Typhlosion grinned, watching the two trainers dealing with one another. Now that they were distracted, he could do whatever the heck he wanted and if Meganium retaliated and made a mess he'd be the one to get the blame. The fire pokemon first finished his own, being a fast eater, and held up his paw to swipe at his rival's own share when he felt an awful tug at his ears.

"Rargh!"

Butterfree clamped on to his teammate and refused to let go, trying to pull him away from committing a misdeed. He did care about Typhlosion but he could still not understand why the fire pokemon insisted on behaving this way towards Meganium even after a week of constant interaction between the two. "Fwii!" the butterfree felt that holding off Typhlosion from his misbehavior was starting to become a losing battle, he didn't really like to do this outside of battle but the larger pokemon wasn't giving him any choice. Flapping his wings strongly, Butterfree released his sleeping powder.

Crap, it wasn't like they were really duking it out, he just wanted to eat Meganium's cake from underneath him, why did even his own teammate decide to pull this off? Why… why…

99 sexy ninetales at the day care, 99 sexy ninetales… I don't care if she's old as my grandma… 98 sexy ninetales… zz…

Meganium leered at the now sleeping Typhlosion. There was no way he would have let the fire pokemon steal his share, but he did nod in approval towards Butterfree since things were obviously much more peaceful when the cad was asleep and not being an enormous pain in the tailbase. Finally, the grass type would be able to enjoy the meal he had long been awaiting for, and typhlosion looked like he was enjoying his dream anyway.

"Wh-wha? Stay here?"

"You heard me, there isn't a pokecenter here in New Bark Town." Kotone remarked, before picking up another piece of cake with her fork and putting it into her mouth. "And it's too late to be trekking or flying to Cherrygrove, so calm down."

The redheaded boy groaned. Silver had gone for years not having to depend on anybody and he didn't want to start now, even if it was Kotone. Ugh, usually he didn't really care for doing night treks, but ever since he stole a pokemon from this town he had only come back once before. Needless to say, he didn't feel comfortable in New Bark Town at all, and was definitely not all that familiar with the town and the path to Cherrygrove. It wasn't outlandish to say he could get lost and what then? Kotone would probably have to haul his ass back anyway, not that she wouldn't do exactly that if he left right now. The boy sighed in defeat.

"Fine, are you going to want money? If so…"

Kotone giggled. Silver could be so predictable at times. Yet it was somewhat bittersweet. Did he really think of her that way? Why couldn't he trust her?

"I don't want any money; I have more than I care to do with, anyway. But now that you mention it…" The girl hesitated; she knew that this could be a make or break moment with her old time rival, and Silver could be so rash in his thinking it wouldn't surprise her if he made a dash for the door in just indignity. Kotone really did not want Silver to run off into the night like that when she was perfectly willing to lend him her room (she could just go to her mom's anyway) here. The pig tailed girl knew that Silver could perfectly take care of himself but why bother? She could tell he hadn't brought any repels and had used all the medicine he was carrying after his defeat.

"Tell me about Team Rocket."

"Wh-why would you want to know about them?"

"I think I have the right to know as the person who disbanded them in Johto." Kotone heard Silver groan predictably. He had made it pretty clear he had wanted to do that himself, albeit for different reasons. "Besides, we're friends right? You should be able to tell me these things, right?"

The boy put his hand to his forehead as if he had a migraine – though he might as well have one. Silver did trust Kotone, and in truth he was glad that she had called him a friend, but talking about Team Rocket and his family was something he really disliked delving into, but she was right. The boy sighed; Kotone was right, she did have a right to know, and there was no reason to keep it from her.

"Fine, but if you think that my father and I are some sort of misunderstood idiots with tragic pasts like some boyfriend in a novel you're going to be disappointed…"

The Old Chateau was haunted from the start, and it was made painfully obvious by the infestations of gastly and banette which had to be driven off every few months. Silver, Marie and their mother knew very well of the haunting. Ariana probably did too, but her own judgment was fully eclipsed by the admiration and blind fellowship for her father, who had dismissed any claims as "pure nonsense." But what did he know? Giovanni was only at home a week out of the month, and even then the phenomena strangely avoided him. "You should be glad you're still in Sinnoh," he'd always argue back. "We should be in Kanto, where I work. Maybe then you'd stop with all this ghost nonsense." Even though she hated the mansion, Sylvia did not want to leave her family behind and never had a choice but to swallow her pride and fears down and continue to tolerate the beastly mansion.

"Mom?"

"It's okay, sweetie, mom's just… crying over dumb things. I'll be fine in a few minutes."

Years later, Silver would look back to his mom's behavior and believe it to be the cause of chronic depression. He wondered if she was even on the verge of divorce with his father. It was almost common sense, really. Who could really stand being married to Giovanni after all?

