These Silver Eyes

by JustAProblem

Shoved into a world where I could be killed in the blink of an eye, shoved into a body that wasn't mine... and shoved in a situation I really would have liked a heads up on before being shoved into it. Nothing to do but tough it out and go with the flow while I navigate a world that shouldn't exist... Now if only I could find out just which version of this world I was in. Man...

7. Chapter 7: Chaos Incarnate

These Silver Eyes

Chapter 7: Chaos Incarnate

"How is it?" I asked calmly.

Freyja looked contemplative at that, residing in her little pool with a focused expression.

Then she turned and spat out a small burst of water that began steaming the moment it collided with the tree.

I walked up to it curiously and tapped it, ignoring the burning sensation and nodding in approval.

"Does the heat bother you? I know you've been practicing a lot with Icy Wind so the contrasting temperature might be much," I asked her, crouching in front of her.

She mulled over my question, no doubt charging the Scald again to test it. She then I watched her channel an icy blue aura.

Then she confidently shook her head.

I smiled at that and gave her a snack. "Good job girl. Keep practicing all your moves and work on understanding how Scald works."

She nodded in determination and swam off to Lapee and Larvee's position so that they could practice the technique together, while she conversed with the little training bug.

"Thanks again for letting me use that Scald and Rain Dance TM," Green beamed at me.

I shrugged. "I'm surprised you didn't get one for Scald."

She laughed sheepishly. "I hear no one really gets TMs from the sisters and I was no exception. Maybe they'll be different now that they're motivated but before, I doubt they had the energy to go get them!"

I snorted in amusement at that. "Figures. Those bums were really coasting."

To my further amusement, she nodded without any hesitation. "Yeah they were!"

It was funny to think that she'd probably never have agreed to that during our first meeting.

"Practicing Night Daze?" I asked Loki curiously.

My Zorua was currently a panting mess and he nodded.

"Hard I bet," I chuckled. "Don't just jump right into it. I didn't think you were even ready to use it to that level. We were just gonna start small with it and you decided to whip out a full powered one."

I ruffled his fur and tossed a snack into his mouth.

"Start small first. Understand how the technique works and build up your stores towards it. Exhausting yourself with it isn't a bad idea, but make sure you train everything else first."

Loki nodded, lazily crawling into my jacket and began dozing off.

He growled at the amused Ares and I regarded my most energetic pokemon with a brow.

"How's Crunch going?" I asked her.

Ares looked mildly displeased, showcasing her fangs to me.

I idly dropped a snack in there, much to her delight, and watched as she attempted the technique.

Crunch wasn't too hard to learn when you had Bite learned already, but it required a greater dose of dark energy and Ares wasn't quite proficient at that just yet.

"You just have to get a bit more proficient in honing dark energy," I noted, rubbing a hand against her skull.

Loki peeked his head out and said something that sounded rather snide, causing Vee to begin laughing and Ares to start scowling.

According to my better judgement (I was pretty good at understanding my team), Loki said, "What, can't learn a move you already know?"

I snorted at that and gave a snack to Vee as well. Loki and Ares had taken to taking shots at each other and Vee had joined in on their antics.

It was fun watching the 3 go at it. Loki was quite the spitfire when motivated to be one.

As the three began chatting it up, I allowed Loki to leap out my jacket and made my way over to the final group.

Gaia instantly perked up at me and cheered, running into me without any hesitation.

As I hugged her, I watched a vine snake out of her and saw her grab at a towel that she immediately began wiping my face with.

"Has anyone ever told you how precious you are?" I laughed, patting her gently and nodding in respect towards Saury.

The Ivysaur nodded back and resumed his activities, prompting Gaia to trot right up to him.

Saury and I had mutual respect for each other. Green's starter was the most serious of the pokemon here and was always business. I respected that about him and he respected me as well.

Though, all of Green's pokemon seemed to like me so there was that. Vee's lazy ass, when not camped out in Green's hair, sometimes hid in my jacket as well, much to Loki's chagrin.

"How's your training?" I asked her. "I know you wanted to learn a new move but you've got a lot already... so I wanted you to understand them more before we branch out," I mentioned to her.

Gaia pouted but nodded all the same, looking pleased with her progress. Her vines wrapped around me swiftly, before she sat me down on a Reflect that she conjured.

I chuckled at how proud she looked and pat the Reflect. It was solid as hell and if I tried to punch it, I'd probably break something.

"Good. I'm thinking of giving you a more physical move next like Body Slam," I informed her. "I think it would be very funny if you body slammed an opponent into Reflect."

Gaia thought about it and then nodded enthusiastically, an unsavory gleam in her eyes at yet another method of hurting people with Reflect.

"Saur," Saury grunted bluntly.

"The giant plant says that you are both sick."

I snorted at that and tossed a snack to both Saury and Gaia, before turning towards the ever lonesome Metang.

"Guilty as charged," I conceded with a smirk. "How about you, Metang. How's your progress on Bullet Punch and Flash Cannon?"

"The first one is trivial to learn. I merely need to increase my speed. The second one... it eludes me currently. I can channel the energy, but firing it is difficult. My ability to use ranged options will grow as I develop but that is no excuse for my failure."

I nodded, mulling over their problem.

Metang's generally had an easier time utilizing steel energy over psychic energy but using it as ranged options didn't come as easy to them.

Steel moves in general, weren't very easy to emit. Not many Steel types specialized in using ranged steel type moves.

There were few exceptions like the Magnemite line but most steel pokemon utilized their bodies more often than not.

Metagross were no exception. They very much fancied getting close and using their devastatingly powerful bodies to do the job.

But that was the average Metagross. The average Metagross never branched out from the comfort of using the attacks that they grew accustomed to as a Beldum or Metang.

A trained Metagross could balance between both to a terrifying degree and that would be mine.

"You're still recently evolved so it won't be easy but once you understand what needs to be done, you'll get it easily. We'll study notes tonight," I informed them, patting my Metang with a small smile.

Metang was smaller than the average Metang. I don't know if that affected it in anyway but that didn't really matter to me.

"Understood."

"Hey Silvy! Mason won his gym battle!" Green exclaimed happily, wiping the sweat off her brow and gulping down the water I offered to her.

I raised a brow, taking a big gulp out of my drink as well and gauging her.

We were currently training on our way back to Vermilion. We had more than enough time to spare before needing to board the boat so we were taking it easy on the way there.

"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, leaving Metang's side to approach her.

We trained often enough for me to figure out who liked training with who and it was always nice to figure out dynamics like that.

Loki, Ares and Vee all preferred training with each other. Loki and Ares had already taken to training together before I met Green and Vee decided to join in too, getting along well with my most troublesome duo.

Lapee, Freyja and Larvee liked to group together as well. The Lapras was incredibly kind and patient with the two weaker members, and both Freyja and Larvee had formed a kind of kinship called the "wait until we evolve and teach you all a lesson".

Togee liked to alternate between the two groups above. The annoying little shit was either causing trouble with the first group, or latched onto Lapee in the second...

He also weirdly enough, got along great with Freyja. I don't know if it was because he genuinely liked my Feebas or if he hated Ares that much but it was quite funny to see no signs of the violent Togepi around the second group.

He almost looked normal. Too bad he was still an annoying little shit.

Finally, Saury and Gaia liked to train near the ever lonesome Metang, honing their respective grass moves.

Green and I, when we weren't supervising them, tended to also train (more like Green would just copy whatever I was doing).

"Mason wanted me to thank you!" she beamed, helping me get the food ready for both ourselves and the team.

I raised a brow.

Mason? The weak trainer at Pewter? Why would he want to thank me?

"What did I do again?" I asked in confusion.

"You gave him advice for his gym battle! He said it really helped him pull out the victory!"

Oh right. I guess some trainers really were hopeless. I gave him the most bare minimum advice ever and apparently, it actually helped him out.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Good for him."

Green beamed and shot him back a message, while I pulled out my own phone.

"Three badges in the span of a month? You never take your time with anything do you?"

"Stop stalking me, Joy. Don't you have anything better to do with your life? Won't your boyfriend get jealous if he sees you blatantly stalking someone else?"

"You flatter yourself way too much and I'm single dumbass. This is my way of monitoring your vital status and you happen to have entertaining battles. Nice team by the way, Hoenn sure did keep you busy."

I snorted. "What the hell do you do on your shifts off? There's no way you just stalk me all the time."

"I'd tell you about my life outside of being a nurse, but I doubt you care. But I do have a life, yes."

"What do you normally do? Shopping for nurse outfits with your millions of cousins?"

"There's something deeply disturbing about the things you say, brat."

"Who are you messaging like that? Is this the person you were talking to the other day?" Green asked curiously, peering at me.

"None of your business," I replied boredly, shoving down my rice as I responded with one hand.

Green rolled her eyes and dropped it, causing me to raise a brow.

She was getting way too used to me. It was kind of impressive.

"Gimme your brush," Green requested, scarfing her food as well.

I grunted, tossing it over to her. "Clean it when you're done. You left your hair in it last time."

"Sorry, it might happen again," she said truthfully.

I snorted abruptly.

Green and I had both gotten very accustomed to being on the road together. Despite our complete opposite personalities, it worked out well for us and we rarely got in the others way.

It helped that Green was slowly picking up on my personality. Made her way less annoying.

She was still annoying as all hell though.

"Alright, let's keep moving," I grunted.

"Kay," Green agreed.

At once, we both stood and returned most of our team, continuing the trek towards Vermilion once more.

Loki lazily leapt into my jacket and tucked himself into his preferred spot, sighing in satisfaction as I ran a hand through his tuft.

"We're not that far," Green noted, checking her Pokedex with furrowed brows. "We should have a good amount of time when we get there. What do you wanna do?"

I shrugged. "Let's stock up on provisions first and afterwards… I dunno. We can take it easy or train. It's up to you. I don't care either way."

She nodded and pursed her lips curiously, patting down her black dress as we made our way onto the roads again.

"There's not much I want to do… maybe we should just take it easy until after the boat ride," she suggested.

"Sounds good to me," I agreed. "Okay, we've got a plan. Let's get moving."

Green nodded cheerfully. "I love traveling with you! You listen to me and we're always on the same page when it comes to plans! Thanks for accepting me, Silvy!"

I froze at that and glanced back at her incredulously, ignoring how… warm that made me feel.

I thought of something snide to say and shut my mouth as nothing came out…

"Earnest idiot," I sighed simply, turning away to hide my small smile. "You're certainly better than your other Pallet buddies now..."

The grin she shot me was blinding.

"Does that mean you consider me your friend?!" she beamed, trailing after me excitedly as Vee got comfortable in her hair.

"Not a chance in hell," I replied immediately.

To no one's surprise, she began whining instantly.

"C'mon just admit that we're friends! You admitted it with Jas! It's my turn!" Green demanded.

"Ask Jas to sacrifice her slot for you and I'll consider it," I replied easily, keeping my stride even as she scrambled to keep up with me.

"B-But why does it have to be Jas?! You can fit two or three! Just do it Silvy!"

"Don't wanna. Ask again after the boat ride Leaf."

"FOR THE LAST TIME. GREEN! WHY WON'T YOU CALL ME GREEN?! I'VE LITERALLY HEARD YOU SAY MY NAME!"

"Yeah, I only call you Green when I'm not talking directly to you."

"...I think I might genuinely hate you."

---

The fastest way to get to Vermillion from Cerulean, was by taking the Underground Path in Route 5.

We could cut through Saffron City but that place was gigantic and packed too a level that would steadily build up more and more time and I wasn't trying to deal with that.

So the Underground Path it was.

Green and I were on our bikes to speed up the process to Vermilion and we focused solely on making it to the city.

The good thing about the Underground Path, was how little people tended to inhabit it. It was quite the relaxing place and it really didn't take us very long to exit the place and make it into Route 6.

If there was one thing the routes of Kanto were, it was simple and I could appreciate that.

No heavy rain all the time, no boiling sun, none of the agony that Hoenn bore down on you… just simple routes to travel.

"I met a trainer on this route that was pretty good," Green informed me.

"Define pretty good," I said boredly, knowing that Green was too nice for her own good.

She pondered the question. "His name was A.J. He had a Sandshrew that was real strong! I think he could beat Ash in a battle and he'd give Blue a run for his money! He'd definitely lose to you though!"

I mulled that over and nodded. If she said I could beat him, then she probably already did.

"You beat him?"

She nodded enthusiastically. "He had a win streak of 94! I decided to try my hand at battling him and I won!"

That sounded familiar…

Green laughed sheepishly. "I feel a little bad though. His goal was to get 100 wins in a row and I ended up stopping that… but I stopped feeling bad after I watched him whip his pokemon! There are way better ways to train your team! I don't care if they accepted it, they probably weren't like that at first!"

I nodded in agreement. "He's a freak."

Green nodded. "The biggest. I reported him of course. There are way more ethical ways to go about doing things like that. You're probably the biggest asshole I know and you've never once whipped any of them!"

I let out a slight chuckle at the dig on my character. Now I remember. This was the guy in the anime who was going for the 100 win streak.

