Chapter 8: Silver Ice
Silver watched the group from afar. A red-haired girl just stomped on Hiro's foot. He smirked as he leaned against a tree. There was a rustling of leaves overhead and his Sneasel jumped down from it. It was holding a poke ball in its hand... ur... claw.
"Let's see what you got for me this time." He had Sneasel fight wild pokemon by itself and capture the strong ones itself. He didn't really care which ones they were as long as they could help him do what he needed to. He had caught a Gastly and a Zubat by himself. With Sneasel's help he had also captured a wild Larvitar.
Sneasel threw the ball to the ground which revealed an Ursaring. Normally it would crush Silver first instant. But this Ursaring was covered with claw marks and collapsed on the ground panting. Silver returned both Sneasel and Ursaring and trotted his way to Gold's campsite.
He walked past the four of them and made his way towards the entrance of the Ruins of Alph. He flipped open his pokegear and chose Karen's name from the empty list.
"Tell me what I'm supposed to do again."
"This is like the fifth time I've told you," she complained over the phone.
"Just tell me!"
"Fine. Figure out the puzzle at the Ruins."
"Why me? Some of the greatest scientists couldn't-."
"Those nerds wouldn't know how to fix a puzzle if it bit them on the ass. They don't know that the legendary pokemon Unown exists which means you'll be the first to find out their power."
"What if I don't finish the puzzle?"
"Blow everything up until you find something worthwhile."
She hung on him abruptly. Silver didn't know it at the time but his call attracted a herd of Mareep led by a Flaaffy. Gold had woken up as well. He absentmindedly threw a pokeball at the Flaaffy and caught it. The now leaderless Mareeps dispersed away from the campsite. He took out a second poke ball and released Pyro. He looked angry.
"This isn't about me trying to kill you last time right?"
"EMBER!" Pyro shot a round of fireballs at Silver. He reacted by having Gastly take the hit for him. Gastly fainted instantly. He didn't realize Pyro was so strong. In fact, it shuddered and glowed white. It evolved into a Quilava.
"Holy crap you evolved too?" Gold screamed. He picked Pyro off the ground to examine its new body. He had forgotten all about Silver. Silver tried to sneak off towards the ruin but Gold stopped him.
"Don't think that I forgot about you, Silver. I still have to get you back for what you did last time," he said. Pyro wrapped its body around Gold's neck halfway. It made him look like he was wearing a fur scarf that was on fire. "Use tackle."
Silver released his Zubat to take the blow. The blind bat wasn't stupid though. It flew over Pyro and delivered a supersonic attack before it hit Silver. Silver felt sweat run down his neck; that was way to close. Gold had improved a lot in a short time. Gold returned Pyro and used his newly acquired Flaaffy.
"THUNDERBOLT!" The attack had fainted Zubat in an instant. Gold and Flaaffy turned to face Silver. Silver looked over his options. Sneasel and Ursaring were tired and if he moved even a little Gold would strike him down. Larvitar couldn't be sent out. Silver found his escape. Cracks appeared on the ground by both of their feet. Silver jumped once and caused the Earth around them to break apart. Gold fell through the giant hole in the ground while Silver held on to the ground for dear life. He was just about to pull himself above ground but...
"Thunder wave!"
Silver was gripped by the weak lightning and descended towards Gold. The attack paralyzed him and had grabbed him like a giant hand. He was at Gold's mercy. When Flaaffy put him down he attempted to punch Gold but he side stepped him.
"Silver wait," he said as Silver swung at him again. "Look at that..." Silver turned around and what he saw made his jaw drop. A green orb of light was suspended in mid-air. The symbol pokemon Silver was looking for were floating in two belts around it. Silver counted thirteen Unowns in each belt.
"Lets call a truce for now. Make Flaaffy's tail brighter."
"Sparks is hurt from the fall." With that he returned the sheep pokemon back to its ball. Silver ignored him and bent closer to the sides of the cave. They were covered with Unown. Gold joined him and looked at them too. They had their eyes so he wasn't freaked out. "Hey these spell out something. A-S-S-H-O-L-E-S HEY! Stupid Unowns!"
"Out of my way." He brushed past Gold and stood under the orb. He stretched out his hand to touch it but it zapped him away with a burst of lightning. The Unowns opened their eyes and started zooming and bouncing around like a swarm of locusts.
"DDAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH! Attack of the Unowns! Run for your life!" Gold and Silver sprinted down a second hole in the cave dodging blasts of hidden power. Silver got hit in the back once or twice but it didn't hurt very much. He wondered; if they really were legendary then how come their attacks didn't hurt? And why were they only using Hidden Power? As far as he was concerned Unowns were weak with a legendary story. More Unowns peeled off the walls as they ran past. A primitively built staircase was before them.
The staircase led them into the tourist area of the Ruins of Alph. The Unowns linked together to form a giant tornado and blew the two out of the way. Silver took back what he said about the Unowns. They were weak alone but together they were strong. The black tornado ripped the ceiling off of the building and sent the two halfway across route 32. Silver felt the water go past his ears as they fell in the river. He swam his way across the side and lifted himself to the shore. His strength gave out and he collapsed on the sand. Gold followed him to the shore and helped him get up again.
"Gold whatever you do, don't move." Gold had a Qwilfish stabbing his buttocks. What was worse; it was glowing white. It was going to use an explosion. Silver walked cautiously toward the other boy and kicked Qwilfish away. It exploded in midair. He had underestimated pokemon again. The blast obliterated the docks and charred the ground on both sides.
"HOLY SHIT! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" Gold shrieked. "My friends are on the other side of this! They won't be able to get to Azalea town!"
"Don't complain to me about it. Besides friends hold you back from obtaining true strength."
"Is that why you don't have any?"
Silver fell silent again. He never really thought about friends that much. He was fed up with Gold and his friends.
"You said you wanted to get me back right? Well now you have your chance. Go heal your pokemon down the road and meet me back here in an hour."
"Alright but if you run away-."
"Unless you forgot, I blew up the only way out of here. Besides I never back down from a challenge." Gold walked to the pokemon center like Silver said. Silver threw all five poke balls to the ground. He fed Max Revives to Ursaring, Gastly and Zubat and a super potion to Sneasel. Gold came back an hour later with a Kadabra at his side. Silver wasted no time and sent Ursaring after them. It got up on two feet and jumped into the air.
"Kazam aim a psybeam at the center ring!"
"Ursaring, dodge in midair." Ursaring dodged but the attack grazed its arm. It grabbed the wound and fell to its knees. "Get up! And use thrash!"
Ursaring flailed its arms around and slashed Kazam away with one swipe. It flipped in the air and used recover without Gold telling it to.
"Use Hidden Power on its legs!" The Hidden Power froze when it made contact. "Psybeam!"
"Hyper Beam!" The Hyper Beam attack soared over the Psybeam. The Psybeam however hit Ursaring's weak spot and sent it flying into a tree. The ice on its feet broke into shards and stabbed at its legs. Silver returned it and sent out Zubat.
"Confusion!" Zubat dodged the attack and bit Kazam's neck hard. "Fight it off Kazam!" Kazam tried to take Zubat down but fell to its knees as it sucked its blood. Gold returned it and threw out Trunks. "Use rollout!" The Phanpy smacked into the defenseless bat and fainted it instantly. Silver sent out his third pokemon; Gastly.
"Confuse Ray!" Red beams of light shot from its eyes and stopped Trunks from going around for a second rollout. Trunks smacked itself in the face and nearly collapsed. "Finish with Night Shade!"
Gastly divided itself in two and sent the clone hurtling into the Phanpy. The attack fainted Trunks. Gold sent out his Flaaffy and immediately ordered a thunder wave.
"Before it reaches you, use Curse." A nail appeared out of nowhere and stabbed at Gastly. A black aura appeared around Flaaffy.
"Thunderbolt!"
"Shadow ball!"
The two attacks collided into each other causing another explosion. The shock wave fainted Gastly. Flaaffy was alright but the black aura appeared again and fainted it. Both boys were down to their last pokemon.
"Sneasel!"
"Quilava!" the pokemon roared.
"Sneasel, slash attack!"
"Tackle."
Pyro stopped Sneasel in its tracks. It then powered up the flames on its head which sent Sneasel flying above it.
"Finish it with Ember!" Pyro shot three fireballs into the air which sent Sneasel even higher. Silver returned Sneasel before it crashed. He told Gold that it was a four on four battle so he couldn't finish it with Larvitar. He had lost.
"Damn that was a great battle," Gold said outstretching his hand. Silver completely ignored his gesture and started for the pokemon center."
"Next time we fight, I'm gonna even the score."
"I wouldn't have it any other way."