Ampharos

ooo

Gold didn't need a lot of convincing to go to Cianwood. Indeed, his mind had been made up to help the absentee Gym Leader and her sick Pokemon almost as soon as Silver had mentioned it, but he would probably have gone even without that push.

"Flaaa…" says Flaaffy, hopping along beside him on the way back to the hostel. So pretty…

Gold pats him on the head absent-mindedly. "You'll be an Ampharos soon, I know it."

"Flaaffy flaaff! Flaaffy!" squeaks Flaaffy. No, I mean she is pretty! That one Ampharos!

"Aw," says Gold, grinning. "You like her! You like Amphy!"

"Flaaffy…" Well, duh…

"We'll go out to Cianwood first thing tomorrow morning, I promise," says Gold. "Don't wanna risk going out on the sea at night. She'll be fine, alright?"

It wasn't just because of Silver that Gold was determined to reach Cianwood Pharmacy, his mind argues. After all, Gold generally helped out people and Pokemon wherever and whenever he could, so it was pretty much a given that he'd trek through two towns and an entire sea just to get medicine for one sick Ampharos. So really… Silver's silly speech about worthless ill Pokemon had just been the icing on the cake.

And besides, there was no way that he'd be obsessing over shit that a dick like Silver said.

Seriously, now.

"Flaaffy affy flaff, flaffy…?" says Flaaffy, flattening his ears and looking sideways at him. I bet you're still thinking about that guy, aren't you?

"Yeah, and what a massive dick he is," says Gold. "And a complete moron too! Like, does he not know what lighthouses are for? There's a reason Amphy's up there, you can't just tell Jasmine to, quote, 'let her go', just 'cos she's not for battling! Besides, I don't think Jasmine even owns the lighthouse… seriously, what a moron. And a dick. A moron dick. Sheesh, and I thought we were kinda getting along the last few times at the Pokemon centre."

"Flaaffyyy," says Flaaffy.

"I'm not a moron, shut up!"

Gold is pretty sure that his Pokemon team respected him. Pretty sure.

Well, Flaaffy is at least easier to coach than Vulpix. What a bitch.

Flaaffy sniggers. But then you went off to train us at the lighthouse, just like he said you should.

"Yeah, 'cos of Amphy," says Gold, frowning. (Gold's frowns are rare and therefore, somewhat frightening.) "That guy is an asshole! C'mon, you don't think much of me if you think I'm into that. I'm way too cool! But maybe if he lightened up a bit…"

It isn't too bad – though it is slightly exasperating sometimes, such as this time right now – that Flaaffy and Gloom think he is madly in love with Silver or something, but Gold doesn't really see why they keep making so much fuss. The guy is too much of an asshole – no matter how cheerful and friendly Gold is in their encounters (which is a hell of a lot) – and that should be about the end of it, even if Gold is still determined to show Croconaw that an asshole is not all that guy is.

Sure, he'd said a couple of times to them that Silver was supermodel-type attractive and his voice was kind of nice to listen to after the initial "Team Rocket and weak Pokemon are weak loser weaklings" tirade, but really, he'd only met the guy a handful of times and said, what, maybe five sentences each time? And he doesn't see what there was to get excited about when there is clearly no actual awesome action going on, or even any vague lines that could be misconstrued as maybe possibly flirty. And anyway, chances are that Silver isn't gay, so… this is really just pointless speculation.

Presumably his Pokemon need something to gossip about in their spare time.

(Gold makes a mental note to engage in awesome vague flirting action next time he sees Silver.)

ooo

They reach Cianwood around noon the next day, Gold both feeling exhilarated about fuck yeah I'm surfing on the back of a Pokemon and… wet. Just, wet.

"Maybe I should have changed into my swimming trunks for that," he says to Croconaw, squeezing water out of his socks.

Croconaw grins and shrugs. He scampers up the beach and into the town proper, impatiently looking back at Gold once he reaches the Pokemon centre.

"Now my feet are sandy," moans Gold, catching up with Croconaw. "I don't like my feet being sandy. This sucks."

Croconaw bites him. (Lightly.) Then he belches about a litre of water onto Gold's sandy feet.

"Now my feet are wet," Gold moans even more pitifully. "The whole point of taking off my socks was so my feet would dry out!"

Croconaw gives him another toothy grin and a shrug. He hops off and bangs on the nearest house's front door with a scaled fist. (Gold has a habit of barging into every house he sees whenever he gets to a village or town, and the free tea and biscuits he gets from this usually make up for the rather scared inhabitant's forced, stilted conversation and, more than once, police call and arrest. He feels a surge of fatherly pride that Croconaw has picked this up from him, although unlike Gold, at least Croconaw knocks before he enters.)

"Hey," says Golds dramatically to the person who opens the door. "Please dry my feet."

"Eep!" says the person, who is a scared-looking teenage boy. "Please don't hurt me!"

"Croconaw, stop it," says Gold. Croconaw rolls his eyes, but obediently stops roaring at the poor boy and closes his mouth. "I mean, yeah, man my feet are soaking, do you have a towel?"

"Erk!"

"Eh?"

"I'm in shock!" says the boy, frantically grabbing his arm. "My Pokemon! Someone kidnapped him!"

"What?" says Gold, grabbing Croconaw.

"This guy stole him! He… he was about your age, and had long red hair and… his eyes were really scary…"

"Wait, so what happened?" says Gold slowly. He only knows one guy his age with long red hair and piercing eyes, and- his thoughts are interrupted by Croconaw growling loudly and pointedly in his direction. I told you, that guy's not worth it.

"He scared me into giving my Pokemon to him! He said… he said he'd properly beat me up and put me in hospital if I didn't… oh no, what if he comes back? He hit me in the face!"

"Is he still hanging around this island? Where is he?"

"I don't know… you have to take my other Pokemon and make sure he's safe! You can protect him, can't you?"

"Uh," says Gold, looking between him, the Pokeball and Croconaw. "Maybe… not? I mean, it's awesome that you want me to take care of him but I, uh, no?"

"Croconaw!" shouts Croconaw angrily. "Croco croco croco!"

"Do you, er, know who it was?" says the boy, nervously clutching his Pokeball and backing away from Croconaw.

"CrocoNAW crrrr!"

"He stole a Chikorita a while ago," explains Gold. "But I thought he was just desperate! I didn't think he would do it again, I thought he was just acting all gangster and hard because he-"

Croconaw growls loudly and marches out of the door, clearly intent on hunting the thief down.

"- oh shit, Croconaw – yeah, well, I'm gonna see what I can do. That asshole isn't gonna get away with it this time."

He turns away and runs out after Croconaw, feeling like a lead weight had settled in his intestines. He'd thought… well, it doesn't matter what he'd thought. Maybe that was really all there was to Silver. Why should he, Gold, bother trying to look for more?

But first things first. There's no time to let the lead weight settle; he needs to get back to the lighthouse at Olivine.

ooo

a/n: well I'm not amazingly happy with this section since there is no Silver, :'(, and Gold's personality is kinda all over the place. BUT NOW this ties in with the rest of my Gold/Silver timeline, as seen in Finding the Path. Wooooo~

my Ampharos is called Photic.