He did hardcore training and while that wasn't quite bad, I imagine in this world, things like whipping your pokemon for motivation were far more frowned upon… especially with Team Rocket on the prowl.

Honestly, what a dumbass.

"It worked out?" I asked curiously.

"Mhm! I don't know what that idiot was thinking! I was told that he was reprimanded harshly and the league began evaluating him to see if he was fit to be a trainer… that's all I know," she shrugged.

Wow that was pretty ruthless of her. This was even before we met and I had influenced her quite a bit with my own ruthless nature.

It was even worse because she was one of the trainers sponsored by Oak. Her words would definitely be heeded.

"Sucks for him," I shrugged uncaringly, eyeing the pokemon of the route.

Green and I both perked up at seeing an Abra of all things lazing about, but it must have felt eyes on it because it jerked up and gazed at the two of us.

It's shut eyes gazed at me, before the poor thing shivered and hastily teleported away.

"Bummer," Green said with a frown. "Alakazams are awesome. I wouldn't have minded catching one at all."

I scoffed. "If you plan on catching a psychic, I would recommend not being near me when that happens. Psychics hate me."

Green blinked at that. "So I wasn't just seeing things. That poor Abra looked terrified of you! Now that I think about it, Bronzy didn't look your way either!"

I shrugged. "Dunno why. Metang's the only one who can tolerate me. Every other psychic can't stand my presence."

"Wow," Green muttered in awe. "They think you're scary too!"

I snorted. That was one way to put it.

The two of us continued our pace, walking once more, and conversed about whatever came to us.

It was occurring to me that speaking to Green was getting a lot easier. I was actually… warming up to her company and wasn't that a thought?

It helped that my team and Jasmine both loved her so that made it much easier for me to warm up.

I guess traveling with her wasn't the end of the world…

"I still can't beat that damn electric gym leader!"

I didn't even react to the whiny voice of the trash trainer and just kept my pace.

Green was much the same. I wasn't kidding when I said I was influencing her because she effortlessly ignored them as well.

Of course, things were never going to be that simple.

"Hey, you two! One of you battle me! I could use an easy win!"

I let out an annoyed sigh as the words of the fodder reached me. "Do you want this?" I asked boredly.

"I battled the last one. It's your turn," Green reminded.

Right…

"Whatever," I grunted, turning to face my opponent.

The douche looked older than Green and I, with a… cowboy vest, a pink shirt, a red scarf and... a set of glasses above his head?

God help me. What was this getup? Did his parents hate him?

Well if they didn't hate him, I certainly did. This should be as illegal as the amount of Pokeballs he was flaunting around.

He had some entourage with him too. A bunch of stooges that looked even less memorable than my soon to be forgotten opponent.

"Blue seems like the type of guy to walk around with an entourage," I pointed out idly.

Green nearly burst out laughing at that but masterfully hid her giggles. "Blue's surprisingly not good with people! He loves the attention he gets but he gets tired of hearing them speak after a bit. I remember him joking about journeying through the region with a car and a bunch of girls though," she mentioned.

I snorted.

This guy didn't get the memo clearly. Traveling with people who were here just to inflate your ego was probably the fastest way to tank your career as a trainer.

People like this guy, would never acknowledge why he couldn't progress as a trainer because the voices around him wouldn't let him acknowledge it.

"Quit ignoring me! The names Damian —"

"I don't give a fuck what your name is. You're going to lose too fast for me to remember," I interrupted rudely, sizing him up with an unimpressed look. "1 on 1. I won't waste anymore time on you."

Green didn't even bother sighing in exasperation this time.

Damian spluttered in surprise at that, before recovering and shooting a sneer my way that I rolled my eyes at.

"I'll make you regret that," he swore.

"I'm sure you will. Metang," I said boredly, releasing my steel type from the ball.

This guy had a lot of Pokeballs so he had an array of options. My best bet would have either been Ares or Metang to cover most options and Ares was the type to throw a fit if I willingly put her up against a lacking trainer.

My opponent did complain that he couldn't beat Surge so I was probably overthinking things though.

"That looks like a steel type," Damian muttered, not quite recognizing Metang. "Alright, time for you to redeem yourself."

With that, he released his pokemon from the ball and I peered at it.

A Charmander… damn why did so many people own Charmanders? Weren't they supposed to be one of the rarest fire types in the Kanto region?

Wait a minute.

Ohhh I knew who this douche was. This was the trainer who abandoned the Charmander that went over to Ash.

Huh, was he still an abusive piece of garbage?

The Charmander looked small and slightly malnourished, with a somewhat pensive expression on its face, that transformed into slight fear as it made eye contact with Metang and I.

My eyes narrowed and I idly shoved a hand in my pocket, watching the two with a small frown.

"Dissatisfied with this trainer?" Metang asked.

"Yeah. Crush him."

"Charmander, Flamethrower!" Damian barked immediately, scowling at me.

"To the right, Metang. Smash it. It's not strong at all so don't hit it too hard," I said calmly.

While I was surprised that it knew Flamethrower, this Charmander was way too small and young to properly utilize that move.

My point was proven correctly, as Charmander opened its mouth with a bark of determination and shot out a small burst of flames that looked more reminiscent to Ember.

Pathetic. This guy was a complete failure of a trainer.

Metang effortlessly sidestepped the weak flamethrower as their eyes began glowing purple...

Charmander yelped in surprise, as a purple sheen covered its body and lifted it off the ground. It tried struggling fruitlessly and if it were any stronger, I'm sure it could break out of Metang's grasp...

But it wasn't. I watched with a frown as a speeding fist crashed into its gut 3 times.

Bullet Punch. The first move I had Metang learn, considering evolution had automatically taught it Confusion and Metal Claw was incredibly easy for them to learn.

It was fairly easy to understand. Honing Iron Head allowed Metang to channel steel energy in other parts of their body very easily.

The hard part of Bullet Punch was the speed part but Metang had (reluctantly) been learning Agility with the help of Loki to better augment Bullet Punch.

We just needed to master Agility further… once we did that, a speeding Metagross would begin flooding people's nightmares.

The things I could do with that move would be incredible. Boost moves were far more useful in a world where battles were so much more dynamic than turn order.

Though, we didn't need to have anything mastered for this Charmander. It's build was wiry and small, looking like it wasn't very well kept for.

I didn't need to give out another order, Charmander was already down for the count. The fire type was unconscious from the two moves and I shook my head.

"What did you say your name was again?" I asked curiously. "Dumb something right?"

My opponent glared at Charmander's defeated body, before mechanically turning his head towards me.

"Damian. Get it right or else," he snarled.

"Losers don't have the right to make demands," I denied effortlessly. "That Charmander of yours is really weak. Are you taking care of that thing?" I asked randomly.

"What?" he asked slowly.

I rolled my eyes. "Though, you are a pretty incompetent trainer... so I guess it's not the Charmander's fault it's weak, it's yours."

"SHUT UP!" Damian roared, closing the distance between us immediately and recoiling back in some fear as Metang let out a simple "tang".

"That Charmander is useless and weak!" he snarled. "It's not me. It's him! Get that right! Why would he deserve anything from me without proving its worth?!"

I let out an unimpressed noise. "Now you're throwing it under the bus. Wow. I'm impressed."

I scoffed, recalling Metang. "You sure showed me how good you are. The only thing I regret, was thinking you were somewhat better than a worthless trainer. See ya loser," I waved with my free hand.

Damian's veins bulged and he grit his teeth, recalling Charmander to the ball with a dark glare that I didn't miss.

Oh well. I had no interest in catching a Charizard and if I played a bigger hand here, my dearest little brother might lose one of his most iconic pokemon.

...But letting this jackass get away scot-free didn't sit right with me. I don't think he ever got punished in the show as well…

Yeah, not on my watch.

"Let's go Green, we're done here," I grunted.

"Kay!" she nodded with a frown.

As we made distance, I turned towards her.

"We're going to report that guy," I said firmly.

She blinked and nodded with a curious expression. "You wanna report him too?"

"I'm pretty sure he's abusing that Charmander."

Green's gaze darkened.

"It did look smaller than the average Charmander and what he said to you... were you goading him into revealing that?" she muttered.

I nodded and removed my hand from my pocket. "Yeah I needed a bit more to work with."

Green stared at the Pokedex in my hand with wide eyes and I played the recording with a smug expression.

"They'll probably start monitoring his actions now and knowing him, it'll take no time at all for him to slip up. Once he gets caught, all of that will add up against him."

"That's why you asked for his name again... It was Damian… alright, I'll file something," she muttered with a scowl. "If all goes well, they'll notify me on if they've taken further steps."

I nodded. I imagine that in a few days, she'd be getting that message if things went as planned.

"Oh that reminds me!"

I raised a brow.

"I heard there's this place called Pokemon Tech around here and since we still have a few days to get to Vermilion, I figured we could check it out!" Green explained.

"Why do we want to go there exactly?" I asked curiously. "I don't think I need to test my knowledge there. I know a fair bit. You're not stupid either."

Green nodded eagerly. "Yeah! You're really knowledgeable! I wanna go there though because apparently, some say it's a substitute for traveling! I wanted to see who was dumb enough to think that was true!"

I snorted in amusement at that.

You know what… I was gonna say no, but hearing that Green wanted to go there with the sole purpose of showing them up, had me fully on board.

"Alright, let's head there then," I nodded in agreement.

"Great follow me!"

---

As Green and I walked through the forest that lead to Pokemon Tech, I suddenly paused in my gait.

"Hey Green, you can go ahead. I'll catch up," I informed her, acting normally.

She glanced back at me with interested eyes and nodded.

"You know the way right? Just call me if you get lost or use my location on the Gear!" She waved, marching forward without hesitation.

That was one thing I liked about Green. She had so much faith in me, that she hardly ever questioned what I said.

I watched her go with a neutral expression, idly ruffling Loki's fur, before turning away and heading deeper into a bush.

As I headed off, I made sure the illusion masked me well and stood behind the spies watching me.

Jessie, James and Meowth quietly watched the back of the illusion of myself with confused expressions and I calmly stared at them.

"Don't move. If you so much as twitch, you can kiss yourselves goodbye."

The three froze at that, going pale as vines slowly snaked around their bodies.

I gazed at the idiots who were glancing confusedly at the illusion of me, Gaia at my side.

"I'm not patient. I'm not nice and I'm damn sure not merciful… so talk Team Rocket," I said coldly. "If you don't answer me. Things will get bad for you very quickly."

"Bay," Gaia growled warningly.

"W-Wait just a minute sir!" Meowth stammered, not daring to move.

"We didn't mean to spy! Honest!" James stuttered.

"We just got curious about what you were doing out here! L-Last we heard, bosses son went missing!"

I scowled furiously.

Bosses son? These assholes knew I was Giovanni's kid?

"How many people know that?" I asked harshly. "How many people know he's my father?"

They looked a little confused by my questioning, but that confusion turned into swift false understanding as Gaia's vines tightened.

"Just the older executives sir!" Jessie squealed hastily. "Petrel, Proton, Archer and Ariana sir! Anyone below the rank of executive is unaware! The boss will have anyone who spreads that information killed!"

My body reacted differently to each of those names… annoyance, apathy, disgust and the one most noticeable was the one I had to hearing that name.

Ariana.

The woman who was very likely my mother… I had general disgust for the others but for her there was more than just disgust.

Disappointment, anger, sadness… longing.

I wasn't looking forward to meeting her at all but it was certainly inevitable.

"Why are you here?" I asked with a sneer.

So these three were executives as well? They weren't complete jokes?

That… was a surprise. Were they as competent as every other normally useless trainer that I encountered?

"We were tasked with tracking a boy by the name of Ash Ketchum… we have speculations as to why but the boss just wants us to continue our antics. We aren't supposed to do anything more," James replied.

"Not like we can anymore even if we wanted ta," Meowth mentioned. "Getting in a battle with dat former gym leader ain't worth what we'd lose."

They were tasked with not doing anything more? They wouldn't immediately lose to Brock's original team?

Were these three capable of actually capturing Ash? Hold on, just how dangerous was this group?

Huh… that thought never occurred to me. I thought these three would always be jokes.

I glared at them.

"So if otherwise, you would have killed him?" I asked dangerously.

Like him or hate him, that didn't change the fact that Ash was a kid.

No damn kid deserved to be killed. He was a child.

The three let out audible gasps of horror, looking repulsed just by the word kill.

"N-No! How could we ever do something so treacherous?!" James asked in genuine horror.

I raised a brow in confusion at that. They weren't willing to kill?

"Oh yeah?" I asked sarcastically. "You expect me to believe that someone in Team Rocket won't stoop to that level?"

Jessie shook her head hastily. "While I'll admit our allies are…"

"Your," I interrupted coldly. "Your allies."

I was not apart of Team Rocket. I would never be apart of Team Rocket.

"R-Right!" Jessie stammered nervously. "While they have less than savory tactics… we aren't like that! We'd never kill anyone! That goes against our code!"

"…" I scowled.

If they were anything like their counterparts in the anime, this was true. Should I give them the benefit of the doubt here? I'm sure one call and these three would be thrown in prison without a second thought.

