Defiance

by MateiFire

All I wanted was to become a Trainer. Mom said no. Now I've run away from home, got a fake identity, caught in a bet between 2 of the DexHolders, become a possible rival of a psycho bent on revenge, and hiding from the previous Champion on the Pokemon League. All of this because of one act of Defiance. World of PokeSpe.

6. Downtime

Hey what's up everyone! We're back with Chapter 6! We're at the 1 week point in Zircon's journey! Things are starting to pick up here in Azalea Town! I'll talk more towards the end so we can get back to the story. As always, thanks for reading and reviewing!

DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokémon, whether it be games, anime, manga, or anything else.

Chapter 6: Downtime

January 27th-Azalea Town-10:00 PM

Zircon/ Quartz's POV

"Oh right, you haven't met," Gold said turning to me. He gestured to the girl I currently could only identify as 'Ami,' "Quartz, this is my cousin: Amethyst."

"Just call me Ami," she said smiling, holding out a hand.

I took the handshake, "Nice to mee-Ahh!" I was interrupted with her pulling me close and staring me right in the eye, her face inches from mine. She seemed to be looking into my soul, much like the man with the Gallade several days back. After a few seconds, she pulled back and grinned, very similarly to Gold. I stepped back, rather flustered and tried to secretly mouth to Gold, 'What was that?'

Gold laughed loudly, before Ami explained. "I do that whenever I first meet anyone," she said. "Thing is, I have a pretty good memory. I pride myself in being unable to forget a face. Even if someone is completely disguised, if I've met them before, I can recognize them straight away." Great, but that still makes the whole 'greet with a long stare' kinda creepy.

"So don't get on her bad side," Gold said. "She'll find you." He laughed a bit more before turning to Ami. "So, why are you here again?"

"Um, did the idea that I live here ever cross your mind?" she asked sarcastically. Huh, from the bangs to the grins to even the way they conversed, yup, these two were definitely related.

"Fine," Gold surrendered and she finally came in as the door closed. After she said hi to her parents, Gold and I decided to stay up a bit longer to talk. As she got some leftover food to heat up, Gold began the conversation. "So Ami, Quartz here is my-"

"New student?" Ami finished for him. She then answered Gold's wide open mouth with, "Yellow-san told me about the bet you got going on with Crystal-san."

"You know Yellow-san?" I asked. A couple days back, I felt like meeting the DexHolders was like a one in a million chance, but between me, that little girl Gold demolished yesterday, and now her, it seems like my meetings weren't as special as I originally thought.

"Oh yeah," she said, sitting down to eat. "I met her a while back, when Gold-nii and some other DexHolders were working over in Azalea a while back."

"She and Yellow-san kind of hit it off," Gold continued. "They've kept in touch ever since." Now that they mentioned it, when Yellow and Red stopped by, Yellow did ask about Ami. Guess that tied it all together. "Hey Ami," Gold asked. "A couple days back, while training with us, Yellow-san and Red-san just bolted out. They were kind of in a rush, said something about Blue-san and Green-san. You know what happened?"

Ami stopped eating and looked at the two of us like we were stupid. "Wait, you really don't know?" Gold and I looked at each other to see if either of us had an idea before looking back at Ami, clueless. "For the love of Arceus, don't you guys follow them on Subame?" What now? After another confused look from us, "You know the social media platform where you send Chirps about what you're doing and what's going on?" As we continued to try to understand what they heck she was saying, she hung her head, "You two are hopeless."

As I continued to try to figure out what a 'Subame' was, Gold decided to get to the bottom of this, "So, enlighten us. What happened?" Ami pinched her forehead and went through her PokéGear before showing us a picture that was put up by Blue, on what I'm guessing was this Subame application she was talking about. I was about to say something until I looked at the picture and realized what it was.

"Ohhh," I said leaning back from the picture. Gold continued to look at the picture, squinting, as if the meaning wasn't obvious. After looking for several minutes, he sat back up and gave Ami a confused look.

"All I see is a ring," he said, unimpressed. "What, was there a huge sale at a jewelry store or something?" Ami and I sweatdropped at the exact same time. Even I knew what was going on here.

"For the love of Arceus, Gold-nii, it's an engagement ring, Green proposed!"

"Oh," Gold said, before what she said finally hit him, "Ohhhhh!"

"Jeez, took you long enough," Ami said before taking back her PokéGear. "I guarantee she'll be showing it off during your next DexHolder meeting. Speaking of which, when is it?"

"Sometime in February," Gold said, shrugging. "I don't really try too hard to remember these things. Usually, Super Serious Gal calls me a day or two in advance to remind me," he grinned. Is Crystal really in charge of everything between the two of them? "So," Gold said, "why are you all the way over here? You said you were headed for Blackthorn, why the 180 turn?"

"Well," Ami grinned, "I think I finally have the team needed to take down Falkner. Since you're here, I'm assuming the two of you beat him?"

"Yep, Quartz and me both," Gold said, as we flashed our new badges. "That makes 5 for me," Gold said, "how about you?"

Ami pulled out a badge case and opened it up, "I'm on 5 myself. I went over to Saffron from Goldenrod and got one from Kanto." Hm, two in a row, that could make things a bit faster. As if reading my thoughts, Ami continued, "Unfortunately for you, Gym Leader Sabrina left for Unova a couple days back, got an acting part in a movie or something. Who knows when she'll be back."

Well, there goes that plan. "Anyway," I said, as I looked over her badges, "Does that mean you're entering the Pokémon League as well?"

"Oh, yeah," Ami said nonchalantly. "Pretty much."

"You see, Ami wasn't always planning to be a Trainer," Gold began to explain. "Thing is, she wanted to travel, and being a Trainer was the easiest way to do so."

"However," Ami said, "traveling costs a lot of money. Also, being a Trainer isn't really the highest paying job out there. Unless you're really good or famous, you can't afford to travel much past the region you live in."

"So," I began, "you're participating in the League-"

"For the cash!" Ami's eyes were replaced with PokéDollar signs. "With all the money I'll get from League Championship fame, I'll finally be able to go someplace cool, like Unova or Kalos!" I guess everyone's got their own reasons for aiming for the top. "Anyway," she said turning her focus to me, "how'd you get roped into becoming Gold-nii's newest disciple?"

"You see," Gold began before I had a chance to say anything, "After he got his trainer's license he basically begged me to train him, and after a while I decided to take him under my wing!"

"Gold-nii forced you into it?" she asked.

"In a nutshell," I replied, with Gold acting insulted in the background.

"Well, it's getting pretty late," Ami said looking at the clock on the wall, just past 11 PM. "I'm heading off to sleep, I'd recommend you two do the same."

"You know what, she's right about that," Gold said. "We gotta get up early tomorrow so we can start training for Bugsy." I nodded and we each went to sleep, Ami in her room and Gold and I in the living room, Gold on the sofa and myself on the floor. The day was pretty rough with all that happened in Union Cave and for the first time since I started my adventure I fell asleep almost immediately. No deep thoughts before drifting off, just simply sleeping.

---

January 28th-Azalea Town-10:30 AM

The next morning was pretty much the same as usual, the only differences being Gold and I having to help clean up a bit as 'payment' for us staying there. Ami decided to stay around us before heading off herself, apparently in no rush for the Violet Gym. We went out to Route 33 which was rain-free for a change, allowing us to get to some actual training. "Alright, Bugsy training day 1," Gold began. "So, for Bugsy's-"

"Hey Gold-nii," Ami cut in. "I know you're doing your 'teaching,"' she said putting air quotes on the teaching, "but I want a crack at this student of yours. See if he's actually learning anything from sticking with you." She turned to me and reached for a Pokéball.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," I said, stepping back. "let's remember the skill level here. Me: 1 badge. You: 5 badges. 1. 5. Big difference."

"Oh, cool it," Ami said gripping her Pokéball. "I just caught this here Vulpix and I've been training her just a couple days. She should be around your level. Now, go Pepper!" She sent out a small orange fox, blinking before facing me.

I took a couple steps back. If I remember correctly, Vulpix is a fire type. So, no advantages or disadvantages from Arie or Pete, so power was probably my best bet. "Pete, let's go!" I shouted, summoning my trusty partner.

"A Pichu, really," she said smiling, "You're Gold-nii's student, alright. Here, I'll give you the first move."

"Ladies first," I replied. I wanted to see how she battled to get an idea of how to proceed.

"Oh no please, I insist."

"You challenged me, you start."

"I'm being nice here, take the first move!"

"WILL ONE OF YOU START ALREADY?" Gold yelled, rather annoyed. His lesson plan was already being postponed, so I guess he wasn't in the mood for a back and forth of who'd start the battle.

"Fine," Ami gave up, "I'll start off. Pepper use Fire Spin!" The fox blew out a spiral of fire from its mouth.

"Pete, dodge it and slow it down with Thunder Wave!" I called with Pete just barely making it out of the range of the fire and giving that small spark to the Vulpix, paralyzing it and slowing it down.

"Oh, think you can slow us down, do you?" Ami said. "Pepper, Quick Attack!" Her Vulpix moved quickly before slamming into Pete and knocking him down.

"Pete, use Volt Switch!" I called out. It seemed we were doing this one-on-one, so I didn't have to worry about the whole switching part of Volt Switch.

"Pepper, use Quick Attack to dodge!" Her Vulpix began to start its Quick Attack, but stopped mid-move due to paralysis letting Volt Switch get a clean hit in. "Not bad," she said, "for a rookie." She looked to her Vulpix and continued, "All right, Vulpix use Confuse Ray!" The small fox's eyes glowed before emitting a powerful flash of light.

