I got snagged at one part of this chapter, so it didn't take me a week to complete it like I would prefer.

Welp, enjoy.

Chapter 55
Familiar

Keeping as silent as the shadows he hid in, Silver hugged the rope tight for a dependably firm grip. He scanned the chamber and the sneaking scoundrels of Team Rocket below him. A couple lanterns dotted the floor, giving them scarce light to work with. But they had, for the most part, finished with taking what they had found of use; most of them lazed around, while a few were looking at the only traces of Unown hieroglyphs, which resided in a short strand on a single wall.

"Got any...Pidgey?" one Rocket grunt asked, holding a hand of cards.

The companion sitting across from him snickered. "Go Fish."

"Aw, dang it."

Silver, unable to neither snicker nor ridicule them, released a small "Humph" with a roll of his eyes. So far, spying on them seemed to be anything but a benefit to his time and interest. His short-tempered impatience began rising, reminding him of his desire to make quick work of them with his Nidoking.

But it was when he was on the verge of acting on this that he heard a curious splice of conversation.

"Man, why did we have to go sneak into a place like this?" one of the idling Rockets complained. He faced one of his more-active conspirators, who were taking pictures of the scripted wall.

"Yeah!" another joined in irritably. "It's almost Christmas Eve. I still have eggnog to buy."

"If I knew who they were, I'd give them a piece of my mind…"

The Rocket member with the camera turned to them, putting her hands on her hips in strong defiance. "Hey, hey, hey! Those guys are filthy rich! They're the reason why we even have the chance to rise up and find our Boss in the first place!"

"It still sucks, though."

One of the guys scratched his cheek as he looked at his playing cards. "These side-jobs they keep having us do are kind of weird, if you ask me."

The female Rocket grunt turned away, "But if the higher-ups say so, then we have to do it."

Some silence passed.

"Got any… Magikarp?"

"Go Fish."

"What the—! You're just lying now!"

"No I'm not! You just have terrible luck, man."

"Bull! Lemme check your hand."

"Stop, that's cheating!"

"You are cheating, you son of a—."

From there, the conversation quite easily slipped away from Silver's interest. He narrowed his eyes in profound and dark thought at what he had overheard.

"So," he muttered almost inaudibly, "They're being financially supported by another organization... But who? And why not do it themselves, rather than let these idiots do it for them?"

An unstable tug of the rope temporarily snapped him out of his trance. He didn't glance upwards, since the rope regained its stability before he could bother. Within less than a few seconds of blandly watching the Rockets, he returned to pondering.

"Humph... Maybe they're using Team Rocket as their pawns, to stay in the dark without being found out. Not even these morons know who they are." His eyes narrowed. "What are they after? Just myths and legends?"

Before he could think further, a certain strange weightlessness hit him. He noticed that the rope he had held was no longer stiff, but loose and flimsy. Without the time to do anything about his predicament, Silver landed on his side with an echoing thud.

As if on cue, the voices of the Team Rocket members cried out at the boy's sudden drop in.

"Holy sh—!"

"What was that?"

"A kid! Look, over there!"

Silver grimaced at the pain surging through his shoulder, but it was bearable enough for him to sit up. He pried his eyes apart, taking a brief glance above; as suspected, the rope had yielded and he had fallen into the chamber. He didn't see any sign of Marina, but he was far more focused on his predicament at hand. His cover had been blown.

"Damn it," he cursed through gritted teeth.

The female Rocket snapped a shot of him with her camera, making him flinch at the flash as she sauntered over to him. "Now, what's a pipsqueak like you doing here in the middle of the night? Treasure hunting?"

"Shut up," Silver snapped, rising to his knees. He shot a lethal dagger of a glare at her and the small group behind her, not bothering to brush some of his fiery locks that lightly brushed against his face.

"Oh? Are you telling me to shut up, twerp?"

"Are you deaf along with being brain dead?" he retorted callously. "That's what I just said, you weakling."

A furious frown corroded her face as she grabbed a Poké Ball from her belt. "What was that? You little brat!"

"No wait! Don't touch him!"

"Why? He's just asking for a beating!" she snarled and turned behind her. The Rocket that had spoken to her looked at the boy with his eyes wide as golf balls.

"That's not it! That long red hair...those silver eyes... That boy, he's...!"

"Wait, what?" Upon catching onto the meaning of his broken speech, she whirled back to Silver. "You mean he's Giovanni's—?"