"Stay out of my way. Don't interfere with my business and don't tell anyone my business," I said eventually. "Be glad that it was you three."

They were a little confused by that final statement but they looked grateful all the same as I released them.

"Thank you sir!" they saluted to me, not doubting my orders.

I grunted.

Whatever. In the grand scheme, these three were insignificant to my goal of taking down Team Rocket.

Whether they were there or not, it was of no concern to me and if their mission was to watch over my half brother, so be it.

Let them get out of the way… they weren't all that evil.

But these three did seem far more competent.

Just how competent would the other Executives be?

I pursed my lip. "Actually I want some info. How much do you know of the other Executives?"

Jessie and Meowth both shot me a puzzled look.

My face showed nothing and I continued to stare at them, making sure my silver eyes were boring into all three.

"Well… wouldn't you know more about them then us?" Jessie tried slowly, walking on eggshells. "You practically grew up with the other executives and well, Ariana is…"

So I grew up with them… hm.

"Do you think I know everything? I'm not apart of Team Rocket and they didn't tell me much. Just a kid they would say," I reminded them harshly.

"Dats true…" Meowth muttered. "Well I'm sure you know that Archer and Ariana are his right hands… Then there's Petrel and Proton, who are a little under them."

"Archer is... disturbing. He's calm and conniving and he's willing to do anything to make sure Team Rocket stays on top," Meowth explained. "He's da most devoted to the bosses goals and the last executive ya wanna run inta next ta Proton."

"Proton is terrifying," James shuddered. "He's the one who leads the most missions with the grunts… He and Crobat are very volatile and we hate working with him. You do not want to get on his bad side... not you though! We would never say that about you, sir!"

I looked unimpressed at that and beckoned for them to keep going.

"Petrel deals with resources and recruitment mostly. He's tricky and relaxed but that doesn't hide how dangerous he is! His Gengar is always watching when he's in the area!" Jessie shuddered.

"Ariana might hate all of us. She's cold on the best of days and incredibly foul on the worst," Jessie continued warily. "She's a very strong trainer as well... I would think she's only second to Giovanni but we rarely see her in action so we aren't sure."

I grunted at that and stored the information away.

They were sharing information rather freely and it was teaching me a lot.

Not bad…

"Why do you want to know this?" Jessie asked cautiously, gazing at me with curiosity. "While we don't know you as well as they do… we do know that you don't really have an interest in Team Rocket."

How immersed was I in the Rockets growing up?

"Things have changed. Don't concern yourself with it. Just keep doing what you're doing… and keep avoiding me," I said cryptically.

"Yes sir!" they saluted.

I rolled my eyes. They were terrified of Giovanni so by extension, they were terrified of me and while I didn't want that to normally be the case… for now I'd abuse it.

"Alright, now I'm off… go relax or something. I don't need to be caught up in your schemes. Harass him when I'm gone," I grunted.

"Boss Silver… that girl you're traveling with… you know who that is, right?" James asked hesitantly.

I immediately stopped and whirled around, glaring at them with a disturbing amount of focus.

"If anyone touches Green, I'm going to kill them and I fucking mean that," I said coldly, glaring at them in barely restrained fury. "Do not even think about it."

The three squeaked, stepping back slightly.

"W-We won't tell anyone!" James saluted hastily.

"But they might find out anyways! It's not really a secret…" Jessie stammered.

"She's becoming a noticeable enemy for Team Rocket… you know that right?" Meowth asked.

I scowled. "Don't worry about that. I'm dealing with it."

If only they knew exactly how I was dealing with it.

But I really meant it. If they killed Green, Team Rocket wouldn't be disbanded by me, I'd completely destroy it including every single person in it.

Including both my parents. These phantom feelings weren't nearly enough to stop me. Not even a legendary would be enough to stop me.

Huh… would you look at that… Green really was my friend.

As I disappeared from the three, the rocket trio couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief.

"He's not as cruel… but Silver has certainly gotten far scarier," James muttered in surprise.

"You're tellin me!" Meowth complained, shuddering at the unnerving gaze of the boss' son.

"He never used to be that bad… he was just a foul tempered kid but now… I can't even explain it," Jessie pondered.

…

"Puberty?" James decided.

"Puberty," Jessie nodded.

Meowth shrugged. "Puberty," he agreed.

I snorted quietly at that and fully vanished.

---

"Silvy! Look who I ran into!"

As I pushed my way through the trees and shrubs, Gaia trudging happily by my side, I eventually managed to make it to my destination.

Green was the first to notice me but she wasn't the only one there.

No unfortunately, the Ash trio was here again.

"Ah," I said simply, gazing boredly at the group of people there. "Wasn't expecting to see any of you so soon."

Ash flinched as my gaze landed on him but he steeled himself. "You!" he called out.

I rolled my eyes and idly ran a hand against Gaia. "Of course it's me. I'm traveling with Green after all," I said in sheer disinterest.

Ash looked like he wanted to say something but surprisingly, he held himself back and I wasn't curious enough to goad him into saying it.

"Hey Silver!" Misty greeted with a small smile after some hesitance.

She probably felt guilty for not feeling much anger towards me due to what I said to Ash.

"Misty," I nodded in some respect towards her.

"Silver," Brock greeted.

"Brock," I greeted.

My gaze roved over the people there I didn't recognize without much interest in them…

School kids it looked like. None of them looked even remotely notable and what little interest I had, was gone instantly.

"This is the place?" I asked, shifting my hair out of my right eye to properly gauge it.

"Yep! What do you think?" Green asked curiously.

"Boring. I imagine only losers see the appeal of coming here," I replied immediately.

Misty let out a snort of agreement, while Brock and Green let out exasperated sighs.

The school kids looked properly outraged, much like everyone did once I opened my mouth but I ignored them for the moment.

"What's with the treadmill out in the open?" I mused, peering at it.

It was still running but no one was on it. What the hell did I miss?

Green pointed at some meek looking kid with a small frown. "They were forcing him to run on and if he couldn't answer questions, they'd speed it up!"

Strange form of training…

"How'd it go?" I asked, stepping onto the treadmill for the hell of it and beginning a slow jog.

One of the outraged school kids scoffed. "Joe couldn't even tell us what the evolution of a Pidgey was!"

I raised a brow. "Seriously? Aren't you a bit of a dumbass. Maybe some people really do need this place," I snorted mockingly, upping the speed of the treadmill.

"Hey! Don't be such a jerk to him!" Ash scowled at me.

"You're only defending him because you probably didn't know either… and you own the evolution of Pidgey," I mocked.

This treadmill was pretty useful. Too bad I couldn't stuff it in my bag… it would have been gone in a second.

I should look into a portable workout thing. There's no way this world didn't have it. They seemed to have very easily cracked the code of space and how to work with it.

Ash's face burned red as Misty snickered and he glared at me, quickly forgetting the results of our last encounter.

"Oh yeah?! Hey you guys! He's on the treadmill already so why not quiz him?!" my half brother loudly proclaimed.

"I don't think the treadmill is going to be enough… Silver's really athletic," Green pointed out, beckoning towards the high speeds I was currently running at.

We worked out together all the time and I was a lot more conditioned than Green was. Running on this treadmill wasn't that hard at all.

The school kids had their mouths wide open at my display and I raised a brow at their reactions.

"Don't tell me you guys have this treadmill just to quiz people… does no one use it for anything else?" I asked with a look of disgust.

That was such a waste of resources! A treadmill... for quizzing?! Nothing else?

I was a thief and I managed my resources better than these idiots!

Judging by their looks, the idea of consistently keeping your body in shape, was a foreign concept to them.

"No wonder they chose school. You guys aren't built for traveling," I snorted.

"Why you!" The lead boy there scowled, eager to put me in my place.

Oh how I loved that. When someone was eager to show me up. Maybe that's why I was so antagonistic, so that people could try and make me put my money where my mouth is.

It was grossly satisfying when they realized that I could do just that.

"Fine then. What does a Gastly evolve into?!" I was asked.

I blinked.

Were… they serious?

"Haunter," I replied in some confusion.

To my disbelief, the idiot kids actually looked surprised that I answered that so quickly.

"Not bad… but what does Haunter evolve into?!"

"Gengar."

They balked at me and I almost laughed aloud in disbelief.

Everyone in this world was so damn stupid.

"He answered so quickly!"

"Impressive… has he been to tech school before?"

Even Green looked a little lost at the varying reactions and that was the surest sign that she really had been hanging out with me too much.

"Alright then! How about this… what typing is Jynx?!"

"Ice and Psychic."

They went silent in disbelief at my swift, almost automated, answer and I realized that they were seriously going to keep asking me these baby questions.

"I have a question now," I decided, keeping my same pace on the treadmill. "Who is the current champion of the Kalos region?"

A silence fell over the crowd and I smirked smugly.

"Don't know?" I asked curiously.

"W-Well… first year knowledge is normally uh… Kanto only things… we don't quite branch out into other region stuff," the lead boy explained nervously.

"Oh… I guess this place really isn't all that impressive if its only teaching Kanto knowledge… alright then."

I nodded as I thought of a question.

"This should be easy. Everyone knows Champion Lance, right?" I asked in amusement, watching the way their eyes lit up.

They probably thought they had this in the bag.

"Lance the Flying Master —"

"Dragon, Silvy."

"—Flying Master, uses a large array of flying types and some dragons," I continued unimpeded.

Green stifled her laughter behind exasperation and rolled her eyes instead.

"What move do all of Lance's pokemon share in common?" I asked with an innocent smile.

"You are such an ass," Green sighed, watching with sympathetic eyes as the hope fell from their faces.

"Everyone's obsessed with him. I figure this was a freebie especially considering even I know it," I shrugged.

Green wouldn't mention that she was positive Silver was a genius but this was actually a little funny to witness and these school guys were really annoying.

"Don't know?" I asked, noting the amusement in Green's eyes. "What about you, Ash? Do you know?"

Ash shook his head embarrassingly and I laughed.

"I guess it can't be helped. The answer was —"

"Hyper Beam, correct?"

My sentence died at that correct answer and I raised a brow.

The one who said that was a pretty girl this time in the school uniform. Judging by the way everyone lit up at seeing her, Ash and Brock no exception, this must have been someone of note.

"Yep," I popped my lip, not even remotely as awed as them.

She had a superior looking smirk on her face as she gazed at me and I raised a brow, strolling off the treadmill.

"To answer your first question. Diantha is the current champion of the Kalos region. It's a pity these idiots don't know anything outside of the Kanto region, especially considering someone who doesn't even attend Poke Tech does… but not everyone can be like me," she scoffed.

Everyone in the uniform withered at her words and I scoffed in return.

"You might be better than your useless classmates, but that doesn't change anything. You're only a little smarter than them for relying only on this school," I said with a roll of my eyes.

Green beamed at my words for some reason.

"I don't agree with how he said it but he's right!" Ash nodded. "You can't learn what it takes to be a Pokemon Master just by studying!"

Giselle raised a brow. "Is that so? How many badges do you have?"

"Two!" Ash announced proudly.

"I wasn't speaking to you and just two badges isn't worth my attention regardless," she interrupted rudely, turning towards me. "You. How many badges?"

I raised a brow. "Three."

She let out a haughty laugh. "Just three? You talk a big game for someone with only three badges! I'm a trainer worth 4!"

"Yeah?" I said in amusement, unfazed by her attempt at being patronizing. "You're a trainer worth 4 badges? That means you can beat both Green and I in a battle."

Green perked up at that. She had been eagerly listening in on the conversation, for once not chastising me for my harsh words.

"You two should battle!" Green requested, though it came out more like a demand.

Misty nodded, just as eager for some reason.

Giselle threw her hair behind her head. "A simple affair. Very well. I'll show you why my methods are better than yours."

I raised a brow and shrugged. "I've got time today. Sure why not. Nothing fills me with more joy than humbling someone."

Giselle nodded and beckoned for me to follow her, departing with a flourish in her step.

Dramatic. How could the talentless act talented?

I rolled my eyes and trailed behind her.

---

"I don't want to root for either of them," Ash said honestly, looking at the back of both the antagonizing trainers.

"I'm rooting for Silver of course!" Misty said derisively. "He's actually competent unlike the so called trainers of this school!"

"But he's up against Giselle!" Joe, the boy who had been getting bullied by his classmates, said. "She's the best of the primary level! He's just a trainer with 3 badges!"

Green couldn't help the laugh that left her and Joe looked confused at that.

"I hope her confidence is warranted. Silvy will eat her alive if she ends up being disappointing!" she beamed.

Brock gazed at the other Pallet native traveling with Silver. "So you managed to sick Silver on them… on purpose, right Green?" he asked curiously.

Green scratched the back of her head. "Guilty as charged! These guys are really stuck up and arrogant and Silvy's the best at dealing with people like that!"

She turned towards Ash. "He ran into Blue you know. They battled and Silver won handily," she admitted.

Ash's eyes widened in disbelief. "Seriously? He fought and beat Blue?!"

Green nodded, pondering the interaction with a wistful expression.