I tried to shield myself from the light but eventually closed my eyes from the sheer brightness. Upon re-opening them, I checked up with Pete, "You okay, buddy?" Pete opened his eyes and squeaked back giving the thumbs up sign. One problem, he was pointing in the complete opposite direction. As bad as Arie before glasses opposite direction. He's confused without a doubt.

"Now's our chance, Fire Spin!" Ami called, trying to seize her chance. Looks like we'll need to leave it to lady luck.

"Pete, dodge!" I yelled as Pete spun around in place, obviously not understanding what was going on. The fire spin then hit Pete as it surrounded him in a spiral of flames. "Pete, come on snap out of it!"

"Pepper, let's finish it," Ami called out. "Flame Charge!" Her Vulpix engulfed itself in Flames before charging at Pete. I analyzed the situation and decided I had only one option.

"Pete, use Volt Tackle!" Thankfully, the blast from Fire Spin managed to knock Pete out of his confusion and he began his charge against Pepper cloaking himself in electricity. Come on, 80% chance. If there's any chance of it working, now's a good a chance as any. The two Pokémon collided in a huge explosion, which when cleared showed both Pokémon out for the count. "Heh, looks like we were able to pull out a draw," I said as I walked over to Pete before returning him to his Pokéball.

"Looks like you're not that bad," Ami said returning her own Pokémon to its Pokéball. "So, Volt Tackle, huh," she looked over to her cousin, "Don't you think it's a bit early to be teaching them that move, Gold-nii?"

"Actually, I didn't teach them that," Gold said as he walked over to us. "Turns out Quartz's Pichu knew that move from the beginning. However, they haven't fully mastered the move."

"So," Ami said, "that last move was…"

"Just good old fashioned luck," I answered, smiling.

"Well," Gold interjected, trying to get back on track before something else interrupted his plans, "we can't depend on an uncertain move to work out against Bugsy, so-" As fate would have it, Gold's PokéGear started ringing just as he was getting ready to get to the teaching part of our lesson. He picked it up and set it to video call, "Hey Super Serious, what's up?"

"Don't tell me," Crystal said on the other line. "You forgot."

"Forgot what?" Gold asked, counting on his figures. "Our date is scheduled for Friday, right?"

"Not that," Crystal said, annoyed. "Our DexHolder meeting! We need to be in Viridian City at noon!"

"What? I thought these things were at the beginning of the month!"

"January's was supposed to be at Yellow's but it kept being pushed back!"

"Why?"

"Does New Year's ring a bell?"

"Oh yeah," Gold smiled, "That was one hell of a party. So, do I have to go? I'm kinda in the middle of tr-"

"Oh, leave him," Crystal interrupted. "He's 16, right? He can take care of himself. If he couldn't, he'd wouldn't stand a chance as a Trainer."

Gold smirked, "What happened to him being 'my responsibility.'"

"Oh shut up," Crystal puffed her cheeks. "Just meet me in Goldenrod so we can take the Magnet Train."

"Alrighty then," Gold responded before turning off the call. "Well, Quartz, looks like you got the day off, unless…" He looked over to Ami.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"You wanna train Quartz for me, while I'm off? I'll pay you," he looked at his wallet, "er, can I can give you an I.O.U.?" he smiled, trying to seal the deal.

Ami gave him an 'are you serious' look before looking over at me. "Eh, what the hell. I got nothing better to do. I'm in no rush to get to-"

"Thanks a bunch," Gold said, sending out Togebo. "I'll see you guys later!" And with that he flew off into the north towards Goldenrod.

When he was finally out of view, I looked over to Ami. "You're not really gonna help me train, are you?" I started heading back to Azalea. 'Guess I got some downtime,' I thought to myself.

"Well actually…" she began. I turned back immediately.

"Wait, really?"

"Well, it depends," she continued. She looked at me a bit more seriously, "You want to explain the whole 'Quartz' name, eh ZJ?" ZJ, no one's called me that since my days at the Trainer's School. I was about to ask how when she answered, "I never forget a face, remember?" It was at that point, I remembered.

---

It was around 6 years ago in the Trainer's school over in Violet City. It was still a time before Mom went full 'no training until you're 18' mode and actually let me outside of New Bark. It was around the middle of the year when this new girl with jet-black hair just transferred into our class.

It was at about lunch time that day, and the new girl walked over to me. "Hey, what's up? Name's Amethyst, but just call me Ami. What's your name?"

"Zircon Idaisa," I responded as I continued eating.

"What kinda name is that?" she asked.

"What kind of name is Amethyst," I asked back, insulted.

"Hence, the nickname," she responded. "You got any sort of nickname I can call you?"

"My middle name is Jacinth," I offered.

"Nah, that's no good," she shook her head before coming to a realization, "I got it! How's ZJ? It your first two initials and sounds a lot better than what you've got now. How about it?"

"Meh, good enough for me," I said, not caring all that much.

"ZJ. it is, then! So, ZJ, I got a cousin who's from New Bark, maybe you know him…

---

"Remember?" Ami said smiling. "Kinda surprised you forgot about me," she said a bit insulted, "I mean these bangs, while I love 'em, are kinda dead giveaway for me…"

"But h-how," I stammered, trying to fully comprehend what was going on, "I mean I dyed my hair and everything, how can you-"

"What part about 'never forgets a face' don't you get?" she said smiling. "What can I say, it's a gift. Now, what's with the whole 'Quartz' thing?"

"Eh, it's my mom," I told her. "You know how I kinda abruptly left the Trainer's School after the Team Rocket revival around 5 years back? Yeah, after that my mom kinda put me on unofficial house arrest until I turn 18."

"And that leads to this, how?"

"Well, since Mom is always off challenging the Pokémon League, all I needed was a chance to escape, so I just needed to wait for Dad to be off on an extended business trip or something so I could escape long enough to finally become a Trainer."

"Still not getting the whole transformation…"

"When Mom eventually finds out, they'll be searching the entire region with a possible bounty on my head! So, do the math, and you get new identitiy," I explained. "It's sounds a bit ridiculous, but it's worked so far."

"Damn, ZJ, your life is kinda wack," she said. "No offense."

"None taken," I said. "So, can we keep this a secret from Gold? The less people that know the better."

"Alrighty then. Now-"

"Swear on Arceus's name."

"Really?" she asked, as I nodded. "Fine, I swear on the name of Arceus, I won't blab about your secret. Happy?" I nodded once more, sighing. For the love of Mew, it's been only over a week and I've already blown my cover. "So, as for training, I was thinking since you're facing a Bug-Type Gym Leader, you should practice upon fighting bugs. Thankfully, the Ilex Forest is full of bug-types."

"So, I'm just gonna train there for a while?" I asked. "Seems pretty basic."

"Nah," Ami said thinking. "I got a much better idea." She pulled out a Pokéball and threw out a familiar looking metallic bird Pokémon. "Go Riza!" I jumped back, still a bit freaked out by the Pokémon that wrecked my team not even a week ago. Come to think of it, Gold did say Ami had a Skarmory herself. "Yo, ZJ, hop on!"

"Cool it with the ZJ," I whispered. "If you say that when Gold is-"

"Yeah, yeah," she waved away. "Call you 'Quartz' whenever Gold-nii or anyone else is around, got it. Don't get your panties in a twist. Just get on." I hopped on the Skarmory as it took off and within a minute we were high above Ilex Forest.

As we lowered down I asked, "So exactly what is the plan we're going with?"

Ami thought to herself before saying, "Give me your bag."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Fine." I gave her my bag and she started rummaging through it eventually throwing me a couple potions and some Pokéballs. "What's this for?" I asked.

"We're gonna test how long you can last against hordes of bug Pokémon by leaving smack in the middle of the forest with only limited healing items. Battle your way through, and I'll meet you back at my house in Azalea. If you want, catch one or two." Why does this sound familiar?

"Wait," I stopped her before she mounted her Skarmory. "What if I get lost? This forest is massive," I said looking at the endless sea of trees around me.

"Ugh," she groaned. "Are you always this much of a Torchic? Don't worry, I've wandered through this forest tons of times when I was like 7, you'll be fine." When my worried face didn't change, she signed and took my PokéGear, "Fine, here's my PokéGear number in case you do run into danger. Just don't call unless it's an emergency. Remember, me helping you out is a great favor, so you should be thanking me, not questioning my methods. I'm as good a teacher as Gold-nii is." That's not really reassuring.

"Wait, Pete's still tired from facing you," I said, trying any possible solution for an out to this training. "Let us go to Pokémon Center first at the very least!"

She jumped on her bird and rummaged through her bag. "Here," she said, tossing a couple of items to me, "A Revive and a Super Potion. That should be all you need to back to full health." With that she began flying up before stopping in midair calling, "Here, I'll get you started. Riza, use Metal Sound!" The bird made a screeching noise causing several bugs to come out from behind bushes and trees, all angrily looking at me. Ami smiled before flying off, calling out, "You're welcome!" as she went off into the distance. So, just Pete, Arie, and myself against an army of bugs. Fantastic.

Considering the vast array surrounding me, I sent out both Pete and Arie. If we're fighting an army, might as well bring out the whole team, right? "Pete, Arie, we gotta make a path through them to run through. Pete: Hidden Power! Arie: Air Cutter!" After the two blasted a wide enough walkway, we hightailed in out of the current area as we tried to escape the army of bugs that were chasing us. I can't catch a break. I get rid of one teacher, and he immediately gets replaced with his gender-flipped counterpart.