Her astonished eyes met with the white-armored underside of a Nidoking, who screeched a thunderous roar from its razor-sharp jaws. The sight sent the woman sprawling backwards in fear, and the other Team Rocket members to scramble to their feet.

Silver made a small, resentful smirk and swung his arm toward them.

"Nidoking, take care of them."

The spiked monster ground its foot at the floor, kicking up a cloud of dust around it. Heaving another roar, it charged forward with its claws sharp and prepared for battle. But its appearance and actions were so intimidating that the Rockets had time only to stumble and scream after each other in their flight away from danger. They jumped down into another hole in one of the corners of the chamber, shouting frantically of a retreat.

Nidoking followed them up to the pit, where it watched in silence until their yelps faded away. Silver recalled it.

"Return," he said. He stuffed away the Poké Ball right after, looking at the rope that was still clenched in his hand. Immediately, he scowled and ascended his gaze to the gap above him. Light was shining from out of it; by his assumption, it was from his Mangemite's Flash technique. He still saw no one's shadow and did not hear the distinct voice of Silver's bothersome rival.

But he did hear a voice, or rather, multiple small voices.

A gentle, fresh and salty breeze brushed by Silver's cheek. Then, as if dragged by the wind, a single Unown spun down out of the hole, giggling. It spotted Silver, who too spotted it, and the Pokémon cried out and quickly fled back from where it came.

"Humph." Silver rolled up the rope and placed it through his arm and on his shoulder, pulling out a yellow and black Poké Ball. "What a pain... Skarmory!"

From the sphere appeared a large bird with sharp, steel feathers and beak. Its keen eyes darted toward Silver, who waited expectantly, and it slowly bent low to allow the boy to climb onto its back.

"Fly up to the hole on the ceiling," Silver ordered.

The Skarmory shot an observing glance above and beat its sword-like wings, carrying its Trainer effortlessly into the dank air. They reached the opening with ease, and Silver allowed his Pokémon to glide until he could peek inside, cautiously so he wouldn't case alarm with the pack of Unown he suspected would be there. He was correct; a group of Unown, many spinning on the ceiling, was circling around an unconscious Marina in the middle of the room. Their Pokémon—his Ursaring and her Donphan—were also rendered unconscious, though they were battered with unusual bruises and burns.

Yet what also met his eyes was what caught his attention entirely. The chamber had been overgrown with an immense amount of lush greenery. Blades of grass, which smelled like grass and swayed like grass, tickled his nose innocently with a realistic touch. Daylight shined on the nearby beach, sparkling on the ocean. The trees, tall and healthy with full evergreen canopies, shaded them from the afternoon sun. The perfect breeze was nearly constant here, brushing against whatever it touched.

Silver was almost speechless. "Where… the hell is this?"

Frantic beeping ripped him from this shock. He turned to see his Magnemite hiding next to him in the brush. It was no longer using its Flash technique, but it quivered in fear and relief at its Trainer's reappearance.

The boy glared. "Have you been hiding here this whole time, you wimpy pile of steel? Did you even bother to help?"

Magnemite shivered at his remark and uttered static nonsense as it looked away in timid shame.

"Humph, not that it matters now. Return," he grumbled and recalled the Pokémon into its ball. Then, with a sly and hesitant motion, he also returned his Ursaring, an action which luckily the Unown did not notice. They failed to react even as Silver climbed into the grassy area, focused only on the girl and their chanting dance.

Silver looked down at Skarmory, who flew in midair with hasty patience. He then glared at the girl locked in the middle of the softly singing Symbol Pokémon.

A gruff and unwilling sigh escaped him. "I have my Pokémon now, so I can leave if I want," he muttered. "Unless I want to bother saving her... again."

He spent a moment sitting in thought. With a vague plan in mind, he slowly rose to his feet. Silver took a step closer, and the Unown wiggled and moved quicker in his nearing presence. A second's hesitation lingered, but Silver used it only to prepare himself with a Poké Ball in hand. He lunged forward and charged toward the mass of Pokémon, only to smack into an unseen wall that shoved him away with a forceful push. Unable to maintain his ground, Silver stumbled back and fell onto the naturalistic grasses. He remained that way for a short time, scowling at himself and the illusionist nature around him.

"I should've expected that," he said and jumped back onto his feet, releasing his Feraligatr from the Poké Ball.