However, the spirits didn't really bother the little boy so much. Maybe it was because he had lived in the house since he was born, he had grown up noticing the glowing balls of light, the crazy drops of temperature, the shadows who didn't belong to anybody and the butler nobody hired…

Even so, there was an uneasy feeling in the house which wasn't totally attributed to the haunting. Not all hauntings were threatening, and most of the spirits that did inhabit the old chateau were harmless. However, there was this awful presence that went far beyond leaving cupboards open and hiding keys. It was that shadow that filled rooms with a ghastly stench of rot and a shadow that seemed to slink away whenever you turned to face it. It shoved the servants around, ruined the cooks' food, pulled the maid's hair and… killed both Silver's mother and sister.

"Eh? A ghost killed your mom and your sister?"

Silver gritted his teeth, now said out loud the concept sounded absolutely ridiculous. Had Kotone told him the same about her dad he would have easily dismissed it as nonsense. The boy sighed, that would have made him just like his father, wouldn't it?

"I know, it sounds crazy but…"

"It's okay, I believe you."

Huh? Silver looked at Kotone in surprise. Was she so naïve to believe him without question? Or did she have the uncanny ability to know who to trust? Now that he thought about it, that seemed to be the case since the start, didn't it?

"You're not the kind of person to tell lies like those." Kotone gave him a smile which told of sympathy on her part. It was true, Silver had always been a jerk, but he was never the lying manipulative type. Maybe that's why she could never bring herself to dislike him – maybe, she had thought, he did have some good in him after all. Much to her delight the trainer found out that she had been right all along. "Nor are you the kind of person who would easily believe them. I'm sure there's good reason for you to believe what you do… It must have been hard to lose your mom and your sister."

Silver blushed a deep red as his heart thudded in his chest. That was typical of Kotone, wasn't it? What's more he was starting to be affected by his crush even more than usual. The boy had never really had a crush on a girl before so he couldn't really tell, but it was really starting to spiral out of control. Gulping his feelings down, Silver continued.

"Mom was holding Marie at the top of the stairs…" Silver clenched his hands into fists. "I think you're smart enough to figure it out." He turned to look at the girl who had provoked the question in the first place who despite things, he was all too fond of. Kotone was facing him with such a concerned look in her eyes, but lacking any doubt or regret. It was almost funny how predictable they were, or maybe they had just been able to learn how to predict one another. That stupid crush was just messing things up with nervousness and doubts. Although it was odd… earlier in the day he would have had far more doubts but now things felt slightly more natural, even though he couldn't shake off the redness on his face which now rivaled the bright shade of his hair...

… And it didn't help that Kotone was now holding his hand tightly either.

"W-we moved to Viridian shortly afterwards and I haven't heard much of my mom's family since, last I knew my cousin became a gym leader like his dad. My father blamed my mom tripping on her eevee, and started with team rocket almost right after her and Marie's deaths. I don't know how the two are connected, if they are connected at all. Maybe mom was holding him back, but I don't know. I was just a kid when it all happened… I saw… how they looked…"

Kotone noticed how tightly Silver was holding her hand, as it was almost starting to hurt. She mouthed his name before returning the tight grip, but she felt powerless to comfort him.

"Why are you so strong?"

The trainer felt a tad surprised by a question that felt almost out of the blue. She looked into Silver's… red eyes? She had never noticed what color they were until now, had she? Kotone closed her eyes and sighed deeply.

"I love my pokemon and wanted the best for them. People always concentrate on the trainers, and it is the trainers that get all the acclaim, but it's really the pokemon who put in all the effort and that have all the potential. Trainers just bring that out.

"I know I can't compare it to what you went through, but I remember when my dad left my mom cried so much. It was horrible seeing her like that." Silver could swear that her previous smile had turned into a sad one. "I thought that maybe if I got far as a trainer and if maybe… just maybe if dad was still out there… he'd realize… he'd come back to mom." The girl lowered her eyes and Silver could no longer make out her expression, but he noticed a small tear trickling down her cheek and his eyes widened. The boy motioned at his flying pokemon, and the butterfree nodded in understanding. With a rapid flap of its wings, Butterfree went upstairs to search for a tissue box or a handkerchief. By this time Meganium had already noticed the distress his trainer was in and was nudging Kotone's knee slightly in comfort. His trainer scratched her pokemon's head as if to say she was fine, and continued.

"But I guess… he's really gone… isn't he? Maybe we just weren't good enough…" Kotone sobbed. "I'm sorry… you've had it so much worse, and here I am crying like an idiot." She turned to face him, and it was obvious she was trying hard to smile and hide her actual feelings. Silver sighed and slowly grabbed the girl's shoulder, pulling her toward him into an embrace.

"Don't worry about it, fathers are overrated anyway." The least the boy could do was comfort her for making her cry. It must have been hard on Kotone – she was not the type of girl to get down like this after all, and redhead couldn't remember a time where he had seen her sad despite the rudeness and the massive challenges she had faced. Yet, here she was, the Johto champion who constantly bested him and took his dreams and heart as rewards, was crying in his arms because she felt like she wasn't good enough for one person who she did it all for.