---

Viridian City-11:45 AM

Gold's POV

"See Super Serious Gal, we made it and with time to spare," I said as we made our way through Viridian City. One quick flight to Goldenrod, a ride on the Magnet Train and another quick flight to Viridian and we were there. "And you thought we were gonna be late."

"That's because we usually are late," she said. She was actually out of her teachers clothing for once and back into usual Trainer attire. She had returned to using her normal clothes rather than the outfit she used a couple years back despite it actually fitting her serious personality, something about not wanting her mother to pick out her clothes or something. "I'm in charge of running these meetings, so I'd prefer to be early or at least on time."

"Chill out Super Serious, it's not like they're gonna start the meeting without us," I said. "So, Crys," I asked as we walked, trying to lighten the mood, "do you have the day off or something?"

"Yeah, I usually call in a sub for these meetings," she said, "Usually, they don't let teachers take off as often, but I guess that's one of the perks of being a DexHolder."

"So," I said, "You want to get a bite to eat after this? You're usually so busy with either teaching, helping the professors with research, or something else. We barely get to see each other anymore."

"Gold, we see each other almost every day," she said. "It doesn't matter if I'm teaching or not, it doesn't really stop you from interrupting my classes."

"I like to call it 'giving the students a hero's perspective.'"

"Besides," she said, raising an eyebrow, "don't you have Quartz to train?"

"He's fine," I said, "Ami came by and offered to take over while I'm here."

"Offered, huh?"

"Yeah, more or less."

"So, you think she's capable of training Quartz?" she asked.

"Yeah, he'll be fine, he's gone through plenty of hard stuff. Kid's a survivor. Nothing she can throw at him could be too hard."

---

Ilex Forest

Zircon/Quartz's POV

"Pete, Volt Switch! Arie, Confusion!" With a couple attacks, two more Pokémon were down. Almost all the Pokémon from the swarm Ami called were done. "Alright guys, the first wave is almost done! I think we're pretty good!" Pete and Arie fired a pair of attacks at the remaining bugs who dodged both attacks as they hit a tree. Uh oh. Suddenly, a swarm of Beedrill came down and joined our list of new enemies. "RUN!"

---

Viridian City

Gold's POV

"Perfectly fine."

"Right," she said as we approached Yellow's house. "Anyway, here we are."

"Oh, hey guys!" was Yellow's response upon opening the door, "We were worried you weren't gonna make it! You're just in time, we're gonna begin any moment now, you want something to drink, water, tea, coffee?"

"Some tea sounds great, thanks Yellow-san," Crys responded, giving me a look. Okay, so we're a tad late, at least they didn't start without us.

"No thanks, I'm good," I told her.

"Everyone's in the dining room, go join them, while I finish up the tea," Yellow said, heading out into the kitchen.

"Let me help you out with that," was Crys's response as she followed after her. I walked over to the dining room where everyone else was gathered around a table. The DexHolders of the Round Table, if you will.

Ah, the DexHolder meetings, a once a month gathering of us DexHolders to discuss topics plaguing the regions and stuff. Don't get me wrong, it's nice to meet up with our seniors and juniors, but its purpose has kinda become meaningless with all the peace in recent times. Super Serious Gal initiated the idea after the double whammy of Team Rocket's revival with Arceus and the Delta Meteoroid both happening within the span of a couple months. However, it's become more and more like a random gathering of friends where we just talk about current events and stuff. And to think, some of us get off work for this.

Speaking of current events, Blue was basically showing off her engagement ring to Crys when she and Yellow came back with the tea. She had cut her hair much shorter since the last DexHolder meeting, with it reaching her shoulders. I looked over to Red, who was smiling weakly. I guess she's been showing that off ever since they got here. I looked over to Green, who seemed pretty down.

"What's up with Green-san?" I asked. "Is it finally dawning on him that he's getting hitched?"

"Well actually…" Red began.

"She moved all her stuff into my apartment," Green said, his head hitting the table. "I can't get anywhere in there without tripping over something."

"Well, you're getting married, wasn't it obvious she was gonna move in?" I asked.

"Well yeah," Green replied lifting his head up, "but I wasn't expecting her to bring all her stuff into my one bedroom apartment. No less in one day while I was at the Gym. I come back for a lunch break just to see my room swamped with suitcases and racks of dresses. Do you have any idea how many shoes she has? It's insane."

I guess that made sense. While Senior Red and Green's jobs were closer to typical Trainers, with Red as a Champion level Trainer and Green as a Gym Leader, Blue was like Yellow and had a different job. She kinda used her status as both a previous League finalist and as a DexHolder to lift her up as an idol. She had TV stations always wanting to interview her, she starred in several commercials, hell, she was even a model and had her own designer clothing line! She was basically the image of a pro Trainer. While Yellow settled for a job at an art studio, she took full advantage of her reputation and rode that wave to the fullest. Come to think of it, why didn't I try that? Who doesn't want to be like me?

I looked over to the side and saw two of our Hoenn juniors, the fashionista Ruby wearing some kind of Mankey suit and the dirt farmer, Emerald. "Fashionista, what're you doing out here? And what's with the getup?" While Emerald lived in Violet, helping out at the orphanage he used to live at whenever Crys was too busy teaching or something, Ruby still primarily lived in Hoenn.

"I've got an internship with the Devon Corporation," he said. "They told me to come and work with one of the Johto branch guys. I'm crashing at Em's for the time being."

"Okay then," I walked over and sat down near my closest friend, "Hey Silver, how's it hanging?" When I got no answer, I looked closer at him as he seemed to be completely focused on something else. I tried looking in the same direction, but it led nowhere. "Hello?" I waved my hand in front of his face, no response. Only one way to wake him up. "So, your sis is getting married, how's that going for you?"

He blinked a couple times before he noticed me. "Oh Gold, when did you get here?" he said, finally snapping back to reality. Yep, just play the sister card, and you're guaranteed his attention. "Well, Nee-san's been with Green-san for a while now, so I kind of expected it sooner or later." He then returned to staring off into space.

"So Silvy, how's it feel knowing you're gonna be brothers with Green-san?"

"Wait, what?" Silver finally snapped back into reality.

"Well, they are getting married, so doesn't that technically make him your bro-in-law?" I asked.

"You know, it's times like this that make me relieved that Nee-san and I aren't really related," Silver said.

"Alright everyone," came the call from the head of the table with Super Serious Gal, "Are we ready to begin?" Everyone hushed up and looked up ahead. "Alright, as soon as we can get Sapphire and our juniors from Sinnoh on the line, we'll be starting." She looked towards Ruby who was connecting his PokéGear to a nearby monitor.

"Calling her now," Ruby said. "She should be with us shortly."

"I'm calling the Sinnoh DexHolders on my end," called Blue, connecting her own PokéGear to another monitor. Y'know, I never did get the point of having to video call all the other DexHolders during these meetings. Couldn't we just figure everything out from those of us present? I mean if we're just gonna video call those that can't make the trip, why can't they just do the same for me? Oh well, not like it matters that much, most of these meetings end up without any pressing threats anyway. Then, both screens lit up, with Born To Be Wild on one end and the Princess and her 2 Court Jesters on the other.

"Hey guys!" came the response from Hoenn. "Sorry about the delay, kinda forgot this was today." So I'm not alone!

"Hello, seniors," came Platinum's response. "We are very sorry if you had to wait too long."

"No, no problem at all," Crys said, looking around to make sure everyone was ready. "All right, then let's start this meeting." She picked up a couple sheets of paper and after adjusting her glasses, began, "So the first thing on the agenda is-"

"I'm getting married!" Blue interrupted, shouting for all to hear. "Sapph, Platinum, check out my ring!" She said showing it off in front of the screens.

"Such a noisy woman…" Green muttered off.

"Uh Green," Red said chuckling, "You're kinda gonna be spending the rest of your life with that noisy woman."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Green smiled slightly looking at his fiancé, who was still showing off to the DexHolders not physically present.

"It's beautiful!" Sapphire cried.

"From the three of us here, I'd like to offer my congratulations," Platinum said as the other two screamed their congrats.

"So, when's the wedding?" Sapphire asked.

"I'm not sure," Blue said. "Greenie here needs to find a date, a place, a caterer, invitations, you know, all the necessary things!"

"Despite that," Green said, "She's the one planning everything. In any case, we just got engaged, so when the details are sorted out, you can expect your invitations."

"So," Sapphire began on the other line, "Who's your maid of honor?"

"Me…" Yellow said, slowly lifting up her hand.

"And your best man, Green-san?"

"How about it, Red?" he said, turning to his best friend.

"No problem, you can count on me," he replied proudly.

"And there you have it," Green said simply.

"All right," Crystal said, looking upon her outline, after being interrupted, "next up on the agenda is-"

"All right, let's get to the real news," Blue said, interrupting her again. "So, Gold, you killed that student of yours yet?" Crystal puffed her cheeks in annoyance.

"Quite the contrary," I said proudly, "He's already got his first badge. Thanks to yours truly of course." As if there were any doubts.

"So he won," Yellow said smiling.

"I knew he could do it," Red said, smiling as well.

"Well, that makes things more interesting," Blue said, smiling. "This should make the pot even sweeter. Anyone want to place additional bets?"