"Ari?" The gator gawked at the peaceful seaside surroundings in both secret admiration and puzzlement. The boy turned back to the sphere of floating Unown, who seemed to squeak in mild excitement at Silver's efforts.

"Just help me get through the Unown's barrier, Feraligatr."

Spotting the motionless blue-haired girl in the heart of the Unown, Feraligatr stood its ground. It Pokémon inhaled deeply and fired a large pulse of water at the Unown. The attack shattered their formation, and the affected Symbol Pokémon cried and steered out of orbit. This allowed Silver to slip through the vacant gap despite the Unowns' distressed squeaking, and he knelt before Marina. Her face seemed slightly troubled, but it seemed as if she were asleep.

"Hey!" Silver shouted. This produced no reaction from Marina. Jet streams of water zipped by his ear as his Feraligatr sprayed away some of the stray Unown that bumped into his head. He grabbed and shook the girl's shoulder. "Wake up! Don't make me leave you here. I will if—!"

At that moment, the sun dropped and fell into the faraway horizon, yielding a nighttime sky and a shimmering full moon. The ocean waves riled up strongly before growing peaceful. The leaves of the opulent trees and the blades of grass seemed to shimmer with a pure aura, speaking softly in the gentle wind. The Unown began quieting their cries to a whisper as well. Faint, immature talking soon reached Silver's ears.

"...Are you sure this spot is where we'll see the fireworks...?"

"Yeah...! That's what Suicune said...!"

The red-haired boy looked up just as two figures faded into view on the beach. Both were young children; one bore a striking resemblance to him, with gray eyes and crimson hair. But the boy's hair was cut short, unlike the long bright-azure braids the young girl beside him had. The little girl turned to him with a grin so innocent—and so familiar.

"What is this?" Silver asked without a reply. He watched as the conversation between the children continued.

"…No way, you've never ever seen fireworks, Æmber?" the girl exclaimed in disbelief.

The boy, called Æmber, shook his head.

A dull bang echoed far from where they stood, and they turned toward the water to see blasts of color splattering onto the night sky in the distance. The explosions of light continued, and they gazed in awe.

The young girl jumped and squealed in joy, turning to grab the boy's arm and point at the fireworks. "See? There it is! The fireworks!"

Æmber, too mesmerized by the unique sight, just nodded and muttered a quiet, "Yeah."

Smiling with a giggle, the girl took off her necklace, which contained two pendants. She held the green sphere in her hand as she waved the blue jewel in the air. The gem proved itself to be a bell, chiming with a brilliant clarity.

The boy looked at her with a puzzled expression. "Why are you doing that?"

"I'm celebrating like everyone is doing over there. You should do it too!"

"Oh." Æmber looked down and reached into the pocket of his shorts, retrieving a glittering silver bell that was also on a string. Catching his friend's happy gaze, he managed a childish grin of his own. "Okay, I'll try."

Both children faced the sea and raised their arms into the air. Together, they waved, ringing their delicate and beautiful-sounding bells. The glittering crystal and silver were illuminated as the fireworks went off in an impressive display of light on the mainland.

Silver slowly came to his senses when he woke the next day, brushing the crimson locks from his eyes as he took in the scenery. Unlike the pristine illusion that the Unown had created, the landscape around the Ruins of Alph was imperfect, but it was satisfactory and correct for the winter weather.

Marina was still sleeping on the ground next to him, practically in the exact same position as he had left her the night before. Next to her was his Feraligatr, who was also resting. Silver spared a glance at them before making a brief look over his shoulder at the chamber they had entered hours before.

After the vision he had with the pair of children, Silver was snapped to his senses—and perhaps into consciousness—by his Feraligatr, who was viciously fighting off the Unown. From there, Silver had found the Poké Ball to Marina's Donphan and returned it before dragging the still-slumbering Marina onto his Skarmory in order to escape. The Unown had stopped pursuing them the moment they had left the chamber, and the ones that had followed were timid and quickly retreated back inside; afraid of venturing the outside world by themselves.

Once safe from the illusion-causing troublemakers, Silver was too exhausted to bother waking Marina or to leave the Ruins, and he gave into his fatigue and had Feraligatr keep lookout as he slept. Nothing strange had happened and they were left untouched, much to his relief; what had happened the night before was more than enough excitement he was willing to endure in one day.