"I've never seen Blue get humbled so badly. It wasn't like when we interacted with him back at Pallet… Silver really hit him where it hurt. That's why I didn't want you two to battle... Silvy hides all his advice behind really cruel words and he can't stand having his time wasted in battles..."

Blue was a dick… he used to be one of Green's best friends but she would never defend his terrible behavior…

He had attacked Silver first and Silver retaliated in kind.

Ash wasn't as rude as Blue so she was far less inclined to see him face off against Silvy. Their meeting had been bad but Green was just thankful that it wasn't worse... because she knew just how bad Silver could get.

"Are you... holding up alright?" she asked in concern, gazing at her close friend. "I know that battle wasn't what you were expecting but..."

Ash frowned. "I'm fine! That battle was exactly what I needed to motivate myself! Next time I battle Silver, I'm going to beat him and then I'll beat you too, Green!"

Green grinned. "Then watch how he battles! Study him! Silvy's even smarter than me and he's ruthless too! If you give him an inch, he'll take a mile!"

"Ain't that the truth," Misty sighed, recalling their battle.

Ever since the humbling Silver had given her… along with the expectations required to take over the gym, Misty had vowed to begin becoming the best water type trainer around.

She would keep her eyes peeled for any water type to add to her main team and become a Gym Leader worthy of running Cerulean.

Then, she'd try her hand at battling both Silver and Ash again. Hell, she wanted to battle Green too!

She never would have imagined there'd be such exceptional trainers her age but all of them were so unique in how they approached and handled battling.

Silver, Green and Ash all battled differently and it worked out so well for them… Misty wanted to get like that too.

Brock smiled slightly at the fire in both of his allies eyes.

Ash and Misty hadn't been very… serious about their journeys before and while that was fine —they were still children after all— it made their dreams not as believable. But that Silver had managed to ignite a fire in the both of them that was beginning to make the path to their dreams all the more achievable.

His words, while harsh, certainly did the job and from his brief conversation with the redhead, Brock could see that Silver mostly used his rudeness as a defense mechanism. The boy was certainly innately rude, but he dialed it up depending on the situation.

Silver's conversation with Ash didn't stem from a place of rudeness either... it stemmed morseo from disappointment? Brock wasn't sure why Silver was disappointed in Ash but clearly the redhead had unintentionally lit the fire of improvement under his youngest companion to motivate him.

As the most experienced here, Brock would help Ash and Misty to the best of his abilities... if they wanted it. Being a trainer meant more than just asking someone for help. They needed to pave their own way to get stronger.

Brock himself did enjoy battling… he just didn't enjoy the daunting task of being a Gym Leader and caring so much for his siblings. If he had been the Gym Leader with no caveats, he would still be at Pewter.

His time as a Gym Leader, while challenging, had been quite fun.

Silver… he was quite the interesting figure. It wasn't everyday someone managed to garner the personal attention of Lance.

The Champion was like his dragons, though far kinder. Nothing unworthy would keep his attention for long.

Brock had done some research and Silver was actually being sponsored by Viridian! Whether Giovanni himself was the one who endorsed such a thing... It was not disclosed but not many trainers from Viridian were sponsored by the city.

Not to mention his team… Silver, while rough around the edges with a less than stellar personality, was quite the trainer.

"You sound like the match has already been decided!" Joe exclaimed in surprise.

Green turned and looked at him. "Of course it has! Silver's my rival after all! We spar together all the time and he's the only one who can consistently beat me!"

If Silver lost, well Green would never live it down because Green would never lose to this stuck up girl.

He was well aware of that, Silver wouldn't allow himself to lose a battle that she could win!

He was petty like that and she could shamelessly admit that she was getting that petty too.

They would continue to push each other to another level until they both stood atop the world and then they'd finally figure out who the best trainer was.

Green knew it was a great idea to travel with him!

---

"Please, send out your pokemon first."

I raised a brow at Giselle's request.

"Oh don't worry! I have no intention of using a pokemon with a type advantage against you!" she assured confidently.

"Battles are all about calculations. It's not just the type and character of a pokemon that decides the match. The level of the pokemon is what is most crucial."

I hummed at that.

Levels were not a thing in this world, but this school seemed to measure a pokemon's skill in the very same levels that were in the game, using them as a rough estimate to decide how strong a pokemon was.

What a dumb way to calculate. I want them to try to put Siegfried the Dragonite on a level scale.

Actually…

"You're a huge dumbass," I said idly. "I don't disagree with your assessment that calculations are what battles are all about… but our definitions of calculations are completely different."

Giselle rolled her eyes, unfazed by my words.

Don't worry, she'd start feeling my words very soon.

"Gaia," I said easily, throwing her out onto the field. "Let's show em girl."

"Bay!" Gaia cheered, butting her head against my chest.

Haughty laughter, caused us both to pause and I focused once more on my opponent.

She was laughing, putting the back of her hand against her mouth.

"A Bayleef? You expect to defeat me with that?!" She asked incredulously. "The Chikorita line is considered one of the worst grass type options in the Kanto and Johto regions! There are many grass types better than a Chikorita! Perhaps you aren't as good as I once thought."

Gaia and I's gaze darkened equally.

"Making Gaia angry is not what they wanted to do," Green sighed with a shake of her head. "She's so sweet all the time but she has a mean streak."

"I can tell… she looked way too happy when Golduck slammed into that Reflect," Misty shuddered.

"It's even worse because she managed to make her and Silvy annoyed. He really hates when anyone has anything negative to say about his team," Green sighed.

"Alright dumbass. Time to teach you a proper lesson," I said darkly.

"Yep… at least it wasn't Freyja. Silvy tries to murder anyone who says anything about Freyja," Green muttered.

"Who's Freyja?" Misty asked in curiosity.

"His Feebas."

Her jaw dropped.

"HIS WHAT?!"

I ignored Misty's loud shriek and focused on the girl who I fully planned on destroying now.

I already knew Green had intentionally set me upon this girl for reasons I was unaware of, so I didn't plan on going too hard… but she insulted Gaia and I had a personal problem with people who insulted Gaia or Freyja.

So now it was time to do things the way I normally did.

"Cubone, come forth!" Giselle announced with a flourish.

Ah so this girl really was a complete dick. Trying to use a pokemon with a type disadvantage to show how superior she is…

Alright, sure. Let's play that game then. No one was a bigger asshole than I was.

"Bone Club!" Giselle announced.

I rolled my eyes, not even deigning to give out an order as Cubone rushed forward and slammed his club into the Reflect.

Like clockwork, vines snaked around the boulder and Gaia hoisted them up, before ruthlessly slamming the Cubone over and over again.

If not for the fact that I was here to prove a point, I'm very sure Gaia would have kept going for the hell of it.

She really had a mean streak.

"Leech seed and release it," I instructed coolly.

Gaia smiled and spat out seeds that latched all over Cubone's limbs and began draining him.

"Cubone!" Giselle shouted in concern, watching as the little creature began steadily pulling itself up.

I tilted my head curiously.

"This is impressive. You're even worse than I expected!" I praised, clapping for her.

She colored slightly at that. "Cubone! Focus Energy into Bonemerang!"

Cubone began focusing, club glowing slightly as a blue aura surrounded it.

Focus Energy helped a pokemon better spot out weak points, allowing for more damaging hits to land. It was quite useful.

Case in point, Cubone's eyes gained a focused tint onto them and he clutched his bone, before launching it full speed towards Gaia.

"Ignore it. Grab him again and don't let go until it's over," I rolled my eyes.

Gaia laughed haughtily and stood behind the Reflect, watching as the Bonemerang that was aimed for her neck crashed into the wall that we were both very quickly learning to love.

As she moved, her vines snaked from her neck and lunged for the Cubone once more.

Before they could attach to the Cubone, a red beam of light absorbed the ground type and a somewhat shaken Giselle gazed at both Gaia and I in a new light.

My eyes glinted maliciously at the hint of nervousness in her gaze.

"I appreciate you giving me a free win," I mock bowed. "But don't hold back on my account. I'm not as weak as your classmates."

That snapped her out of her stupor and the arrogance of the girl dimmed down considerably.

"V-Very well… it appears that I was treating you too laxly. You are a trainer with 3 badges after all," she muttered, clutching another pokeball.

"Fearow, come forth!" she announced confidently.

Neither Gaia nor I flinched at seeing the large brown bird materialize.

"Type disadvantage failed so now you're going to type advantage?" I mused, unimpressed.

Giselle frowned slightly, looking properly rattled by my words and I resisted the urge to smirk.

Battling was more than just sending pokemon out to fight. Your emotions, how you felt… the way you planned. All of that was included in battles.

Blue wasn't a bad battler by any means but I embarrassed him because of his emotional state. A battle between us wouldn't normally be that one-sided but because of how much I bothered him, it was almost pitifully easy.

Battles were all about calculations of various things and one of the most important calculations, was what your opponent could be thinking at any given moment.

And I knew exactly what this girl was thinking.

"Fly out of range, Fearow, avoid the vines!" Giselle said immediately.

"Magical Leaf," I replied before she could even finish her sentence.

Gaia grinned and shot out the flurry of tracking leaves that raced after Fearow with bullshit properties that I would never understand the science of.

Fearow squawked in panic and attempted to fly away from the leaves, but they were relentless. They continued chasing down the large bird who began growing increasingly more frantic as they refused to let up.

"Aerial Ace!" Giselle shouted.

"Poison Powder in its trajectory."

Good thing about training with Saury, he was very helpful in helping Gaia hone her poison energy. The grass types had some fairly similar moves so it was good to see how they both utilized it.

Gaia followed my orders without hesitation and managed to shoot out a dusky purple cloud that soared through the air, right as Fearow began blurring forward at the incredible speeds of Aerial Ace…

They flew directly through the cloud and despite getting deeply poisoned, still managed to score a direct hit on Gaia…

Gaia squealed in pain but recovered quickly, instinctively lashing out with vines that wrapped around the poisoned bird.

"What?!" Giselle gasped in shock, clearly not expecting the swift recovery.

Since the first time I had Gaia battle with Loki, I worked on her reflexes, especially when she was getting hit. Few opponents expected their enemies to lash out and tactically attack them while getting hit.

"Leech Seed. Heal yourself back up girl," I ordered.

Seeds began to latch onto the restrained and struggling Fearow, that began sapping its energy and feeding it to Gaia.

Giselle had a look of distress at the state Fearow was in.

"Fearow try to —"

"Wrap a vine around its beak. Don't let it drill itself out," I interrupted coldly.

Fearow wasn't even able to hack freely anymore, as a vine clamped its sharp beak shut.

Combined with the fact that the other vines were tightening around it to an incredible degree, the bird was quickly fading out.

Evidently, Giselle noticed as well because a flash of red engulfed the Fearow and returned it before it could suffer further damage.

"Bay," Gaia sighed in disappointment.

"I guess the calculations were wrong for that one too. Who woulda thought a flying type would lose so handily to one of the weakest grass types in the region," I shrugged helplessly, staring a hole into my opponent.

"I…" Giselle said in shock. "But…"

"Not in the books you read?" I sneered. "What happened to that big game about being worth 4 badges? Or the one where you opened your dumbass mouth and insulted Gaia? Still got nothing good to say?"

She flinched back and I scoffed.

"Whatever. Send out your next pokemon. Lemme guess, fire type this time?" I asked rhetorically.

Giselle flinched even harder and the pokeball she was clutching, slowly disappeared back wherever she kept it.

"...I forfeit. It's your win," she said softly.

Expected that she realized there was no winning this match. Didn't expect her to have the balls to actually surrender though.

"I… didn't expect that match to be so one-sided… the books I read…"

"Are just books," I interrupted with a roll of my eyes. "Life is not a simulation. People and pokemon are not simple enough to be accurately written about in books. Are you fucking stupid? Do you think every single version of a Pokemon is the same? Do you think Gaia will be weaker than every single grass type in this region by virtue of being a Bayleef? You're delusional."

She flinched back. "I've never once been called stupid… I've only been praised for my talents."

"Stupid people praising you doesn't make you smart. It just makes you smarter than them," I said bluntly. "You should be glad that I humbled you. In one year time, you would be another forgotten failure of a trainer who can only make it to the top 64."

"That's not true!" one of the students argued.

"Shut up," I said immediately, silencing the idiot with a harsh glare. "Tell me a single trainer of note who attended Poke Tech."

The silence was deafening and I snorted.

"That's what I thought. You guys can stay here and in a few months, we can battle again. I'm looking forward to seeing how much I stomp you, while I journey around."

Anyone from my previous world would have lunged at the opportunity to journey about instead of locking themselves in school… but I guess the freedom of choice, allowed those who genuinely enjoyed it, to do what they wanted.

I wouldn't fault them for doing what they enjoyed, but just because you enjoyed it, didn't make it better. If you enjoyed it more, keep it to yourself. Don't act like it's the vastly superior option.

That just reeked of insecurity.

"I'm done here. This whole place is a waste of time," I grunted. "Why did you wanna come here again Leaf?"

Green shrugged. "I'm always willing to learn new things but this place didn't really have anything I could benefit from. My bad, we can just focus on going straight to Vermilion."