"Wait until after the meeting at the very least," Super Serious said, trying to take back control of the conversation. "By the way, Red-san and Yellow-san, how come you seem to know Quartz already?"

"Oh, Yells and I went to help Gold train him," Red said. "He seems like an interesting kid."

"WHAT?" Crys yelled, looking straight at me.

"You never said I had to do it alone," I said smirking. "Getting help is fair game!"

"You do always do find some sort of loophole," she said, pinching her forehead.

"You know it, babe," I said. Gold-1, Super Serious-0.

"Speaking of which," Yellow asked. "Where is he now?"

"He's back in Johto," I replied. "Don't worry though, we met up with Ami, and I got her supervising his training while I'm gone."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Red asked.

"Sure," I waved off. "She's a pretty good Trainer, she can handle him."

"I'm more concerned with her as a teacher," Red replied.

"He has a point, Gold," Super Serious Gal said. "If we're being completely honest, we all know you're not the best of teachers. Also, I'm not going to lie, I feel like part of you rubbed off on Ami in terms of personality and such."

"Thank you, I do my best."

"That's not a compliment."

"I'll take it as one."

"In any case," she said, annoyed, "I don't think you should have left your cousin in charge of supervising his training."

"Like I said," I told her, "Ami's a good Trainer and she's great with kids, she'll make sure he's fine."

"Um, Gold?" Yellow asked.

"What's up?"

"How old is Quartz again?"

"16, I think. Why?"

"Ami-chan's 15."

"Wait, really?"

"Yep, her birthday's in February."

"Since when?"

"It's February 14th, Valentine's Day! That's why she hates the holiday so much!" That's news to me.

"Well," I said, a tad bit more worried than before. "She's pretty responsible, he'll be fine."

---

Ilex Forest

Zircon/ Quartz's POV

"Pete, Volt Switch! Arie, Confusion!" Pete's cheeks struggled to produce any electricity and Arie looked at me confused. For the love of Arceus, don't tell me they're out of PP! I already used all the Potions Ami gave me and all the Pokéballs were deflected. Not to mention that the swarm of angry Beedrill wasn't getting any smaller. "OK, new plan. RUN!" I pulled out my PokéGear and called Ami as we ran. Come on, pick up, pick up…

---

Azalea Town

Ami's POV

He's calling me already? Come on, there's no way he's getting off the hook that fast. It's the Ilex Forest, I've been playing in there since I was like 5, he can't be in that much trouble. He's probably being overdramatic; he's always been that way. Boop! And ignore call. I looked over to the TV. Ooooooh, The Crobat Rises, I love that movie! I jumped on the couch and started watching, putting my PokéGear on vibrate and threw it to the side.

---

Ilex Forest

Zircon/ Quartz's POV

"SOMEBODY HELP ME!"

---

Viridian City

Gold's POV

"Absolutely fine," I reassured everyone.

"Right," Crys said, looking back to her list, "Anyway," she began, trying to get back to business. "What's the news on our juniors over in Unova? Blue-san, you've been keeping in contact with White, right? What's the current status?"

"About the same," Blue frowned, "Well, she's doing a bit better. There's still no news of where Black went after he got sucked into the Light Stone and vanished. She's been trying to drown her feelings into her work by focusing on the developing PokéStar Studios."

"Any news on Team Plasma?" Crys asked.

Blue shook her head. "While most of the grunts and Seven Sages have been arrested, Team Plasma's leader Ghetsis is still at large. Also, the trainer who awakened Zekrom, N, hasn't been seen since."

"Nothing yet, huh." Red said, crossing his arms. "It's been almost 2 years, and nothing's been fully resolved. Shouldn't one of us go to help or something?" he asked.

"Actually, if I may interject," Platinum began. "the International Police agent who helped us during the incident with Charon and the Battle Frontier, Looker, has recently just been deployed there to meet with another agent who's been undercover there for a while."

"The International Police, huh?" Red said, seeming to be thinking. "Gold, any news on the officer we met the other day, what's his name?"

"Garnet," Yellow filled in.

"Yeah, him."

"You mean tall, dark, and brooding?" I asked. "Truth be told, I have no idea. Last time I saw him was the same as you."

---

Somewhere in Johto

Normal POV

Garnet sat on a bench of his secret base, sitting as he went through what of Carr's files his Porygon-Z had decrypted and went through them. As he sipped some coffee, his Houndoom walked in.

"It's done?" he asked his hound who looked off in the distance where a pillar of smoke was seen flowing past the tops of the trees. "All right, I set some food out for you," he said, petting his canine. "Eat up, we're heading out as soon as I'm done going through this. There's some leads I want to look into."

---

Viridian City

Gold's POV

"He should've dropped by Ecruteak Penitentiary to get Shrimpy a couple days back. He's probably back at the Inter. Pol. HQ by now," I said. "In any case, I don't pay too much attention to Team Rocket's affairs. That Silver's job." I said pointing to my buddy. "Hey Silver, you hear of anyone visiting Ecruteak Penitentiary to take care of Shrimpy?" He gave me no answer, looking down, seeming to be deep in thought. "Yo, Silver?" I said waving my hand in front of his face, "You still with us buddy? Silver?"

He blinked before snapping back to reality, "Oh, uh, no. I haven't really checked up on him lately."

"Should I call the International Police Headquarters?" Platinum asked.

"Nah," Red said, "Was just wondering is all. The guy seemed like he knew what he was doing."

"Yo Silv, you doing OK?" I asked. "You seem to be way out of it." Silver tends to be a bit quieter than most of us, but this was a new level of quiet, even for him.

"No, it's nothing. I'm fine," he said, looking back down again.

"Silver, is there something going on?" Blue asked, worried.

He looked up at everyone who was staring at him before sitting up straight to say something. Of course, when your best friend asks you what's wrong, it's nothing. But as soon as 'Nee-san' asks, you're fine telling everyone what's up. For the love of Mew, make up your mind.

"I'm thinking about taking over for the position of Mahogany Gym Leader."

---

Mahogany Town

Two Weeks Prior

Silver's POV

"Weavile, use Night Slash!" My Weavile dashed across the icy floor and struck down the Piloswine at the other side of the Gym. The man on the other side returned his Pokémon before rolling over in his wheelchair.

"I think it's a good time for a break," Pryce the Leader of the Mahogany Gym said to me.

"All right," I said returning Weavile to his Pokéball before sitting down.

"You've grown a lot Silver," he said as he prepared some tea.

"Yeah," I muttered as I watched him make his way to the table I was sitting at. Ever since he came back from the Crack of Time 5 years ago, he's come back as the Mahogany Town Gym Leader. Afterward, I began to train under both him and Lance in order to prepare myself for the inevitable fight I'd have with my father one day. After a couple years, I moved to an apartment in Mahogany both to keep an eye on him and avoid the long commute. Meanwhile, I've been doing odd jobs here and there in order to pay for the rent. Although I knew he probably wouldn't try to pull anything anymore, I still couldn't trust him.

He handed me a cup of tea as he looked at the battlefield where we were training earlier. "I know this might sound odd, but I'm coming to enjoy our training bouts," he said, chuckling. "It's quite lonely being in this Gym all day long with nothing to do."

I nodded as I slowly sipped some tea. The Mahogany Gym was, to say the least, pretty rundown. There were no Gym Trainers at all, leaving only the Gym Leader, Pryce. However, no challengers ever came. Understandable of course, considering he was the mastermind behind the attack on the Pokémon League over 10 years ago as well as the revival of Team Rocket at the time. The fact that the Pokémon Association let him have his job back at Mahogany Gym was a mystery to most. Personally, I could only think of one solution: to keep their eyes on him. He may be an old man, but the impact he made all those years back makes him seem so terrifying, no one ever dares to step foot into the Gym.

I remember that while he was gone, kids and teenagers alike would make going into the Mahogany Town Gym and coming out with a badge a test of courage, with few ever attempting the challenge and none coming back out with the badge as proof. Even after he returned, no one went near the Gym in fear of the man who caused one of the greatest disasters that ever plagued Johto. The place was decrepit with Pryce struggling to keep the place frozen with what little Pokémon he had, eventually causing the ice covering the Gym to melt wherever Pryce couldn't reach. Over all the years, the Pokémon Association didn't even send people for routine renovations to the Gym like all the others got. Even the new equipment that most Gyms got with turnstiles and such to scale Gyms down to a Trainer's Badge count based on their Trainer Card never got installed to the Mahogany Town Gym. Lastly, while all Gym Leaders generally have the same salary, when you had absolutely no challengers like Pryce, you got a pay cut. Not that he had any Gym Trainers to pay, but it wasn't much, leading to Pryce having to live at the Gym.

This shadow cast by the Gym covered all of Mahogany, transforming it from a popular tourist spot to a ghost town. In the past people came for all sorts of reasons, be it to challenge the Gym, go up to the Lake of Rage, or to just to try the famous RageCandyBars. In recent times, people just came into town and moved along as fast as they could, some not even bothering to visit the Pokémon Center. To most, Mahogany was just something in the way when headed towards Blackthorn or the Lake of Rage. The building where I stayed at was incredibly cheap, not even having basic things like cable like most other hotels due to no one staying there. Even if traveling Trainers reached Mahogany when it was late or the weather was bad, most Trainers would rather set up camp and take their chances outside of Mahogany than rent a room at a local inn or even the Pokémon Center. With all of Mahogany suffering from everything and everyone avoiding Pryce, the economy and people of Mahogany were forced to pay the price.