Silver stretched, fighting off the last ounce of drowsiness that pestered him. He rested his arms on his knees and shifted his gray eyes toward the girl next to him.

"To think that accepting an innocent request from her would result in all of that," he mumbled to himself quietly; he had no desire waking Marina up just yet. He treasured the silence while he still could. "I wonder if the airhead attracts this much trouble on a daily basis."

Silver dug into his jacket pocket. Slowly and gradually, he pulled out a little round item and held it up to his eye level. When he opened his hand, a little silver-colored bell rested on his palm. Unlike the vision with the two children—which felt incredibly familiar yet had no memory of it—this bell was cracked, dull, and had lost the ability to ring.

"What was that, anyway?" he said to himself.

The vision nagged at his mind. The little girl's mannerisms were much like Marina's, and the boy's like his. Then there was the green white Poké Ball Marina had shown him in Azalea Town. And though Silver answered "no" to Marina's question the night before, he actually had the same feeling she had; he suspected he had met her before the moment he had seen her in Cherrygrove City.

Silver concluded that the Unown were at fault for this. It seemed to him that they manipulated and combined their memories to create an illusion such as the one he witnessed. The feeling of familiarity must have also been caused by them, and he decided to think nothing more of it.

But the names Aura and Æmber were undeniable. Marina—did he actually meet her in the past?

"AH! Zubat! No!"

Silver hid away the silver bell the moment Marina screamed, and he turned to her in both irritation and puzzlement.

"What?" he snapped.

Marina, now sitting up, looked at him with a blank look on her face. She stared at him for a moment, but made a small smile and giggled in embarrassment. "Oh… Oh! I just had a bad dream. I was being swarmed by a lot of Zubat, and I really hate Pokémon that look like bats," she admitted.

Silver's scowl returned, and he muttered in denial, "Humph. There's no way in hell I met you before…"

"Huh? What?" Marina blinked with confusion.

"Nothing."

She watched him for a moment longer, tilting her head until she twitched. "Oh, Silver! You!" she pointed at him and kept exclaiming, "You... You're...!"

"I'm what?" In slight anticipation of this reaction, Silver looked at her from the corner of his eye. Even if the illusion the Unown made was marginally true, just how much of it was fake? And how much did Marina know on her side?

The girl spent a few moments scrutinizing him before clapping her hands together. "You have a Pokédex exactly like mine, right?"

At this, Silver let his guard drop. "What?"

"Last night you were using a Pokédex on the Unown. How did you get it? I know that Professor Oak—you do know him, right?"

"Yes," he answered flatly.

She continued without much notice. "Okay. Professor Oak said he was giving a Pokédex to each beginning Trainer that Professor Elm sent out, or something like that...I thought it was only Kenta, Jackson, and me."

"Oh. That," Silver pulled out his Pokédex from his jacket, "I was one of those Trainers. Didn't that clumsy New Bark Town professor tell you there were four Trainers, not three? The wimp with the Chikorita didn't seem to know about this either."

Marina's eyes widened. "Wait, you mean Jackson knows already?"

"I told him when I was in Azalea Town to make him shut up about how I 'took your Totodile'... which was supposed to be mine. I made that very clear to Professor Elm months ago," Silver added the last sentence before putting the red device away.

She watched him in wonder and surprise, processing what he had said.

"So that...I mean, Wani-Wani was supposed to be yours in the first place?" she asked.

"Basically," he muttered. "Until you had to come along and take it yourself. By the time I got to the laboratory, Elm was frantic when he realized that he was stupid enough to let you take my Totodile—and don't call it Wani-Wani."

"But I nicknamed him Wani-Wani," Marina giggled softly. "And actually, that makes sense; my brother had said that he would send me a starter Pokémon himself, and Professor Elm was cool with it. I think he bred it from his Typhlosion."

"So that would be your red-colored Quilava." Silver's scowl began withering away, just as Marina's enthusiasm did as they both began understanding the situation of how they met for the first time.

"Yup. So, I guess I should say that I'm sorry." As the girl said this, she bowed her head.

Silver twisted his face with vexation. "What—Why are you apologizing?"

"Because you were right all along; technically, I was the thief that stole your Totodile."

"Not like it was your fault," Silver replied. "It was that idiot Professor. He didn't even bother to clear up the misunderstanding."

Marina raised her head, taking off her bandana to fix her frizzed hair as she spoke. "...I guess... But I'm glad that I was right about one thing."