"Yeah, no more of your fun little pit stops unless it's actually interesting," I grunted, shoving my hands in my pockets.

"Hey, don't get so sassy with me, Silvy! It's not like we lost anything from this!"

"We lost my faith in you making good decisions."

"...You had faith in me?!"

"...No."

"Silver, was it?"

I paused and gazed back at Giselle.

"You… you've taught me a lot in our short battle," she admitted hesitantly, gazing at me with some trepidation. "I think you're right… I put all my stock into the books and simulations… but I've never experienced the real thing truly."

She gazed at my bored expression, a fire in her eyes.

"I want to travel as well and gain these new experiences, then I want to battle you again," she admitted.

"...Good luck with that," I said simply, turning forward again and continuing my pace. "We're going, Leaf."

"Kay!" she beamed, falling in line easily.

"Next time we battle, I'll win. I won't forget what you did to Pikachu, Silver," Ash declared, looking me directly in the eyes, with pure determination.

Pikachu growled fiercely and I simply glanced back dispassionately.

"Didn't I already tell you? Don't battle me again," I told him with a small frown. "Any interest I had in you, got dashed in our last encounter. Just enjoy your journey. Stop thinking about me."

"No!" Ash denied in determination. "I won't let it end like that! I'll make you acknowledge that I have just as big a shot at being a Pokemon Master as you do!"

I was somewhat reminded of Gold's gaze. They both sure did have the righteous hero look down.

"When did I ever say anything about wanting to be a Pokemon Master?" I asked him with a raised brow, shaking my head.

Ash blinked, a little taken aback by that.

"You... don't wanna be a Pokemon Master?" he asked in confusion.

I stared at my brother. My innocent and naive little brother. Green told me that he started his journey at 11 years old and was about a month away from being 12.

It was surreal just how opposite we were down to our very being. We likely didn't have a single thing in common besides loving our pokemon...

Even then, Ash was the type to catch anything. I was not the type to catch anything. The pokemon I loved were the ones I willingly caught.

He was lucky. He ended up inheriting everything involving his personality from his mother.

My goals were far more serious than his. While a lofty goal, at the end of the day, Ash's goals stemmed from a childish wonder.

I didn't get to have the childish dream of being a Pokemon Master yet. I didn't want to become strong because that was what was necessary to become a Master.

I wanted to become strong because I needed to become strong. There was no time for me to be weak. I didn't want to be strong because it meant I was a Master, I wanted to be a Master because it meant I was strong.

Maybe part of me was jealous that my brother got to live so carefree.

"Why is everyone so interested in me?" I sighed despondently. "Why is it always Silver this, Silver that? Leaf is right here. Harass her instead. She's your super talented childhood friend. I haven't even seen you express an interest in battling her yet."

"Normally I'd be offended, but I like seeing you bothered by these things! Besides, Ash has a bigger rivalry with Blue," Green admitted shamelessly.

I turned to glare at her. "Worry about how jealous you were of that girl back there instead. Upset that you can't keep your hair as neat? Or is it because everyone was gushing over her pretty looks?" I shot back, grinning smugly at her.

Green began spluttering and instantly stopped. "Y-You. JEALOUS OF WHAT?! HER?! YOU WEREN'T EVEN ONE OF THE ONES GUSHING! YOU CAN'T USE THAT IN YOUR ARGUMENT!"

I continued walking, utterly nonplussed at hearing the rapid footsteps behind me. "Obviously I can. She looks well kept together. You look like a beast."

My amused smile was replaced by a cough, as Green actually punched me on the back, and I whirled around with fury in my eyes.

She had no way at all to react to my speedy lunge and in a record amount of time, I had her properly restrained.

"Apologize," I demanded.

"I'm sorry that you're such a dick!" Green scowled.

She immediately squealed in distress as I pressed a knuckle to her head and began giving her the meanest noogie I could muster.

I don't know why she tried this. Green was so helplessly outclassed by me in the physical department it wasn't even funny.

In fact, it seemed like I was the most athletic out of all my dear pokedex (was that what I was going to call them? Sure) holders.

Green might have unironically been the closest to me since she joined in my training all the time. She certainly was beginning to get as agile as I was.

Still didn't help squat against me though.

Ash watched one of his best friends get tormented by me with a look of confusion.

"Should I help?" he asked.

"Probably not, despite her complaints, Green looks happy to be playing with Silver," Misty pointed out with a small smile.

"I wonder when the last time we played was…" Ash mused quietly.

---

The next day, long after Green and I had departed Poke Tech, I got a message on the phone.

"Care to explain why a bunch of kids suddenly dropped out of Poke Tech?"

"Who is that?" Green asked.

"Lance," I replied in amusement, showing her the message.

Her eyes roved over the screen, before she let out a loud laugh.

"How does he even know that it was you?!" She cackled, much to my annoyance.

My eye twitched and I scoffed at her.

"How do you know it was me? All I did was beat a trainer in a battle and insult her a bit."

"I got a complaint about a red haired kid who battled their top primary level student and caused her to drop out… once others heard of that, they followed suit. Almost the entirety of the primary level students dropped out so you did more than insult her a bit."

"Wow, she was really popular," Green mused. "But she was so weak! I don't get how they flocked to her."

"Right?" I muttered, nonplussed by Green's steadily growing rudeness. It actually made me quite proud.

"Blame Leaf. I was content to stay out of it but she dragged me into it. Jealous of how the girl looks and all that. She was kinda cute."

"H-HEY!" she bellowed. "We went through this already! I was not jealous of her! I just didn't like how high and mighty she was, while everyone hung on to her every word!"

"Sure," I said with a smirk.

"Don't make my life more difficult, Silver. I've seen how feral you can get. Anymore of that and those rumors of you being my kid will actually spread even faster."

"It's not like I'm trying to do this. Everyone, including you, it way too interested in me. Leave me alone."

"Nah. I'll pass. Enjoy your boat ride. Tell Green I said hi and thank her for keeping you in check."

"Fuck you."

With that, I pocketed my gear and ignored Green's huge grin.

Lance didn't message Green and I often but admittedly, it was pretty nice to talk to him.

I would never let him know that but he was chill...

Speaking of which.

"Hey Jasmine, does Skarmy know Stealth Rock?" I asked, watching Green peer curiously over my shoulder.

As per usual, Jasmine instantly read my message. I'm beginning to think she had a special notification for me.

"Uhm... no? Skarmy doesn't know Stealth Rock."

"How about Toxic?" I asked instead.

"...No? Silver why the sudden interrogation on Skarmy? I would have expected this with Empy, not her."

"Spikes and Roost?"

"...Yes she has Spikes and Roost."

"Perfect. Alright, here's what I want you to do in your quest of becoming the strongest Gym Leader in Johto and Kanto."

"I-I thought it was just Johto?"

"When did I say that?"

Green laughed and I turned towards her.

"You know this is in the group chat right?" I asked her, pointing at the icon that had 4 names in it.

Don't ask. It clearly wasn't my idea to make a group chat, it was Green's so now there was a group chat between the three of us and recently, my dear dumb companion had the bright idea to add Lance to it.

He didn't type much but he tended to leave his reactions to anything funny, or drop random pictures of his newly hatched Dratini doing ridiculous things...

He was such a dork.

"Yeah but I just wanna read!" Green beamed.

"So... so use your gear?" I pointed out in confusion.

"Nope!"

"Okay... I'll teach Skarmy Stealth Rocks and Toxic, but what for?"

"Perfect. From now on, I want you to send out Skarmy and I want you to use all those moves I mentioned to set up the worst field possible for your opponent."

"...Silver I just felt a shiver crawl down my spine. I feel deeply disturbed."

"Good. Imagine how they'll feel. You also need to get another hard hitter. Your team is super defensive."

"It's occurring to me that you're giving a Gym Leader advice and it's very terrifying advice too," Green pointed out, shivering herself.

I smirked as I saw Lance react to my advice with a thumbs up. "Of course. I gotta help her become more ruthless."

"Okay... I've been thinking of getting two new members. I'll have to look into them. Thank you for the advice."

"Course. Talk to you later."

With that I pocketed my Gear.

"The group chat is one of the best ideas I made yet!" Green gushed.

I snorted. It wasn't a terrible idea, made it easier to talk to them all.

"We're almost to Vermilion. Still haven't thought of anything to do?" I mused.

"Ash should be making it to Vermilion in the next few days, maybe I'll watch his gym battle," Green decided.

"Have fun with that," I grunted. "I don't feel like watching his battle so I'll pass."

She nodded. "Alright! In the meantime, we'll just do some light training!"

I nodded easily enough and Green beamed at me.

We had about another hour before Vermilion was in sight so we just focused on reaching it by getting on our bikes (or skates for me).

"I want skates," Green complained, looking at me jealously.

"Do you even know how to skate?" I asked curiously, idly gliding across the floor and adjusting my speed as I needed to.

"No! But you could teach me!" she exclaimed like it were obvious.

I snorted abruptly. Leave it to Green to just assume I'd teach her how to skate.

She had a lot of nerve but honestly, I wouldn't mind teaching her.

A comfortable lull followed suit and it didn't take long for the familiar sight of Vermilion City to come into view.

The familiar scent of the sea brushed against my nose and I easily ignored it, making my way into the city and noting that somehow, it was even busier than last time.

"We should get a room first," Green decided, gazing at the plethora of people with shock in her eyes.

"Good idea," I grunted, narrowing my eyes at the crowd.

Without any hesitation, I grabbed Green's arm and began mowing my way through the crowd.

She let out a yelp at the sudden movement and watched with wide eyes as I shoved someone out of the way... and then another... and then another.

"Move it," I scowled to the idiots in my way, ignoring their startled yells as I pushed through.

"S-Sorry!" Green apologized to them in return.

This happened for a few minutes, me shoving someone out of the way and Green apologizing for my actions, until we made it to the Pokemon Center.

"You are honestly so unbelievable," Green muttered, burning red in embarrassment at my antics.

"We got here fast didn't we?" I snorted, making my way to the front desk.

The Nurse Joy looked tired but she hid it rather masterfully, I was just good at spotting the little things on peoples features.

"Hello, welcome to the Pokemon Center!" She beamed.

"Hey, we're here to get a room," I said bluntly.

I did not like the look in her eyes.

It was apologetic and I let out an annoyed sigh.

I knew what that meant.

"Since the city is so packed, we have to share a room, right?" I asked with a roll of my eyes.

Joy blinked. "Why… yes. It's very busy so for the sake of saving space, trainers traveling together are made to share rooms."

Pokemon Centers were practically hotels. They were gigantic in nature but they were only exclusive to trainers.

Anyone could use them, but only registered trainers could sign in and sleep in their buildings…

Which meant that a lot of the people here were trainers. There were certainly also citizens joining the boat ride but the sheer amount of trainers...

Interesting.

"That's fine with us. Here," I grunted, showing her Green's trainer id.

Green spluttered in disbelief and began patting herself down. "W-When did you even get that?!"

"Useless question. Not answering."

"You're just so terrible!"

A little bit of energy entered Joy's eyes at our interaction and she smiled, before gently taking the id out of my hand.

She scanned with her computer and eventually handed the card back to me (I shot her a smug grin that she returned rather playfully) before giving us the information to our rooms.

Green spluttered and shot Nurse Joy a betrayed look. "I-I can't believe you Nurse Joy! Don't encourage him!"

"What are you talking about, Leaf? She's just doing her job in the most efficient way possible. Don't bother her anymore then you have to," I chastised with a firm frown.

Nurse Joy giggled at our antics. "I'm sorry Green. You two are very entertaining and I decided to join on the fun."

Green shook her head insistently. "Don't get roped into his schemes! Before you know it, you'll start cursing and scowling and being rude and just an overall unpleasant person!"

I gazed at her a little incredulously. "You paint me out as some type of demon. I don't know if I should be flattered or offended."

"Just the fact that you think you should be flattered, shows that you are! You're like a little Gengar, constantly terrorizing people!" she argued.

I opened my mouth, before shutting it and nodding in agreement. "You know what? Fair."

Nurse Joy couldn't stop the sweat at that.

"Enjoy your stay here, you two," she said with a bright smile as we prepared to leave.

"Don't be afraid to curse out any rude trainers," I retorted, making my way to the room given to us.

"Yeah! Don't let them be rude to you!" Green agreed, waving to her.

She waved at the duo once more.

"What fun kids," she said to herself with a small smile.

---

"We'll stay here until the ship comes," I decided, throwing my bag on the bed.

"Alright!" Green hummed, following suit. "I'm gonna change into something more comfy."

"I'm gonna go buy things," I decided, removing my shirt to place one on that had half sleeves.

"…"

I raised a brow and glanced at Green in some confusion, noting that her gaze was not on my face.

No it was focused on my torso.

What? This wasn't the first time I've changed my shirt in front of her. Ash and Blue must have done it before because she never once blinked at my changing of shirts.

What was so awe inspiring this time?

I followed her gaze and blinked in realization at the prominent scar on my midsection.

"Oh this? Unfortunate run in," I told her, beckoning to the faded scar. "Foul tempered pokemon. Nearly died. Ares saved my life."