"You know," Pryce said, taking me out of my thoughts, "I've given it much thought, and I think it might be high time for me to retire, what do you think?" He smiled before continuing, "I have no challengers and it's pretty obvious my continued presence here has changed Mahogany for the worse. The only reason I stay here is because I'm sure if I leave the Pokémon Association will assume I'm up to something, so I'm literally locked into Mahogany." Pryce took a sip of his tea. "They obviously don't need me as Johto and Kanto share the Pokémon League, so Trainers can get any combination of 8 Badges from both Regions to compete. I've also heard that a fellow Gym Leader from Kanto, what was his name-Blaine-has also retired, moving to another region, so why else would I still be here?"

I looked at him as he spoke, a bit surprised by his sudden talkative mood. He was never really one for small talk, and rarely spoke to me outside of our battles, and when he did, it always was concerning my training, so why the abrupt change? I felt like he was attempting to tell me something. While I could understand the struggle he was going through, I couldn't let myself feel sorry for him. No matter what happens, he was the same man who abducted me all those years ago, and I would never forgive him. However… "Exactly, what are you trying to tell me?" I asked him.

He smiled slightly before saying, "Oh nothing. Just making an observation." He drank the rest of his tea before heading back to the battlefield. "Now, shall we continue?" I nodded as I got up and walked over to my side as I waited for him to begin.

---

Viridian City

Gold's POV

"And so, in order to help Mahogany Town regain some of its former glory, I'm going to take over once Pryce retires," Silver said, his eyes clearly showing how serious he was.

The was a slight pause before Blue broke the silence. "So, where will Pryce go?" Considering she was also one of the children he once kidnapped, I'm guessing she's as worried as Silver.

"He's making a plea to the Pokémon Association to find asylum somewhere else after retiring," Silver said. "Where to, I don't know, but I do know one thing. Wherever it is, both the Pokémon Association and the International Police will have their eyes on him at all times."

"Well, I think it's a great idea," I said smiling. Silver looked at me before I continued, "I'm taking on the Pokémon Indigo League Challenge, and I can't think of any better opponent than you for my final badge!" Silver gave me a slight smile before looking to everyone else who nodded as well.

"Looks like you might have a bit of your father in you after all," Green said. "He might be a criminal, but I know better than anyone else that he was a talented Trainer and a great Gym Leader before he created Team Rocket. Here's hoping you can live up to both your father's legacy and Pryce's as well… without the whole turning evil part. I think we can all live without that."

"Why Greenie, I didn't know you could make jokes," Blue teased. She turned to Silver, "Anyway, I think you'd make a great Gym Leader. Don't worry, if you need any help, I'll make sure Greenie gives you some pointers, right sweetie?"

"Such a noisy woman…" was his response, but the smile on his face affirmed her claim.

"Well, what a perfect segue," Crys said, looking at her stack of papers. "The next issue was the decrease of Gym Leaders in the area. Blaine recently retired, Sabrina left to become an actress in PokéStar Studios, and now Pryce is retiring as well. Also, I've heard that Jasmine is finally returning after mastering contests in Sinnoh."

"I can confirm that last one," Platinum said.

"Add in Silver, and Kanto and Johto are back to 14 Gyms in total," Crys said, "more than enough for one Pokémon League."

"Alright, I get that we're all happy," I said. "But there's one major issue." Everyone looked at me confused. "Silver, bro. I'm happy for you, truly. Just one problem. Please tell me, for the love of the Sinnoh Creation Trio that you're not gonna be Gym Leader dressed like that!"

"What's wrong with how I dress?" Oh, where do I begin? Silver continued to wear the same outfit for all these years. A dark navy blue jacket with red trim, purple pants, and random shoes that match his outfit. The only new thing he wore was a black scarf. Not to mention his red hair was way too long, past his sister's, almost reaching the same length that she had before she cut it.

"I'm not gonna lie," Blue began, "but I've gotta agree with Gold on this one." You know you do. "You're gonna scare away all your challengers! Let your big sister take you shopping, I've got the best fashion sense out of all of us! I mean look at Greenie, who do you think picked out that jacket he's always wearing?"

"Nee-san, not you too…" Silver said as if he was being cornered.

"Alright, both of you, knock it off," Green said.

"Thank you," Silver sighed.

Green turned to Silver, "They're not completely wrong you know. You gotta look presentable since as a Gym Leader you'll be representing the Pokémon Association. First off, either get a haircut or tie your hair back."

Silver turned to his sister, "Nee-san, you got a hair tie?" She tossed him one and he tied a good chunk of it back into a ponytail of sorts. Not gonna lie, it suits him.

"Alright, un-zip your jacket," Green said, "You have to give an aura of being open and ready for challengers. Other than that, I think you're fine" Silver opened his jacket and with that, I guess you can say he fit the bare minimum.

"Well, you're not on the same level as me, but I think you'll be okay," I told him. No one out does the Gold.

"All right," Blue conceded, "it's okay for now. However, next time you're free, we're going shopping."

"Alright," Crystal said, checking out her list, "With that, I think we covered all our major bases. So, does anyone have any extra things to say?"

"I got something," Sapphire said over on her line. Oh yeah, kinda forgot she was here for a second. She pointed over to where Ruby was sitting. "When did you head off to Johto? Why didn't you invite me, huh?" she asked angrily.

"You see, I came here for work," Ruby said, trying to wave off her rage, "Boss told me to work with the Johto branch offices."

"Y'know," Blue began, "I never really understood why you got a job at the Devon Corporation. Aren't you like a contest idol over in Hoenn?"

"While that is true," Ruby pushed in his glasses, "by traveling all over as part of this job, I can work on my true goal: spreading the world of contests to different regions! While Sinnoh also has its own contests, regions like Kanto and Johto are currently lacking in the contest department! Enter stage right, me, here to help build the contest scene. Add some help and funding from the Devon Corporation and voila, contests become more wide spread!"

"So you're sharing your girly obsession with the rest of the world," Sapphire asked, with a deadpanned expression.

"It's a beautiful form of Training that isn't shown as much," Ruby retorted.

"It's a weak alternative to battling," Sapphire said.

"I don't know, it might be fun," Blue said. "I'm always up for something new! How about you, Greenie dear?"

"I'll stick with battling," Green said. "I've got a rivalry with Red to keep up with." He looked over to the Fighter who smiled back at him.

"You still could've invited me," Sapphire said through the screen, mumbling something about being one of the only DexHolders not physically present at the meeting. Trust me Wild Child, you're not missing much.

"Speaking of which," Ruby said checking the time on his PokéGear, "how much longer is this meeting going to take? I'm already keeping the guy who I'm supposed to shadow or something waiting. I still have to get back to Johto to meet up with him!"

"Well, if no one has nothing else to say," Crystal said, looking through her papers, "that should be everything. I guess we can end today's meeting. Good work, everyone!"

As Super Serious went to help Yellow clean up, I went over to Silver, "So, Silvs, you headed back to Mahogany?"

"I think I'll stop by the Indigo Plateau," Silver said, "I'm gonna talk with Lance before going back."

"Wait, you're allowed to just go up to the Pokémon League and talk straight with the Champion?" I asked him. If that's the case, what's the purpose of me collecting all these badges?

"I'm not challenging him," Silver said. "It's the same as my training with Pryce. He's helping me train for my eventual face-off with my father. Besides, the Pokémon Association made an exception for me."

After everyone had finally left, save for Yellow who lived here, and Crys who just finished helping her, I finally was able to leave. "So, Crys, you want grab some lunch?" I asked her, "You're off work for the day and Ami's back in Johto training Quartz…"

"You buying?" Super Serious asked, raising an eyebrow.

I checked my wallet before continuing, "Can we split it this time?" I chuckled, "Kinda running low on finds..."

"You're lucky you're cute." Babe, don't I know it.

---

Ilex Forest

Zircon/Quartz's POV

"Quick, turn here!" I jumped and turned behind a tree with Arie and Pete in pursuit. Normally, I would have returned them to their Pokéballs first if the situation ever got as drastic as it was. However, when you're being chased by a swarm of Beedrill, you learn to prioritize. Speaking of said swarm, they buzzed off in the opposite direction. Guess we warded them off. "Well guys," I whispered to my team, "Unless you wanna struggle 'til you're out of commission, I say you get back in your Pokéballs." I got a reluctant agreeing squeak from Pete and a blank stare from Arie. I decided to take that as a yes as I returned them to their Pokéballs. I tried calling Ami but it went straight to voicemail, meaning her PokéGear was off. What was she doing that was so important that she was ignoring me this much?

---

Azalea Town

Ami's POV

Ah, what a great movie. Hmm, I wonder what's taking ZJ so long. It's not that hard to make your way out of Ilex Forest: find the shrine to Celebi and you're more golden than Nugget Bridge. Hell, I made my way through Ilex Forest back when I was 3. I was thinking about checking on him until I saw the preview for what was next, Kanto's Next Top Model! I heard that Blue was going to make an appearance some time this season. Considering I'm usually on the road, I guess I could binge watch some episodes, y'know catch up and what not.

---

Ilex Forest

Zircon/Quartz's POV

"All I asked for was for a day off," I said as I walked through the forest. "Hell, not even a day! Maybe half a day, just some downtime, but noooo. Let's get lost in the middle of a forest! And you know what, why don't we make it more interesting! How you ask? By pissing off all the Pokémon there so I'm like a Mothim to a flame. I might as well be a honey covered tree to these bugs."