"And that would be what?"

"Even though you were a jerk, and I had believed you stole my Totodile—my first Pokémon—I knew that you had to have some reason to do what you did. You seemed familiar, too." As she finished putting on her lavender bandana, Marina made another humble smile. "Not only that, but I could tell that Wani-Wani liked you. He suited you more than he ever would a... naïve girl like me.

"So that's why I forgave you so quickly. Even though I still think you should treat your Pokémon better, I still have a lot of things to learn myself, too."

"Huh..." Silver observed her silently without spite, perhaps for the first time.

Marina grinned. "What?"

The neutral look went away just as quick as it came. He rolled his eyes irritably. "If you acted like this more often, I probably wouldn't think you're as naïve as you are," he said.

"Oh," she laughed a little, "Well, at least I'm getting somewhere!"

"No you're not. Acting mature isn't the same as being mature."

"Hey, I was being honest!"

"On a completely different matter, do you know what time it is?" he asked, glancing around them.

Marina's eyes again blinked with a clueless shine, and she scanned the area like he did. The sun was high in the sky, giving them protective warmth from any cold breezes. "Um...it looks like it's around noon..." She gasped and stood, covering her mouth with her hands. "It's almost noon! I never went back to the Pokémon Center last night!"

"And that's a bad thing...how?"

"Jackson and my mom coming to Ecruteak City today to visit me, but I also have to get ready for a Christmas recital in the Ecruteak Dance Theater!" Marina ran her fingers through one of her ponytails. "And I never even took a shower last night! Geez, my hair's a mess!"

The red-haired boy rolled his eyes again and stood. "Dancing? You're into stuff like that?"

After checking she had her backpack and PokéGear, she turned to him wearing a nervous smile. "Yeah, I'm an apprentice Kimono Girl at the Ecruteak Dance Theater. It's really fun, but it's lots of hard work too," she innocently grinned wider, "Why don't you come see me dance?"

"Why?" Silver frowned. "You already owe me three favors just for what happened last night. I saved you once from falling into a trap and twice from the Unown."

"Oh...But I did help you with the rope, so that makes two."

"You dropped it, and falling ten or twenty feet isn't fun, not to mention having to fight off Team Rocket unprepared," Silver explained with an unfriendly edge in his tone, "You should be grateful that I even bothered to save you after that stunt."

"Wow." Marina giggled a bit, simpering. "Thank you."

"That's a little late," he grumbled, taking out his gray-colored PokéGear.

"Well then," she again put her hands together, "Why don't you swing by anyways? I can probably get you a free meal, even if you come tonight or on Christmas Day. I know you might be busy, but the theater's a restaurant too and they have pretty good food there."

The red-haired boy looked up from his cell phone. "...Fine. I'll consider it."

"Good! Just be sure to tell one of the Kimono Girls that you know me so—."

"It's 1:45PM," Silver interrupted. "Aren't you a little late for something?"

As if the words had frozen her stiff, Marina failed to react for a few seconds. She instantly thawed as she hurriedly went to grab her Poké Ball. "Oh my gosh, that's even later than I thought! Kenya!"

Her Fearow appeared before them, watching his frantic Trainer with curiosity and confusion. Marina waved at Silver's Feraligatr—who had woken up from Marina's ruckus—before climbing onto the bird. She grinned at Silver as Kenya took off into the sky, waving at him happily.

"Bye, Silver! Thanks for coming here with me! Be sure to come to the Theater, okay?"

Silver watched her as she flew out of sight, shoving his arms in his jacket pocket. "Humph, she's a weird girl," he muttered, glaring at his Feraligatr, who seemed to be grinning somehow. "Weird, annoying, weak, naive, yet...familiar."

An odd moment passed by him. In a sudden motion, he swiftly turned away and recalled the blue alligator.

"No way."

Airhead! Just one of Silver's many words in his insult dictionary. I wouldn't be surprised if he started using "dimwit" anytime soon. lol

Now as per tradition, here's Marina's current roster.

Marina's Current Pokémon
King the Quilava (Male)
Prince the Espeon (Male)
Kenya the Fearow (Male)
Amber the Plusle (Female)
Muu-chan the Misdreavus (Female)
Lapras (Female)

Available via PC: Phany the Donphan (Male)
Etc.

Until next time, dear readers, where a filler-packed chapter will commence...