Chapter 4 – Scratching the surface

Rowena heard a branch snap and cursed under her breath. He was close. There wasn't any chance she was getting away now, even if she made a run for it. Khali was hiding with their supplies in the snow further inside the forest, and she couldn't very well call for her right now. Not that it mattered. If she had to face him, which she felt would be soon, she would do so without any Pokémon in between.

Taking a deep breath, she braced herself mentally. Any minute now…

"Rowena! I know you're here. Like it or not, I will find you. Come out this instant, or I'll hunt you down, and you won't like it… either way."

Rowena felt a smirk play on her lips. Perhaps he was wrong there, maybe she would enjoy it. There was only one way to find out. She took another deep breath; then started running away from him.

"Foolish woman!" She heard him curse, before running after her. Even though she was expertly dodging branches and jumping over logs, she felt him gaining on her. Soon, she stopped dead in her tracks, Sneasel standing before her with an Ice Beam charging up. Before it could make any use of it though, Khali jumped out of its hiding place, knocking the smaller Pokémon over and growling at it threateningly.

Before she had any time to react, a strong pair of hands had grabbed hers behind her back and pushed her hard against the nearest tree. She tasted a bit of blood in her mouth due to the impact, and winced slightly at the pain directed at her front body. She felt his grip around her hands tighten, while he leaned in closer to her ear.

"So much trouble for a simple conversation. Pray tell, why were you running?"

Rowena didn't answer. She had always enjoyed testing his patience, and she was going to keep it that way. She would never admit to him the thrill she was experiencing due to his frustration, and she would gladly suffer a bruise or two for the satisfaction.

Silver, however, wasn't quite pleased with her silence. Keeping the grip around her wrists with one hand, he used the other to grab her hair and tilt her head backwards, making her beret fall off. She hissed at the sudden impact.

"Is this how you want it?" Silver hissed in her ear, his hot breath tickling her skin. "Now, are we going to stay here until you talk, or do I take you down to that ranger's cabin by the entrance to do it? Your choice."

"I have nothing to say to you." He huffed at her, pushing her harder against the tree, making her wince again. Khali growled loudly, kept busy by the quick Sneasel. "I'm fine, Khali." She added, attempting to calm down Absol. Silver snickered.

"I swear you won't be unless you start answering my questions. You're testing my patience, and I don't like it." As he said it, he felt his heart was still racing, and it certainly wasn't due to the short hunt anymore. He took in her scent of ice, wood and campfire, pressing himself even closer to her than before. "How's it going to be?"

For once, Rowena felt vulnerable. As a Team Rocket admin, she had somehow felt invincible, until project Mewtwo reminded her that she was only human, a mortal being with a short life in this world. Her battles with Silver in the past had made her feel alive, not that she would ever admit that to him. Furthermore, he still made her feel alive. Here, trapped between him and a tree, she found herself reminded of her mortality more than ever, her heart racing in her chest. Exhilarating, like he was some kind of drug to her. After a long silence, that Silver wasn't going to break this time, she gave in.

"What do you want?" He huffed at her again.

"Why were you running?"

"…to annoy you." She decided to go for the closest possible to an honest answer, still not wanting to admit to him the satisfaction she gained from it. Silver, however, saw right through her.

"What's it to you? Enjoy it?"

"Certainly." She admitted, not showing any emotions.

"Getting started then. Now, when and why did you leave Team Rocket?" Rowena sighed slightly.

"I told you; I left when project Mewtwo went wrong. That's… four years ago now."

"Why?"

"…because the scientists and you father failed to tell us admins that Mewtwo's false, planted memories were sad and miserable, making the monster we created… well, pretty much the monster it became. Giovanni lost mine and several other admin's trust, and a good amount of us abandoned ship. I've had no contact with Team Rocket ever since."

"Are you saying they haven't tried tracking you down?" Rowena snorted.

"They haven't been foolish enough." It was Silver's turn to snort.

"As cocky as ever."

"I answered your damn questions. Now let me go." Silver, however, didn't oblige. Instead, his grip tightened even further around her wrists and hair in response.

"Who said I was finished? I remember asking you another question a few days ago that you failed to answer: what are you doing here?" Rowena huffed at him.

"Quite obviously being forcefully made to answer questions by some darned nuisance that can't get over the fact his daddy is a power-hungry maniac who abandoned him as a child. Tell me, did you ever consider that that dad of yours, unintentionally, actually did you a favor?"

Silver froze. Whatever he had expected, it wasn't this. He had waited for the "your dad"-part, but not like this. He was still angry, and her words made him boil even more on the inside, but at the same time, in some way he couldn't quite understand, he also thought she was right. Not that he would admit that. Instead, he clenched his hand hard around her wrists, yanked her head backwards and pushed her even more against the tree. She gasped slightly at the impact, wincing.

"Don't you dare mention that man." Silver hissed, not amused in the slightest. "And don't try to talk around my question: what are you doing he-…"

"Khali, Dark Pulse!" Rowena demanded, suddenly knocking Silver backwards, freeing herself from his grasp. Khali, who had been building up a Dark Pulse, released it, knocking both Sneasel and its trainer off their feet. Rowena massaged her neck, gritting her teeth.

"I'm done with you, brat." She growled, clearly having had enough. "Khali, Iron Tail that Sneasel!"

Silver had no time to react as Khali lashed out at Sneasel, who took the full blow, crying out loudly. It didn't faint though, and Silver got a chance to give a command.

"Sneasel, Ice Beam!"

"Khali, shatter it with another Dark Pulse!"

Even though Khali managed to carry out the order quite well, it still took a pretty serious blow, just like Sneasel with the Iron Tail. Both Pokémon, who had been fighting on their own the entire time when their trainers were busy annoying each other, were now panting from exhaustion.

Silver looked at Rowena. She met his gaze, narrowing her eyes. He got the point.

"Blizzard!" Silver yelled.

"Fire Blast!" Rowena shouted.

The impact was unbelievable. The nearby trees cracked and fell, and snow and wood was flying in every direction possible. Silver heard Rowena gasp and felt himself falling over, barely missing a stone with his head when he hit the ground. The fire completely consumed the blizzard, making it blaze.

When the dust finally settled, both Khali and Sneasel lay fainted on the battle ground. Silver lift his head and gasped involuntarily. Rowena was lying under a fallen tree, apparently having jumped in to push Khali out of the way. It wasn't a very big tree, in fact no larger than a standard Christmas tree, but it had come down with a considerable amount of force.

Silver managed to pull himself up and climbed over the devastation to Rowena. There was no way he was going to be able to lift the tree in his condition. Instead, he called out Alakazam to do it for him. With the psychic-type levitating the tree, Silver moved Rowena out of the way. He was about to make Alakazam levitate both her and Khali back when she opened her eyes and immediately sat up, wincing.

"Damn that hurt…" she muttered, massaging her lower back. "Get me up, our Pokémon are in need of medical attention."

"Alakazam can carry them down to the ranger's cabin." Silver said, a bit baffled she was already up and running again as usual. Rowena rose to her feet on her own and brushed herself off.

"Let's get moving then… but I'm carrying Khali." With that, she picked up her fainted companion and started walking down the slope. Silver recalled Alakazam and carried Sneasel down himself. His head was spinning from all the thoughts trying to fit inside it. Sneasel was now in need of medical attention, which was the most important. But then again… there was no other option. One way or another, he had to figure this woman out.