I looked left and right before continuing forward. While I think I got past all the bugs that were mad at me, both Pete and Arie were out of commission and I'm a sitting duck for any Pokémon that wanted to fight. In short, I'm basically back to the beginning where I had no Pokémon to help me if I ever was in a jam. Not to mention I didn't have a very clear idea of where I was. While the PokéGear did have a Map Card, it didn't go much farther into detail than Routes and areas. Add in the fact that all these trees pretty much look the same and I didn't know whether I was making any progress in getting out or just going in circles.

I was about to call Ami again when I noticed a faint glow in the not too far distance. Could it be the gate back to Azalea? Or maybe a Trainer who could show me the way back? I ran in the direction of the light, hopeful that it would lead me to some kind of clue back to civilization. I was on my way there when the light seemed to disappear, like someone turning off a lantern, there one moment and gone the next. I tried looking around for the source but couldn't find anything. I then saw something out of the corner of my eye, where some strange wooden structure was standing. It wasn't any taller than myself and looked kinda of like a shrine.

As I looked at this shrine I heard a voice behind me, "Hey, you there!" I turned to see a Bug Catcher approach me, Pokéball in hand. "You're a Trainer right, let's battle!"

I put up my hands, "Sorry, all my Pokémon are unable to battle right now, fainted."

"Then why are you all the way out here?" he asked.

"I got lost while training," I told him. "Do you happen to know the way back to Azalea?"

"Yeah, it's just past here," he said motioning over to where I'm guessing the exit was. "Here, I'll help get you back. Y'know, you shouldn't be out here when your Pokémon can't battle, wild Pokémon could jump you."

"Yeah," I mumbled as I followed him. Normally I'd complain about him lecturing me about the obvious, but at this point, I just wanted to get back to town. "Hey, what's that weird wooden structure back there?"

"Oh, you mean the shrine?" So it was a shrine. "It's known as the Ilex Forest Shrine, it was built to honor Celebi: the forest's protector, if you will." I had heard of Celebi through some books and a couple times when looking online. Apparently, it was the Legendary Pokémon with the ability to travel through time. "And here we are," the Bug Catcher said, leading me to gate. I thanked him before heading back to Azalea. I decided to head over to the Pokémon Center to heal up my team before heading back to Ami's. After a few quick minutes, Pete and Arie were back to full health and I headed back.

"Oh look what the Meowth dragged in," was the response I got upon reaching Ami's place, "Seriously ZJ, what took you so long, I literally binged ever show I've missed over the past month waiting for you."

"Well, excuse me," I responded, really annoyed, "I got lost after being chased by half the Bug Pokémon this side the region!"

"How'd you get lost?" She asked. "Dude, I was able to make my way through Ilex before I could even walk!"

"Did you have swarms of Beedrill trying to kill you?"

"Whatever," she said, changing the subject, "Did you get a good feel of how to take on Bug-Types?"

"Kinda, I guess," I shrugged. Is she really trying to ignore what just happened? Well, she is Gold's cousin, after all. Speaking of which, "Where is Gold anyway?" I looked at the time on my PokéGear, "It's past 6, shouldn't he back by now?"

Ami looked at hear own PokéGear before turning to a clock on the wall, "In fact, he should be here in 3, 2, 1…"

"Hey guys, I'm back," as if on cue, Gold came in through the front door. "How was training?"

"Great," Ami began, "I sent him off into Ilex for couple of hours where-"

"-hundreds of Bug Pokémon tried to kill me! Please don't leave me with her, she's crazy!" I finished.

"Aw, isn't that nice," Gold said, smiling, "you're already finishing each other's sentences, I knew you guys would make fast friends!" Did he not hear a word I just said?

"Speaking of which," Ami started, "What took you so long Gold-nii? You left this morning?" Are we seriously just moving on from this?

"Sorry about that," Gold said setting down his bag and sitting upon one of the couches, "Super Serious and I went out for lunch after the meeting and time sorta got away from us. We missed one of the trains and had to wait an hour or two for the next one." He sat up, "So, how did Quartz do in his training?"

"Eh, fine I guess," Ami shrugged, "I mean he looks a lot more beat up than he should be, but he's a rookie, so not sure what I was expecting."

"You left me alone, with little healing items," I yelled, "and half the forest's bug Pokémon pissed at me with no directions on how to get out!" I looked over to Gold to try and get some backup on her carelessness.

"Nice!" was my teacher's response giving her a hi-five. "I did the same thing back when I trained him for Falkner. I think it speeds up the process, right Quartz?" I sighed in defeat, of course he agreed with her teaching methods, they were exactly the same!

"I mean, I wouldn't say they don't speed up the process," I said, "but when we eventually tire out due to loss of PP, I'm kind of a sitting Ducklett with a lot of angry Pokémon after me."

"Then it works," Gold said, grinning, "if anything, we just need to help you if you get lost, or run out of PP." Sounds fair enough. "Can't be too hard, though," Gold pointed back at Ami, "Ami's been getting lost in that forest as far back as I can remember." Ami stuck her tongue out at me.

"So, good luck with that," Ami said pulling out her bag. "I'm gonna head back out after a couple days. Get some R&R, then get back out there, badges ain't gonna earn themselves." She looked over at me, "How long 'til you face Bugsy? Maybe I'll come by and watch?"

"Dunno," Gold answered for me, "Bugsy's busy fixing up Union Cave, then he said he's got some research over at the Ruins, so it could take anywhere from 3 days to a week."

"Well, screw that then," she answered emptying out her pack. "I ain't waiting that long. Hey, if anything, it at least gives you more time to train." In the corner of my eye, I saw a familiar shiny red object being removed from her bag.

"Is that a Pokédex?" I asked, pointing to the legendary item.

"Oh, this?" she asked, pulling it out in plain view. "Yeah, it used to belong to Gold-nii, but after he got an upgraded one, he gave me his old one." So, she just inherited a Pokédex?

"So, does that m-mean," I stammered, "Ami's a DexHolder?"

"No," Gold cut in, "not essentially." He pulled out his own before continuing, "While yes, originally, owning a Pokédex was the only requirement to being a DexHolder, in recent years, there's a bit more to being recognized as one of us."

Ami laughed, "There's a lot more people with Pokédexes nowadays. Granted they're not mass produced, but every now and then, Professors hand them out to Trainers they believe have promise." She pulled out her PokéGear and showed me a picture, "Here's a flyer for a small tourney over in Goldenrod last year where the winner got a Pokédex from old man Oak himself."

"Also, there's the older models that we true DexHolders used to have," Gold explained. "While most of us usually pass it down to someone we know, case in point: myself to Ami, others got passed around a bit more casually. Blue-san, for instance, gave it away to a fan of hers who won a sweepstakes. Green-san gave his to a museum in Celadon. They're a lot more common than most people think."

It was a lot to process. All my life, having a Pokédex was something that usually symbolized greatness, something I could only dream of having, and here I'm learning that people are practically giving them away!

"You know Emerald of the DexHolders, right," Gold asked. I nodded. "He got his just by going to Oak during his radio show and asking for one and saying he wouldn't leave 'til he got one."

"So, how does one become a true 'DexHolder,'" I asked. "I mean Ami has one and you said there's a bit more to be recognized as one?"

"Well, there's a couple of conditions," Gold said. "First off, is pretty straight forward: actually own a Pokédex."

"Check," Ami said, wiggling hers in her hand.

"Second," Gold stated, "you got to get old man Oak to recognize you." I looked at him confused before he elaborated. "Basically, you need to have some sort of skill that differentiates yourself from any other Trainer. For example, Yours Truly is the 'Hatcher,' Red-san is the 'Fighter,' and Green-san is the 'Trainer.' You've heard us called by these names before, right?" While it's true that I've heard these nicknames given to them on TV, I thought that's exactly what they were: nicknames. I had no idea they were titles with so much importance behind them. "Also," Gold continued, "Oak seems to give titles specific to each person. So, you won't find another 'Hatcher.' To be a DexHolder, you gotta have your own unique skill that separates you from other Trainers."

I looked over to Ami, "So, do you have anything that qualifies you?"

She smiled and said, "I've been working on something. I gotta work on it a bit, but Yellow-san said that given time, I'd definitely be a good candidate." Before I could ask 'what', she continued, "It's a secret."

She smiled before looking over to Gold who nodded before looking at me with his hands up, "Sorry man, I got my hands tied here, can't tell ya." I guess it didn't matter too much, I don't even have the first condition filled and being one of the DexHolders, while it would be awesome, wasn't one of my priorities at the time. I was just starting out after all.

I shrugged it off and faced Gold, "So, what's the plan going forward Gold-san?"

He thought it over for a moment before coming up with an answer, "We'll do the same thing for the first half of the day then do some more practical stuff so you can develop some strategy for the actual match. What ya think?" I sighed and gave him a thumbs up. I don't really like the whole, 'fend for yourself against hordes of a certain Type of Pokémon' method I seem to keep getting, but at least now there's a more standard kind of teaching being done here, so I guess Gold is at least earning his whole 'mentor' role. He turned to Ami, "You wanna help out?"

"Yeah, I didn't come back home to help someone else and not get paid for it," she said annoyed. "If he's around, I'll make sure he doesn't get killed, but don't expect me to go out of my way to help him." She finished repacking her bag before looking at me, and then looking back at Gold, "Besides, aren't you the one whose s'pposed to be teaching him?" He looked at me, where I nodded in agreement. I don't agree with Ami on a lot of things, most particularly her style of teaching, but if I can get anyone to remind Gold his job here, I'll take it.