For some reason, she just frowned at that and nodded.

"...I'm glad you're alive, Silvy. Don't go dying on me yet okay? Because I'll cry a lot," she said finally, heading into the bathroom.

I watched her back with a stunned gaze.

What was with her? Why was she suddenly saying that?

…

I frowned myself and stood up.

I should go do that shopping stuff.

---

Actually… ever since I began traveling with Green, I realized I scarcely did things alone anymore.

My companion was very attached, content to always hang out with me and without realizing it, I began to kind of accept that from her…

I pursed my lips at that and gazed at the pair of green skates.

"...I'm glad you're alive, Silvy. Don't go dying on me yet okay because I'll cry a lot."

Idiot… this is why I didn't want to travel with a hero. They were all just too earnest and honest.

And I was not.

I effortlessly grabbed the skates and placed them in my bag in one smooth motion, knowing for a fact I didn't get spotted, before heading to the register to check out the weather resistant outfit I bought.

The black and violet outfit was somewhat heavy to hold but that was nothing to me considering how effective it was said to be against the weather.

Fuck you Hoenn. I'll be ready next time…

As I checked out my purchase, I forked over the money and accepted the receipt, ignoring how expensive it was due to the fact that this almost certainly wasn't the only one I now owned.

What?! You really thought I was only going to get one pair?! I'm not the type of person to wear the exact same outfit everyday like some characters.

I hadn't stolen anything in forever! This was my first since landing in Kanto!

There were different kinds! How could I not want to see which were most effective for me?

Nodding at my own justifications, I departed from the store and decided to head back to the Center to sort this stuff out.

"Zor," Loki muttered from his home inside my jacket.

"You've been having a great time inside my jacket these past few days. This your new resident?" I asked with an amused smile.

Loki nodded without hesitation, rustling about and getting a snort out of me.

"Feel free. We'll just be doing some light training until the boat ride and after, we can continue our pace."

Loki nodded and peaked his head out the hole to regard me.

This guy was so fucking adorable. This was unreasonable.

I ruffled Loki's tuft a bit and he leaned into my touch, before growing satisfied and ducking back into my jacket.

I smiled at his antics and made my way to the automatic doors of the Pokemon Center.

The moment the doors opened, my smile was wiped clean off my face.

"What the actual fuck—"

Wide crystalline blue eyes stared at me in utter panic that I matched in troves.

Those unnaturally blue hues were attached to a girl with a normal shade of blue hair, wearing a white jacket, a red shirt and yellow shorts.

The, quite frankly, awful getup was completely ignored by me because what the fuck?

Crystal… what the fuck was Crystal doing here?

"Y-You…" Crystal stammered in shock.

I stared dumbly at her, turned on a heel and walked away briskly.

"Are you serious? Did those freaks actually guess correctly what region I'd be going to?!" I thought to myself.

Not only did they guess correctly, they fucking followed me! They actually followed me instead of going through the Johto region?!

What the hell did that mean for Johto? Could they really afford to lose all three of their most vital trainers?

No forget that for a second. WHY DID THEY FOLLOW ME TO KANTO?!

Dammit all, what do I do now? Do I just go to a new region?

Yeah… yeah I could do that. Sinnoh sounded like a good idea. I could get started on ensuring nothing bad happened there. It was very close to Johto but I could make it work and there were things that I needed to check there anyways.

I could try Unova. Had a few more years for that one too.

Hell I could even go to Alola! Heard that was a great place for vacations and it was pretty damn close to Kanto.

I didn't have to be in Kanto to deal with Team Rocket. I could just get strong in another region and then come back to deal with them.

Alright, I somewhat remember Alola. I could just go there for now and deal with that littles girls hot and crazy mom. She shouldn't be a problem right now but you never know —

"Silvy? Are you alright?"

I paused at that and shut my eyes in realization.

If I left this region, I'd be leaving Green to the wolves. I wasn't so confident that she could handle all of Team Rocket alone and if Giovanni sent Mewtwo after her…

Green was one of my only friends. I wouldn't let one of my friends die…

I sighed and stopped, gazing at the worried Green with a neutral expression.

"I'm fine, Green. What's up?" I asked calmly.

She opened her mouth and shut it, gazing at the figure approaching behind me.

Crystal slowed in her gait behind me, expression shifting into one of confusion as she saw me conversating with Green.

"Oh is this a friend of yours?" Green asked obliviously, a wide grin on her face.

Crystal, who was about to deny such an absurd allegation, opened her mouth —

"Yeah, she is. It's been a while since we saw each other so we were gonna go catch up," I said easily, expression not betraying anything. "She was actually about to call our other friend, Gold so we could all get together like the old times."

I glanced at her, silver eyes boring into the girl.

Crystal caught my gaze and her eyes narrowed slightly, before realization dawned on her.

She was a lot smarter than she looked.

For some reason, she actually acquiesced with my silent request.

"U-Um yeah! I just shot him a message actually! We wanted to catch up in a more private area!" Crystal nodded with a shaky smile.

Green beamed innocently, holding out her hand. "Wow! If you're friends with Silvy, that must mean you're really impressive! I knew he was lying when he said he only had room for one!"

Crystal looked properly caught off guard by Green's excited energy but held out her own hand to greet the slightly taller girl.

"Nice to meet you, I'm Leaf Green but you can call me Green! I'm Silvy's traveling companion!" she beamed.

"Green?!" Crystal thought in disbelief.

"It's nice to meet you Green… are you perhaps one of Oak's trainers?" Crystal asked slowly.

Green nodded eagerly. "Yup! I had the highest points!"

I bet Crystal was probably thinking why on earth was one of Oak's trainers traveling with the thief who robbed Elm but she was probably more shocked at the fact that I even agreed to travel with someone... considering my status.

If she was as smart as she clearly didn't let on, she was probably beginning to realize that I had no intention of dragging Green into this.

Judging by the look in her eyes, she probably couldn't fathom the idea that I didn't want to risk someone else's being.

"I'm not gonna bother you guys for too long! I'll let you catch up! I'll be in the room, Silvy," Green exclaimed with a small smile.

I glanced over at her and nodded. "Sure. I'll see you later."

She nodded and waved at Crystal, before departing with a spring in her step.

"You better consider me a friend after this Silvy! Now that I know you'll accept more than one, I won't take any other answer but yes!"

Despite the situation, I couldn't keep the wry smirk off my face.

"Whatever you say, Leaf."

"GREEN! WE'RE FRIENDS SO CALL ME GREEN!"

"No."

She blew a raspberry at me and vanished.

Almost as soon as she did that, my somewhat friendly aura vanished and I turned towards Crystal.

Catching my shift in mood, she glared at me.

"Didn't expect you guys to follow me to Kanto," I said idly, turning on a heel and beginning to walk.

Predictably, Crystal followed after me, glancing warily at my back.

Idiot. She was lucky I was averse to killing kids else she'd really be in a lot of trouble. She should not be following me right now.

"Of course we did," Crystal said in a hushed whisper, letting out a surprising scoff. "We couldn't just let you get away with what you did."

I eyed her. "Then why are you being so secretive? Shouldn't you be calling someone?"

"Gold has my location and I texted him, he's coming soon," she replied like it were common sense.

I rolled my eyes. "I meant the authorities. I'm a criminal you know."

Crystal blinked at my deadpan tone, flushing a little. "You're Gold and my problem. We won't involve the authorities in this."

"How courageous," I said, walking into the empty clearing and turning to face her.

She glanced warily at me, hand never leaving the Pokeballs at her waist.

"Why did you want to leave Green behind so badly?" she asked warily.

"No need to drag her into this. She's innocent," I replied easily, boring my gaze into her and leaning against a tree.

"I alone am the one who did the misdeed so I'm your only target. You and Gold are my problem just like how I'm yours. This little game of ours can be kept between the three of us just like you intended it to be," I said calmly, never taking my eyes off of her.

---

Crystal couldn't keep the surprise off her features, hearing the thief speak.

"He's… protecting her?" Crystal thought in shock.

But… he had been so cruel before? What happened between the first time they met and now?

He was far more at ease, though the natural scowl was still on his face and those dangerous eyes of his, while still unsettling, didn't look at her like she were a Caterpie to be squashed.

Now, they just gazed at her like a predator who was in an advantageous position, waiting for an opportune moment to strike.

It was then that Crystal realized that following him here alone... might not have been the smartest idea.

He reminded her of a Weavile, those intelligent eyes peering at her with unnatural focus, daring her to make a mistake so he could lunge and sink his claws into her.

She bit her lip nervously but at least he didn't feel the need to attack her immediately.

In fact... he seemed pretty at ease with the entire situation. Perhaps he'd... be opening for questions?

Crystal couldn't keep the knowledge out of her head that Professor Elm mentioned this same boy screaming...

He looked so young, was he the same age as them? What could have possibly possessed him to go all the way to Johto, steal a pokemon and then flee to Kanto?

The curiosity (and slight concern) was just gnawing at her too much and she needed to ask.

Crystal nodded to herself and took a deep breath, focusing on the redhead across from her with a firm, albeit nervous, expression.

Hopefully Gold didn't come guns blazing immediately.

---

"She's uncomfortable," I noted, watching her shift in place slightly.

I was formulating plans of my next course of action. I didn't doubt my ability to get away from these two. Based on Blue and Green, I was confident that I just outclassed my age group in the physical department.

But even if I did that, it's not like I could remain in Kanto any longer. They knew I was here, so I'd probably just have to leave.

I furrowed my brows.

Now that I was thinking more rationally, Alola was a bust too. If I wanted to maintain anonymity, my best bet would be to go to one of those far away regions.

Guess Kalos or Galar wouldn't be bad to visit. They were quite far from Kanto and Johto, being on the other side of the world so I'd probably be pretty scott free there.

But that still left me with the shitty task of abandoning Green...

"Why did you take Chikorita?"

I perked a brow at that and focused in on Crystal curiously. Her brows were furrowed and she was staring at me with some confusion.

"Why?" I repeated.

She nodded her head. "You took Chikorita and a handful of supplies… but nothing else. Why didn't you take the other starters? Why didn't you take any important documents?"

"I didn't want them," I said bluntly, much to her surprise. "That's all. No point taking all three. Just one is fine enough."

"So you're a thief with class?" Crystal asked, unimpressed by my answer.

"Whatever you're expecting to hear from me, you aren't gonna hear it. I only wanted one of the starters," I said firmly.

"You hurt Elm," she pointed out with a scowl. "Why did you hurt him? Maybe you only took 1 because you didn't have enough time!"

"If I wanted to swipe all three, along with everything else in that lab, I would have done it and the result would have still been the same," I said blandly. "The only difference, is that you and your buddy wouldn't have known who I was this time around because there'd be no pokemon to snitch on me."

Crystal flinched at that, frowning at the truth of my words.

"Besides, it wasn't my intention to hurt that professor so badly," I admitted. "Glad he's not dead. Didn't wanna be accused of murder."

"...Why aren't you attacking me right now?" she asked finally.

I shrugged. "I hate repaying debts and you helped me with Green back there. My thanks is not knocking you unconscious immediately."

Crystal's brows furrowed in utter confusion and she gazed at me like I were an anomaly, unable to puzzle why I was doing the things I was doing.

Well, technically I was an anomaly.

Before Crystal could further question me (she was probably surprised that I was being so compliant), a rush of footsteps caught both our attention and I watched as Gold himself burst into the clearing.

His golden eyes were wide in protective fury… Quilava by his side and Aipom on his shoulder, as he took in the scene.

Gold's fury turned into confusion, at seeing me and Crystal not tearing into each other.

For once, Crystal almost groaned in annoyance at seeing Gold because I had immediately gone stiff at the sight of him showing up.

I couldn't blame her. Crystal was the type of person who wanted answers to the questions running through her head. She was probably frustrated that I didn't fully answer them all yet.

Oh well.

"Look who finally showed up," I said, pushing myself off the tree as Loki jumped out my jacket. "Hey stalker. Did your first loss mess you up that bad?"

Predictably, Gold and his team scowled ferociously at me.

Crystal did groan this time.

Looks like peace talks were officially off the table.

She was getting so much information in such a peaceful way too… she probably wasn't expecting me to be so civil.

"Finally found you! See Crys, you were right! He really was in Kanto," Gold exclaimed with a glare, his sunny eyes peering into my own.

I hummed at that. "So you're the brains of this," I said, peering at Crystal with an impressed eye. "How'd you figure that out?"

"...Your dialect. It's distinctively Kantonian… and you mentioned that we'd never see each other again… I took a gamble and assumed you'd go back to Kanto," she said eventually.

That was damn smart of her. Couldn't even be mad. That was my fault for slipping up. I made a lot of mistakes early on in my life that I wouldn't dream of making now but all you could do was roll with what you had.

Didn't even realize I had Kanto dialect, though I guess my speech was more refined than these two.

I didn't give them enough credit. Crystal in particular, was someone I heavily underestimated.

"So the one I should have been paying attention to was you," I commented, gazing at Crystal with a tilted head. "You didn't impress me at all in our first meeting but you refusing to battle was just you showcasing your intelligence... unlike someone."

Predictably, Gold snarled and took a threatening step forward, much to Crystal's exasperation.

She held a hand in front of Gold and he gazed at her incredulously, going silent as she gazed pointedly at him.

To no one's surprise, he settled down and stepped back.

"Who's a good boy?" I mocked.

Crystal let out a sigh as Gold nearly exploded again. "Could you stop antagonizing him please? I just want to figure things out."

I rolled my eyes but went silent, peering down at Crystal's shadow with a narrowed gaze.

To my surprise, it shuddered slightly and a portion of it seemed to shrink away from me.

A ghost? Right... Crystal mentioned having a Misdreavus.

Quilava growled at me and I watched with a bored gaze as one of Crystal's pokeballs rustled heavily, before a Croconaw burst out of the pokeball.

The crocodile was staring at me with far more venom than Quilava was and I rested my gaze on it challengingly, daring it to take the steps.

It almost seemed glad that I was challenging it to do so and the water type took a step forward, right before pausing at the look in Crystal's eyes.

I couldn't keep the amusement off my face, as my own pokeball began rustling and I tapped the button, releasing Gaia out of hers.

At once, the final of the Johto starters revealed herself like the queen she was and I watched as the middle stage evolutions all stared at each other in clear surprise and delight.

At least one good thing came out of this. Gaia was happy to see her childhood friends and if she was happy, then I could be somewhat pleased in this shitty situation.

My Bayleef let out a noise of joy, at seeing both the Quilava and Croconaw and I watched the trio begin interacting with an interested gaze.

Fine, let them at least catch up. Then I'd finally figure out what they wanted and set my plan into motion.

I sighed. If only I could use those latent psychic powers to make them forget me.

---

"Toto! Cynda!" Gaia cheered, gazing at her fellow starters with joy in her eyes. "It's been so long! How are you guys?"

Quilava and Croconaw looked surprised by her joy. "Chiko! We've been looking everywhere for you!" Quilava stated in relief.

Gaia tilted her head. "You were looking everywhere for me?" she asked. "Why?"

Croconaw blinked in shock and pointed a hand at the thief. "Because that shit eating asshole stole you! That's why!" he snarled.

Gaia's gaze immediately darkened.

"Hey, don't you dare talk about him like that. He's my trainer and I'm glad he took me. I love him and he loves me so I don't want anyone else," she warned with narrowed eyes.

Gaia stressed her point by making her way over to the amused Silver, sighing in bliss as he instinctively reached out and pat her leaf gently.

"What…?!" Quilava stated in shock, not expecting her to so willingly go back to the thief.

"That's bullshit, Chiko!" Croconaw balked. "Stay with him? Are you serious?!"

Gaia sniffed. "I'm dead serious. He's the only trainer I will ever acknowledge as my own and if you have a problem with that, then I have a problem with you."

"Well that's not what I expected," Aipom mused, putting a stub to his chin. "I was expecting to kick this guys ass and save the stolen Chikorita… but what do we do now that she doesn't wanna come back? Do we kick ass anyways?"

"Shut up Ataro," Croconaw and Quilava stressed, not in the mood for his antics.

Ataro shrugged helplessly. He was just pointing out the facts!

Quilava instinctively growled, as a familiar black figure poked its head out of the thief's jacket.

Loki stared at them with an uninterested gaze, frowning slightly as he prepped up an illusion that would help Silver escape in case it was needed.

"Gaia's not going back with you guys so stop trying to force her," Loki said bluntly. "She's happy with us, so she's staying with us."

Quilava scowled at that. "What did you do to Chiko?!"

"Nothing. She's been on our side since the start. Why do you think when we had that run in earlier, she didn't reveal that she was with us? And her names Gaia, not Chiko," Loki said derisively.

Both Quilava and Croconaw froze at the truth of his statement.

Why didn't she reveal that she was with him? It hadn't been that long since he got her… but she had remained in her pokeball, not giving away that she was with the thief at all!

"That's because I already chose him as my trainer at that point! It's not like anyone actually wanted me," Gaia frowned bitterly. "He picked me over you two! Silver listened to my struggles and problems and decided he'd make everyone regret looking down on me and he's been doing a great job!"

"No one's looking down on you, Chiko!" Quilava said placatingly, wincing at the ferocious glare turned onto him.

"I wasn't even going to get a trainer this year! There were only two choices and Chikorita's are always the last choice! Don't try and feed me your bullshit, Cynda!" she scowled.

Vines snaked out of her warningly. "Cynda… Toto… I'm happy you guys are so worried about me, but you don't have to be. I love my trainer as much as you two love yours so if you try to take me away from him, I'm going to hurt you really bad," she finished.

The two looked at her apologetic, yet firm resolve, with shock.

She… really wasn't planning on coming back?

"Well you heard the lady, Explotaro," Ataro said with a shrug. "She found her home. We're no better than he is if we drag her from it."

Explotaro wanted to protest. Croconaw already was… but it was moot. Ataro was right…

"So… you're happy with him?" Explotaro asked tentatively.

"I'm the happiest I've ever been! I have so much fun with all of them!" Gaia exclaimed happily, leaning into Silver's touch.

"But!" Croconaw protested, looking dearly like he wanted to protest further.

"That's enough, Totoree," Misdreavus sighed, materializing from Crystal's shadow.

She eyed Silver like he were death itself, wariness firm in her stance but she couldn't avoid him any longer because they needed to hear what she had to say.

"She's serious about staying with him. It doesn't matter the circumstances. She chose him as her trainer just like we chose our trainers. Can't you see? He didn't force her to do anything. There's no convincing her," Misdreavus said firmly, floating behind Crystal to avoid Silver's unnerving gaze.

"See! Misteree agrees with me! I knew she would!" Ataro exclaimed with a smug smile.

"Shut up, Ataro," Misteree said bluntly.

---

"Seems like they had quite the conversation," I mused, wishing Metang were out to translate for me.

I could kinda tell based on body language though and I basically understood everything Gaia and Loki said.

Gaia, to no one's surprise but these two across from me, wanted to stay with me.

It made sense. I treated her like the princess she was, she was strong under my care and above all, she was loved and appreciated unlike whoever the third trainer, who deemed themselves unlucky to get her, would have treated her.

Judging by the look of shock on Gold and Crystal's faces… they were not expecting this outcome at all. They thought that I was surely abusing Gaia and forcing her to do whatever it was I wanted.

The idea that she loved being with me probably never struck them. The thought that Gaia was always on my side must have been a foreign concept.

"You want Gaia back, right?" I asked knowingly. "If she agrees to go back, I will let her go. I'm not willing to use a pokemon who's unhappy with the way I run things. Not effective enough."

That's why I didn't bother kicking a random wild pokemon's ass and catching them. I'd much rather figure out if our wills aligned before capturing them. Less waste of a time.

I would ignore what I did to Metang.

Gaia scowled ferociously and rounded on me, headbutting my midsection.

"Bay! Leaf bay!" She ranted, glaring at me.

"Yeah I know you're plenty happy with me, girl," I rolled, rubbing her on the head to appease her. "I was just saying that to show them that I won't cause a fuss if you weren't happy."

"Bay," she grumbled, accepting my words with a suspicious glare.

I shot her a wry smirk, before focusing on the two.

"Well that's that. If you two want her back, I'll have to battle you with everything I've got. Unfortunately, I'm not planning on giving up Gaia that easily," I said with a shrug.

Loki leapt out of my jacket, poised for battle and Gaia got ready as well.

My eyes were narrowed now, poised for battle against the two formidable trainers.

Despite my earlier worries back when I was in Johto… I didn't feel any of that fear now.

I was talented. I was great at battling. These two were as well… but they weren't as good as I was.

Each of them had three pokeballs. It was a 6 on 5 but I'm confident I could win this battle.

"I'm not giving Gaia up and I'm not turning myself in for what I did. There's no compromise we can reach so let's get this over with," I grunted, eyes narrowed as I brushed a hand against my remaining team.

Gold went stiff and his eyes narrowed, while Ataro and Quilava both growled warningly.

"Wait!"

Both Gold and I paused at that, gaining looks of confusion as we gazed at the stern Crystal.

"Silvy," Crystal said slowly, cautiously.

My eye twitched at that.

"We don't want to report you to the authorities… Gold and I just want to talk," she said civilly.

I said nothing, staring suspiciously.

"After seeing how happy Bayleef —"

"Gaia," I corrected.

"Gaia. After seeing how happy Gaia is with you… and from our conversation, I don't think you're all that bad," Crystal said tentatively, trying not to set me off with the wrong words.

Gold looked at her in some surprise, likely not expecting her to go this route but he took a step back and let the blue eyed girl take the reigns of the conversation.

"You said you didn't mean to hurt the Professor that bad… and you only took necessary items for survival… why?" she asked hesitantly.

I stared at her, puzzled. What game were they playing at right now?

Here I was, planning for battle… yet now I was just confused. Was this a trap?

"You answered your question already," I pointed out, crossing my arms and not letting my guard down for a second. "I took them to survive. That's all. Only two of you were selected to be Elm's trainer this year right? No one was getting the third pokemon anyways and I doubt either of you were going to pick Gaia."

"Is that why he raided Elm instead of Oak despite being from Kanto?" Gold thought, finally looking at Silver as something besides the thief.

Crystal gazed at the violent redhead… the thief who had no regards for how his words hurt people… and recalled the thought of how he might have ties with Team Rocket...

"Are you, trying to survive because of Team Rocket? Are you being targeted by them?" she asked quietly, gazing at me like I wasn't the violent redhead who flipped her boyfriend onto his back... or the guy who sent their dearest professor to the lab.

No, she was pitying me.

I instinctively went stiff at that and a heinous expression crossed my features.

Neither missed it.

"Are you alright?" Crystal asked in worry, unable to stamp the concern that someone the same age as them felt the need to go to such lengths to protect themselves.

"I don't think you're a bad person. You can't be with how much Gaia loves you!"

"Cut the bullshit," I scowled, rolling my eyes. "Let's not suddenly pretend like we're friends. Asking if I'm alright? What are you two playing at?"

Crystal's eyes widened and she held up her hands. "We're not planning anything! I'm serious!"

"I don't fucking believe you," I said bluntly, eyes narrowed. "I'm a criminal. You know it, I know it. You didn't come to Kanto to talk to me. You came to capture me stop trying to beat around the bush and get to the part where you try to capture me."

"W-Well… we did but," Crystal trailed off.

"But all of a sudden you pity me," I scowled ferociously, eyes lit in fury. "I don't need your pity. I don't want your pity. Hurry up and send out your team, so we can battle and I can disappear."

Who the hell told these two to suddenly start pitying me? In what world did they think I was some type of weakling, reaching out with my arms and begging someone to grab it?

Were they dumb? Were these assholes patronizing me?!

"We're not pitying you, dumbass."

I paused at that, looking into the molten eyes of Gold.

They were narrowed in determination and he shook his head fiercely.

"This has nothing to do with that! Gaia chose you as her trainer, just like Explotaro chose me and Totoree chose Crys! Yeah you stole her, but she still loves you despite that detail so we'd be just as bad as you, if we stole her from her home!" Gold exclaimed.

I said nothing at that, stunned silent.

"It would be no better if we turned you in either because not only would she lose her home, the rest of your team would lose it too! If you're team loves you like Gaia does, then you aren't the bad guy you're trying to make yourself out to be," he said, pointing a sure finger at me.

"Whether you like it or not, our paths are connected and dammit, you're one of the only trainers to beat me in a battle, so I'm not gonna let you throw your life away to Team Rocket before I can get my revenge on you!"

Those eyes of his, almost the complete opposite of mine… continued glaring at me with a nauseating amount of emotional intelligence.

...He and Ash really were quite similar. They'd probably get along great.

"You have your reasons for doing what you did… and I definitely don't agree with the method, but Professor Elm is fine and Gaia is happy… so as far as I'm concerned, if your reasoning for doing this has to do with Team Rocket, then you can't be this terrible criminal! Do you think you're a terrible criminal?"

"…" I said nothing at that.

"You said you didn't mean to hurt Elm... and he didn't seem all that mad at you. I think he knows what's happening to you and... and I think I know too," Crystal interjected quietly. "Everyone's not your enemy, Silvy. At the very least, I'm not your enemy," she said strongly.

...

I clenched my fist at that, eyes darting rapidly between the two as my heartbeat picked up and my blood started pumping.

I didn't believe them. Not for a damn second. I didn't believe anything they had to say.

"So what? You don't want to capture me anymore?" I asked eventually, ready to bolt at a moments notice.

Loki looked up at me in visible concern, seeming to notice the distress I was suddenly in and he whispered a quiet "Zor?" to me.

I ignored it, eyes too focused on the two across from me.

"Nope. I got no interest in turning you in," Gold said resolutely. "I don't think you deserve to lose your team… I don't think you should be locked up. I think you should keep training and getting stronger, so that when I beat you in a battle, it'll be way satisfying."

Crystal stepped up. "I… saw the way you talked to Green and you protected her when you had no reason to. I don't think you're a bad person, Silvy… if we tried to capture you here, you'd just escape… how would Green feel about that? You care about her, right?"

…

"Can't trust. Can't trust. Can't trust."

Before I could go scorched earth and deny everything they were about to say, a vine snaked around my hand and temporarily dissuaded me from making a terrible move.

My heart beat started settling as I gazed at Gaia and she looked up at me with a patient expression, that made my flight or fight sense slowly go away.

I could already tell what she was saying with just her gaze alone and finally, I took a deep breath that turned a bit shaky as she wrapped me up in a hug.

Finally, I let my guard drop slightly and nodded to her.

"You understand that you two are the only ones who know I'm a criminal, right?" I said eventually.

"Let's keep it that way!" Gold grinned cockily.

Crystal nodded slowly, gazing at me with inscrutable eyes. "We may have had a terrible first meeting… but that doesn't have to define all of our meetings. I think you're just misunderstood, Silvy."

"…" I sighed in defeat. "It's Silver. My name is Silver. Silvy is Green's annoying ass nickname for me and she's the only one I'm willing to let call me that."

"Silver…" Gold tested the name on his lips and nodded.

"I'm Crystal and this is Gold, we grew up together," Crystal smiled patiently. "We've been neighbors our whole life."

"Cute," I said flatly, feeling unexpectedly drained.

I just wanted to sleep until the boat ride.

If the two noticed my less than stellar personality, they didn't mention it.

"I honestly wasn't expecting our first meeting to go that well," Gold shrugged truthfully.

"It's because I ran into him alone," Crystal said. "If you were here from the start, I don't think it would have gone this well."

I grunted, watching as Gaia happily trotted up to Quilava and Croconaw. The Croconaw was still shooting me the evil eye, but focused more on his found friend.

"So what do you want from me?" I asked bluntly.

The two flinched, caught off guard by straightforward attitude.

"We don't want anything from you… we just don't want you to deal with Team Rocket alone," Crystal explained.

"It's not like you're traveling with me. How do you think you're going to prevent that?" I retorted, beckoning Gaia over so that we could prepare to leave.

"...We need to put more thought into this. I wasn't expecting our plans to change so drastically," Crystal said a bit sheepishly. "I thought you'd be a lot more unreasonable."

"Can't say I blame you," I muttered, beginning the trek back to Vermilion.

"You're not the type to ever ask for help… so I'll never offer it," Gold said bluntly. "If I think you need help though, I'm going to help you. Whether you like it or not."

I twitched at that. "You aren't strong enough to be worrying about my safety. Worry about your own," I scoffed.

"Where are you going?" Crystal asked curiously.

"Back to Green. She'll start to worry if I'm gone too long," I said truthfully.

"You don't wanna battle?" Gold frowned.

"No, we agreed to take it easy until the boat ride. You'll lose anyways and I'm tired," I replied simply.

Gold gained a tick at that. "I've gotten way stronger, asshole! This battle will be different!"

"I doubt it. Besides, I'd rather battle Crystal."

Crystal perked up at that. "Me? Why?"

I shrugged. "I didn't give you enough credit."

She flushed at that. "You're a lot less… of an ass. You've changed a lot."

"Shut the fuck up. Why are you following me?"

Crystal sweatdropped.

"We're going the same way, might as well!" Gold grinned leisurely.

"Did you say you're waiting for the boat ride? The S.S Anne?" Crystal asked curiously.

I eyed them. "Yeah."

"We are too!" Gold grinned. "Not bad! You really are getting stronger!"

I snorted. "I should be saying that to you."

As they badgered me on the way back to Vermilion, I acknowledged the swell of relief in my chest.

I… was thankful that I didn't have to leave anyone behind. I wouldn't lie to myself and deny that… If I had to leave behind Jasmine and even Green… it would suck.

They were my friends and I don't think I ever had friends before because… it felt really nice to have them.

So yeah, I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and tell these two to fuck off… because I wasn't that stupid (I ignored the fact that for a moment, I was about to be that stupid). I understand that Gold and Crystal had the most potential to screw my life over…

So to know that they had no intentions of reporting me…

Huh, guess being a hero wasn't all that terrible if these two were indication. Bleeding hearts of gold did a lot for me…

Guess keeping these two on my good side was imperative.

What a thought.

---

…

Green removed herself from the tree that was hiding her from Silver, Gold and Crystal's line of sight with an expressionless face.

She had followed him for one reason and one reason only...

Because during their conversation, he had called her Green while directly speaking to her. Silvy only called her Green when he was talking to someone else... not her.

It meant one thing... Silver was too distressed to consciously mess with her. When he wasn't consciously doing so, he more often than not referred to her as Green... but he was always conscious of that detail when speaking to her...

So she followed him and what she heard was...

Silvy was… Silvy was a criminal. Silvy was the one who stole Gaia from Elm's lab… and Silvy was the one who hurt him really badly.

The shock of the situation caught up to her and she gripped her dress with a distraught expression.

He lied to her!

Silvy… told her that he found Gaia in the wild but he lied! H-He stole her and sent someone to the hospital while he was at it…

Green didn't even realize the tears welling in her eyes…

Silvy… Silver lied to her.

"He lied to me! How could he lie to me? I-I thought we were friends!" Green wailed in despair.

She lost the power to support herself and collapsed, tears falling freely as she let out a sob.

Green was just a fool. A dumb fool! She put her trust in someone that clearly didn't want to be trusted and she was too blind to see that!

H-How could Silver do this to her?! Leading her on and making her think that they could actually be f-friends?! He was...

That was so cruel of him! Why would he pretend to care about what she had to say? Was he just entertaining a dumb girl that he was eventually going to abandon...?

She hated him... she hated Silver. She hated him because he was a liar and he tricked her a-and he made her actually believe that they were friends.

Green let out another sharp wail and curled into herself, prompting Vee to finally take action.

Vee looked at the heartbroken Green in sorrow.

"Vee," he said patiently, nudging his head against her belly.

What?

Green sniffed and gazed at her first pokemon with those wide teary eyes.

"Eev, eev vee," Vee explained to her with a frown.

"Silver's just trying to protect me?" Green asked quietly, trying her best to wipe the tears and failing miserably.

Vee nodded and her lips wobbled again.

"Protect me...? He was... protecting me?" she said unsuredly, trying to calm down her errant emotions to think about it more.

R-Right… when Crystal asked why he wanted her gone so badly… Silvy said it was because Green had nothing to do with this and that she was innocent…

"He was trying to stop me from being an unknowing accomplice," Green said in realization, using her dress to wipe her face.

If it was ever revealed that he was a thief... of course another prime suspect would be his traveling companion!

T-That's why he didn't want to travel with her at first… that's why he kept pushing her away! In his own awkward way... Silver was trying to make sure Green didn't incriminate herself without revealing his status as a criminal...

The only reason he conceded in letting her travel with him… was because she mentioned that she was being targeted by Team Rocket…

Just like he was.

Green wiped her tears hastily as more and more revelations were revealed to her from all the dots she began suddenly connecting.

Now that she was no longer heartbroken at the revelation that Silvy had been lying… Green was able to delve deeper into the contents of that conversation…

No, she was able to delve into anything involving Silver that didn't make much sense to her before and when she did, it caused her to come to a horrible realization.

Silvy was being targeted by Team Rocket… because he was in Team Rocket.

And if she was right about Silvy being in Team Rocket… then that meant one thing.

Giovanni was in Team Rocket too.

Not only was Silver in Team Rocket and trying to get out of it… Giovanni himself was trying to make sure that didn't happen.

Silver wasn't just being targeted by Team Rocket… he was being targeted by the strongest gym leader in the region!

Green felt a strong vertigo hit her at that and she collapsed on her butt once more, an intense look of concern crossing her features.

Giovanni was in Team Rocket? Was that true...? How could she be so sure of that?

...Silver was sponsored by the Viridian Gym... more specifically Giovanni. That's what Lance had said.

Everything made sense now. Silvy knew about the mole in the League… but he didn't reveal it because it would have put him in danger too... because he was sponsored by the mole.

And tied with the fact that he took Gaia to protect himself... he was assuming that it would be a giant snowball effect if they even figured one thing out.

"He has expectations for me that I have no interest in following. Unfortunately, he doesn't take no for an answer and that really pisses me off."

"I don't care. At least he has a good family to complain about. It really pisses me off seeing someone get gifted everything they could ask for and they're still unsatisfied with their life. What a sickening mindset."

"Oh Silvy…" Green teared up again, holding her heart as she finally began to understand things about him that he probably didn't want anyone to know.

Even after being forced into Team Rocket… her companion was still so much better than he gave himself credit for.

He stole Gaia, yet she loved him with all her heart, to the point where she readily lied with him about where he found her…

He was so kind to his team and even though his words came off harsh, there was also advice layered deep within it if you just peeled off the prickly shell that he was using as a defense mechanism.

Even now, he was clearly trying to deal with Team Rocket alone and didn't want to drag her into it… only relenting because she was being targeted by them too…

Silvy was…

"He's such a good friend!" Green sobbed, curling into herself.

She couldn't believe she had been about to forsake him! Silver was her friend and he actually cared for her!

He was so nice to his team and they all loved him and damnit, Green did too!

"You're right Vee!" Green exclaimed, wiping her eyes with a grin of determination. "We're gonna get as strong as possible and we're gonna help Silvy deal with Team Rocket… for now, we'll keep this to ourselves! We'll talk to him after the boat ride."

Vee nodded, relieved that she was out of her state of hysteria.

Green looked properly fired up, a genuine goal in her head that wasn't just becoming the strongest trainer alive.

"Silvy is Green's annoying ass nickname for me and she's the only one I'm willing to let call me that."

...Silvy was her friend. He really did think she was his friend so just like how he was protecting her… Green would protect him too.

---

"So you guys heard that right?" Vee asked.

Saury grunted. "Yeah. "

"What are we to do?" Lapee frowned in contemplation.

Larvee had a confused expression on her face. "What's going on? Why are we so serious?"

Togee sighed solemnly. "We're talking about how we're going to murder that shitfaced— I mean Silver. Since we're all so close to him, I can reluctantly be the one who kills him."

Larvee gained an expression of horror. "We're killing Silver?! But why?! He gives me snackies!"

"It needs to be done. He made Leaf cry," Togee said sagely.

The Togepi let out yelp of terror, as a vine snaked around him warningly.

"Enough of that," Saury said calmly. "We are not killing Silver. We are not killing anyone."

The Ivysaur gazed at them all, effortlessly taking command of the conversation.

"Based on what we heard, Silver is being targeted by that Team Rocket just like we are. It's to our benefit to continue working with him," Saury informed them.

Vee nodded in agreement, clambering atop Lapee's shell with a sigh. "Silver's not a bad guy. He's definitely not," the Eevee said surely.

Lapee hummed, agreeing with them both. "He's rough around the edges but Silver's been nothing but kind to us and Green loves being around him. I don't have any complaints if we continue as normal."

"We have no reason to consider him our enemy. I've kept an eye on him and he's earned my trust," Saury grunted.

"Yay! I don't wanna kill Silvy," Larvee beamed. "He's nice, pats me and gives me snacks and he has Freyja too!"

"I agree. I quite like Silver," Lapee smiled.

Togee groaned in annoyance, all pretenses dropped as he gloomily glared at nothing. "Bummer. I was hoping we could kill him and that dragon of his in his sleep."

"Togee," Lapee chided gently.

"That would explain Togee's less than stellar personality," Vee sighed lazily.

Togee perked up at that. "What are you talking about?" he asked suspiciously.

Saury glanced over at the Togepi. "You were Silver's egg. Green hatched you by mistake."

Vee resisted the urge to snicker, as a look of horror crossed Togee's features. "You act just like him. How could you not tell?"

Togee had a look of horror on his face and Green's team was beginning to realize that the little baby really didn't realize he was practically Silver in pokemon form.

"Oh yeah!" Larvee said in realization. "Silvy's basically your dad!"

Even Saury was unable to stop the smile, at hearing Togee's scream of anguish.

---

I glared at my Pokegear, trying to burn it alive with my gaze alone.

Why?

Because it had two additional numbers on it.

It didn't take a genius to figure out who it was.

Crystal insisted that we exchange numbers and I of course denied that heavily…

But that damn Crystal said I already mentioned to Green that we were friends so it'd be suspicious if I didn't at least have their numbers recorded.

...She was smart.

My contactless phone, now had the numbers of a lot more people than I ever intended it to have and just about all of them were notable in some way.

I sighed and pocketed my Pokegear, choosing not to dwell on it. Having two additional numbers was probably the best case scenario for me compared to what else could have happened to me.

Well whatever. At least I didn't have to leave to like Kalos or Galar or something. I wanted to go there without being forced and they probably had a while before whatever tragedy struck their region happened. I didn't know what tragedy was gonna strike Galar but it didn't take a genius to know that one was going to strike it.

I had time.

My gaze shifted to the door, as Green quietly opened and slunk into the room.

She was surprisingly very quiet when she wanted to be. It was pretty jarring to know my hyperactive friend was stealthy —

My eyes narrowed and I abruptly stood up.

"You were crying," I said bluntly.

"Shit!" