red door. It was definitely bigger than most of the other houses in the town, but nowhere near the size of the roomy mansion he had occupied as a child, which had no intention of welcoming him back. The redheaded boy stretched his arm to knock the door and…

Thock!

What the…?

The taller trainer glanced down at a boy who had just bumped into him, hard enough to kilt him off balance. Instead, it was the other boy who had fallen square on his butt, who then muttered an apology before looking up at the intimidating redhead. "Oh!" Gold got up, recognizing who it was. "It's you!" Silver, however, was pretty sure he had never seen this weirdo in his life and was glad he hadn't. Just knowing that he had barged out of Kotone's house was already enough to hate this guy.

"Do I know you?"

Gold muttered under his breath, before sighing. The redhead was obviously not the calm and relaxed type, and he could already feel the heat emanating from the fellow trainer's typhlosion, which had sprouted flames from its back in preparation for battle. It was a pokemon Gold definitely did not want to mess with. Plus, Gold had promised Kotone not to say anything about the time traveling with Celebi, especially not to Giovanni's son. Not that he'd believe him, anyway.

"Uh… sorry, I was confusing you with someone else. Sorry about bumping into you. See you!"

And with that, the strange boy was gone. Silver's bad mood, however, was most definitely not. No longer caring about manners, the redhead slammed the door open in front of him. "Who the hell was that?" Silver growled. If that imbecile so much touched a hair of Kotone's head not even a tyranitar would be able to defend him from the redhead's wrath. Silver looked around the living room and to the kitchen at the far right corner. It was modest, but tidy. The girl in question was behind the kitchen counter, and upon hearing the loud slam, knew who arrived. Who else had the habit of rudely barging into other people's property? Not that she was one to criticize, either. Kotone spun around to face her guest.

"For your information, Gold happens to be a very good friend of mine. So you better be nice to him, ok?" The girl held up a whisk as to threaten Silver with it. Heck, she might as well be. "He was nice enough to bring me Mago berries for Meganium's cake."

"Mgii!" Kotone's pokemon cried out in unison. The meganium knew he was going to get an awesome treat made from his favorite berries, but with that ratty typhlosion around even the sweetest berries would taste sour. The grass type pokemon could only hope that Typhlosion would piss off before his face would ruin his day any more than it already did. Said Typhlosion must have thought otherwise, as he snickered before helping himself to rub the smoky scent of his fur on Kotone's – his - furniture. Son of a…

Silver ignored his pokemon's awful behavior. He wasn't exactly happy that Kotone had defended that imbecile, much less that he could be considered competition, but making a cake for your pokemon? It seemed like a completely ridiculous idea to him. Still, Kotone must be doing something right with what being the Johto champion and all. Plus, she did look really cute in that apron. The redhead sighed, and looked at his typhlosion before whispering to him.

"I swear if I see one tiny rip in Kotone's furniture by the time I'm done with you the only move you will remember is Perish song. Got it?"

The pokemon nodded in fear, knowing full well what his trainer was capable of by experience. This time, it was Meganium's turn to snicker. Maybe the rat's trainer wasn't so bad after all.

"A cake?"

Kotone sighed. Why couldn't Silver be nice to her and look her in the eyes at the same time? Was it so hard?

"Yes, a cake. It's Meganium's makeshift birthday. Don't you remember? It was today when we both obtained our pokemon."