"Fine, fine," Gold said throwing his hands back up, "I get it. We'll start up first thing in the morning, kay, Quartz?"

"Got it!"

"Good luck ZJ," Ami said, throwing her bag off to the side, "You're gonna need it."

"ZJ?" Gold asked, eyebrow raised. Damn it! I looked over at Ami, you had one job!

"…" I scrambled to come with an answer, "It's…uh…"

"It's a nickname I came up for him," Ami said. "Already got a friend who I call 'Q,' so with that unavailable I flipped the switch and took the 'Z' from the end of 'Quartz,' took the 'J' from his middle name for good measure, put them together and voila: ZJ." She looked at me and gave me a grin.

'Yeah, nice save," I thought as I looked to Gold, hoping he'd take it as a reasonable answer.

"What's your middle name again?"

"Jacinth," I answered quickly. Maybe this'll work, and he'll drop it.

"Huh, weird," he mumbled. Alright! "ZJ, huh…Should I call you that as well?"

"Nah," I said, quickly thinking of a lie to tell, "Keep it Quartz." When he gave me a confused look, I added on, "Keep some level of formality: student-teacher relationship."

"OK," he said shrugging. I breathed a sigh of relief as he left the room to go take a shower. Ami grinned, and gave me a peace sign.

"That was way too close," I told her. It was bad enough she had figured it out, and her excuse for a nickname probably wouldn't have worked on anyone who wasn't Gold.

"You worry too much," she laughed. "Gold-nii's pretty easy to trick. I've beaten him in Poker by tricking him into thinking I had a good hand."

"So, wh-"

"After he'd already seen my hand," she said smiling. I sat there confused trying to put two and two together as she laughed, "Yeah, I don't think you need to worry about a thing."

I gave up and decided to let it go. Gold didn't seem to worry too much about it and if I focused too much on it, it would probably cause suspicion. Instead, I decided to focus on my training for my match with Bugsy and the hellish training that we decided upon.

---

The next couple days turned out about the way I expected. I'd wake up, eat breakfast and then be literally tossed into Ilex Forest by either my teacher or his equally crazy cousin. On the plus side, they didn't anger the entire Bug-Type population to attack me this time, so I was actually pace myself. I did still battle until we reached our absolute limits, but at least it was on my own terms for a change. I also got a couple battles with some Bug Catchers that wandered into the forest, giving me a change of pace and an idea of how bug-types battle when commanded by a Trainer. Of course it's nothing compared to the battle style of a Gym Leader, but it's closer than comparing it to wild battles. In fact, Gold didn't have any Bug Pokémon, so facing an actual Trainer with bug Pokémon was probably going to be the closest I'd get to the real thing before actually setting foot in the Gym. Unfortunately, any money I got from these battles ended up being mere pocket change, so it's not like it changed my financial situation all that much. Anyway, after training ourselves in the forest to the bone and finding our way out, Gold had us head straight to the Pokémon Center before heading off to Route 33 to practice more Trainer versus Trainer battle simulations so I knew how to react quickly to certain situations and such. We'd continue until nightfall where we would then heal up once more before heading back to Ami's place where we'd eat, shower and go to sleep before starting the whole cycle again all over again.

January 30th-Azalea Town-7:30 PM

I got out of the shower and changed to see my PokéGear ringing with a text from Gold. We ended earlier today since it was Friday and apparently, that was date night for him and Crystal. I figured if anything, this gave me a short break at the end of each week to unwind a bit. Anyway, I checked the text, which let me know he had run into Bugsy. So, Bugsy said he'd be back at the Gym by Tuesday, so it gave me another 3 days to train before I got my chance to go against him. He did let me know that it was okay for me to at least take on the Gym Trainers beforehand so I could just face him first thing Tuesday morning. I was drying my hair, deciding whether to face the Gym Trainers tomorrow or save them for Monday when Ami broke me out of my thoughts.

"Yo ZJ, I think you'll want to check this out."

"What is it," I asked, a bit annoyed. I still wasn't completely comfortable hearing my old nickname being used so carelessly. Whether people, specifically Gold, were around or not, I worked hard to make a new identity and having a constant reminder of someone who could easily see through it made me worry it wasn't good enough.

I walked over to see her watching the TV motioning me to watch. I sat down and noticed a Breaking News headline interrupting the broadcast of Trainer's Center.

"We interrupt your current programming to bring you this breaking news story," the voice on the TV said and the next picture almost made my jaw drop. "We're here live, outside the Indigo Plateau where the most recent Champion of the Triennial Indigo League, Titanium 'Titiania' Idaisa has just defeated both the Elite 4 and the Champion, Lance!"

Mom.

"Hey, that's your-"

"Yeah," I cut Ami off, eyes glued to the broadcast playing.

"This not only marks the third time a Trainer has taken on the Elite 4 and Champion to earn the title of Champion among the regions of Kanto and Johto and but also marks both the first from Johto and the first woman to do so! We'r here live with the first interview with the newly crowned Champion!" Ami turned down the volume and turned to me.

"So, I guess congrats are in order?" she asked, honestly unsure of how to relay this news.

"I guess," I said quietly. So Mom's finally done it. She's beaten the Pokémon League, cementing her as one of the best Trainers in the region. Well, I gues that only leaves one major question: how long until she be comes after me?

"Well," Ami continued, "this is a pretty huge chance for you, huh?"

"What do you mean?" I asked her. "You do know that first chance she gets, she'll have the entire region chasing after me?" Just when I'm getting somewhere, Arceus decides to let this happen, making everything I've done whirlpool down the drain.

"I don't know about that," she said eating popcorn and pointing to the screen. "Tell me, is that the face of a woman who's concerned with finding a son of hers who has run from home?"

I looked and saw only the face of joy from completing a dream that had been her goal for years, "Well no," I protested, "but she just won the league, so she's not focusing on that."

"Or," Ami began, "she doesn't know yet." I looked at her, not understanding what she meant before she continued. "Based on what you told me, I'm pretty sure the first thing she'd do once she found out you'd left would be to drop everything and chase after you." I guess she's right about that. "So," she continued, "considering she's gone through the trouble to not only prepare for the challenge of the Elite 4, but also to go through with it without so much as a hint of something distracting her most likely leads to the result that she probably doesn't know yet. Am I right?"

I looked again at my mom's face on the TV, nothing but the pride of her accomplishment. Ami's right. Mom's not that good of an actor, if she truly knew of what happened over this last week, there'd be at least a bit of it shown on her face. I'm guessing whenever Dad got back and called her, she was already going through her final preparations. At time like these she would turn off all communications in order to train, to the point where it seemed like she dropped off the face of the planet, which happened for weeks at a time. "Well, when she finds out-" I began.

"She's gonna tell the region to go looking for you?" Ami finished for me. I nodded, wondering where she was getting at. "I don't think so."

"Why?"

"Oh, I don't know. Does the headline 'Champion Can't Keep Her Own Family in Line' sound like it's what she wants to deal with right now?" My mouth dropped open as I started to get what Ami was saying. She smirked, "She's just been crowned Champion, you think she's gonna let a scandal like this ruin her big moment? Not only will she be swarmed by interviewers for a good while, so even more time until she does finally find out, but even afterward, she'll have no choice but to go after you herself. Also, she'll have to do it without drawing too much attentions or else it's ending up on every tabloid newspaper in Johto."

"So…" I said, finally connecting the dots.

"Unless she wants all of Johto and Kanto in a frenzy over the mess their newest Champion is," she said, smiling, "she'll be careful around possibly causing too much of a fuss around finding you. She'll probably be too busy to do it herself for while, so if you're to worry, it'll probably have to me from any of your family members that'll take her place."

"None come to mind," I said, thinking. "Dad's usually busy with work, and isn't much of a Trainer. Only other person who'd probably look into this would probably be my older sister, Jade, and I haven't heard from her since she left on her own journey 2 years back. She's probably in some far off region by now."

"Then you're golden," she said. "Hopefully, this will get you to stop complaining." She sat back and turned the volume on the TV back up, the news announcement reaching its end before it returned to normal programming.

I sank back into the chair I was in, and faced the TV, not really paying attention. While the explanation that Ami gave was sound, I felt like I couldn't so easily move on from the newest development. One of the biggest factors that helped me when I first planned running away from home, was the fact that Mom was rarely ever around, with the League as a massive roadblock that put everything else in the periphery. With that, I was able to plan my escape with little worry of her discovering my plot. However now, with that wall finally taken down, the entire view opened up and my absence is no longer something that would have gone practically unnoticed. Although her options for pursuing were, like Ami stated, very limited considering her current circumstances, she wasn't one of the strongest Trainers in the region for no reason. She'd figure out some sort of alternative in order to track me down without sacrificing her reputation.

However, I realized that I had not only time, but a small head start. Having already defeated one Gym Leader meant the area that I could potentially be hiding in had exponentially grown. Violet City had several different pathways leading out of it and making it through there made the scope of the radius of where I could have traveled much farther. If I managed to make it farther in the Gym challenge within the time before she learned of my 'disappearance', I could increase that scope to most of, if not all of Johto. Hell, if done well enough, I could make it seem like I was anywhere in the whole of Kanto and Johto! If I could manage that, I truly could vanish like a needle in a haystack. That way I'd practically become invisible, only real way to be found would be by the extensive work of a top ranked professional.

I looked over at the TV which was playing the segment of Trainer's Center where it showcased the people who got badges earlier that day and through that, my goal was clear: continue earning Gym Badges and with it increase the chance of being able to disappear within the crowd. Of course, eventually, I'd have to face her, hiding forever was certainly impossible, However, I felt the best option would be that when that time came, I had grown enough to prove to her that I was capable of making it as a Trainer and thus worthy of the respect as not her son, but as a competent Trainer in my own right. Granted, this idea of her changing her mind just by seeing any growth I'd made by then seems kinda foolish, but I felt like it was the best-case scenario I could hope for and the only way the inevitable confrontation would end with me having any chance on top.

Having calmed down after mulling it over for a while I lay back and watched TV for the next several hours. Well, it was more like I just stared at the screen for the next several hours. Now while I wasn't completely unaware of what was on, I didn't care what was playing as I was not entirely focused. As for Ami, who was watching, she decided to start channel surfing, giving every show at most 30 seconds to either grab her attention or be skipped. Eventually, she had given up and settled on watching the news. As the news was about to make us fall asleep, Gold finally returned, "Hey, how's it been without me?" he called out as he walked in. I gave him a tired wave before looking back at the screen. What took him so long? What time was it anyway? I had no time to really check as he said, "Ah, I see you guys also heard the news, too." I was about to ask him what he was talking about when I realized what we were watching: a re-cap on Mom's conquer of the League. "Yep, she rises even higher," he said, with an uncomfortable smile. He sighed, trying to laugh off the remaining stings of defeat from the last Indigo League. "If I'm not mistaken," he scratched his chin, thinking, "I guess this makes her the second strongest Trainer among regions, only beaten by Red-san."

"Really?" I asked. I knew the accomplishment was impressive, but comparable to Red?

"Well," he explained, "while I'm pretty sure Green-san and maybe Blue-san could take her in any normal battle, since she's won a League and beaten the Elite 4 and Champion, officially, she outranks them."

"Hold on a second," a waking Ami cut in, "they say she's the 3rd to beat the Elite 4 and Champion. If Red-san was the first, doesn't that mean there should be second person separating their status?" A good question, since there was a bigger fuss over her being both the first woman and person from Johto to accomplish this. This let some comparisons between her and Red who accomplished this first, with whoever was second was pretty much left out of the conversation entirely.

"You're not the only one that wondered that," Gold said, grinning. "Neither Super Serious Gal nor I had any clue, so I had to look it up." He pulled out his PokéGear and showed us a picture of a guy, I'm guessing no older than 18, standing next to Lance, holding a plaque. "Name's Grayson Fenix. Won the 11th Triennial Indigo League and actually took on the Elite 4 Challenge shortly after it was reestablished. In fact, he accomplished this incredibly early on, finishing only several months after Red-san."

"So, wouldn't that make Titanium the third strongest Trainer, with this Grayson guy in second place, then Red-san in first," Ami asked using her hands to describe the hierarchy.

"'fraid not," Gold said, checking out his PokéGear, "apparently, dude quit being a Trainer not long after, decided to move over to a more secure job. Guess he felt like ending his career on a high note. Didn't even try to take on Red-san, says he wouldn't stand a chance. Works as an accountant at Silph Co. in Saffron from what it says about him online."

"Still," Ami argued, "wouldn't she have to take him on 'fore she could take the title of 2nd best?"

"Not sure," Gold, "I tried seeing if ending your Trainer career makes you relinquish your rank to the next person, but as there's no precedent with the reestablishment of the League still in its earlier stages, there's no set rule in place.. Anyway, based on what I've seen on interviews with the guy, he's already put up the white flag to any challenges that he believes she'll inevitable issue." He shrugged, "Too bad, whether he's years out of practice or not, a battle between the two of them could've been pretty awesome. At least it would give us a true answer to who's truly worthy of steppin' it to Red-san (excluding Green-san of course), rather than having one bow out before they even meet face-to-face." He sat down himself before looking at me, "In other news, Quartz, you get my messages?" I nodded, sitting up right. "I say we take tomorrow to relax a bit. Sunday, you take on the Gym Challengers, familiarize yourself with Bug Trainers and use the rest of the day plus Monday to formulate a strategy to take on Bugsy on Tuesday, sound good?"

"Sounds good to me!" It was a pretty good step-by-step process on how to proceed on taking on the next Gym with proper pacing. Not rushing in immediately like last time, but also not taking forever before actually jumping straight into the challenge.

"Speaking of Gym battles," Ami said standing up, "I think it's high time I start heading off in preparation of my own, so I'll be taking off early tomorrow morning. Hopefully, Union Cave is fixed enough so I can get to Violet City by Saturday afternoon. Otherwise I'll have to go around, which if I leave early tomorrow morning will at least get me there Sunday morning at the absolute latest." She looked at me with a smile, "Better not mess up against Bugsy, or you'll be left in the dust." She smirked, "But, you already have enough catching up to do as is, so I don't think you need me to tell you that, eh ZJ?"

I smiled, "Yeah, I got it." I got nothing to worry about anymore. I have a clear grasp of my situation and all I can do now is give it my best and move forward, one Gym at a time. I looked at the two Pokéballs right next to me, through the top half, I saw my team: one of them determined, one whose attention was probably elsewhere, but both ready for what was coming up next. All three of us finally decided to go to sleep, each of us with our own goals on the mind as we eventually drifted off.

---

Hey everyone, sorry this is taking so long to update. While yes, lots of changes in life stuff are major factors, my laziness isn't really helping a whole lot. I have the entirety of the story mapped out in my mind but when it comes to actually putting it down, I kinda keep putting it off. It's here I really want to thank everyone who reads and reviews, as it helps give me the motivation to get off my ass and continue writing.

As for the main complaint I'd imagine most of you have, I can see how some of you might think I kind of retconned Ami's connection to Zircon in this chapter. However, it has been stated before that Zircon had studied at the Trainer's School a couple of times when he was younger before the time he went there in Chapter 2, albeit I only stated in like only two lines. In any case, I felt that having at least one character know his secret would be better than having it completely secret for like the entirety of the story. While the secret is still a main plot point, only Ami will know it for the time being.

Also, tell me what you think of Ami's character. I'm trying to make her own character, while still having some of Gold's traits such as sarcasm and being completely irresponsible when supervising Zircon's training. She does have her own quirks which I'll focus more on in the future, just tell me what you think of her so far.

In other cases, I'm trying to use the DexHolder meetings to go over some of the other DexHolders that aren't directly related to Quartz or Garnet, such as some of the Kanto DexHolders. Speaking of which, I decided on Silver's goal of being the new Mahogany Town Gym Leader due to him kind of becoming Pryce and Lance's student in a way after the HGSS chapter. Speaking of elder DexHolders-let's tackle suffixes. I dabbled a bit back and forth on suffixes when writing this chapter, and ended up decided to only write them out when said in dialogue and such. Considering I used them in earlier chapters, I felt I can't really get rid of them outright, but I also didn't want to overuse them. In the end, I decided this was the best middle ground I could come up with, so this is the format I'll be using in the future.

Speaking on Pokédexes, you can see I kinda made them a bit easier to obtain in this story. Main reason for that is that I feel they've been made easier and easier to obtain every arc and thought it be better than just 3 or 4 people per region owned one. Also, considering Red passed down his Pokédex, I figured other DexHolders would do the same every time they end up upgrading.

Also, the time I decided the time between D/P/Pt and BW would be about 2 years, so at the time of this story B2W2 is just about starting. I plan to have Blake, and maybe Whitley, join in later, mainly Blake considering his connection to the International Police and as an extension, Garnet.

Also, before someone says it, yes, I also paired up Green and Blue in this story, so OldRival is cannon here. As for them getting married, the Kanto DexHolders are around 24-25 in this timeline, so I figured it made sense. In any case, shipping won't be a major point in this story, since A. it's not the focus, and B. I personally never written romance, so I'm not sure if I'm any good at it. Hell, if I feel like it, I'll advance with it in a side stories fanfic or something. Btw, Subame is the Japanese name for Taillow, so I kinda used it as a PokéSpe version of Twitter.

As for the later half of this chapter, Zircon's mom, Titanium makes her place as the 2nd strongest Trainer within the two regions official. Like it says, her rank is more official in terms of how the Pokémon Association sees it. For example, Green is usually said to be either on par or just below Red in terms of battle, but as he's a Gym Leader, his official rank doesn't really reflect that. As for her placement in the story, for now she'll be a presence that's always there in the background, but it'll be a bit longer before she actually makes a move that directly affects the main cast.

Lastly, I'm thinking about doing Trainer Card Info at the end of each chapter to let you know how certain characters are in this story, updating them every now and then for new additions to teams and such. While in the beginning it'll focus on Zircon and such, I'll move on to DexHolders if it works. Tell me what you think. Anyway, thanks for waiting as well as reading and reviewing, as I said before, it's the greatest help I can get going forward.

~MateiFire

Trainer Card

Name-Zircon Jacinth Idaisa

Alias: Quartz Dorima

Nicknames: ZJ

Gender: Male

Birthplace: New Bark Town

Birthday: December 4th

Age: 16

Blood Type: AB

Current Badge Count:

1

Zephyr Badge

Team:

Pichu

Nickname- Pete

Moves:

Thunder Wave

Volt Switch

Volt Tackle

Hidden Power-Fire

Natu

Nickname: Visionary 'Arie'

Moves:

Air Cutter

Confusion

Future Sight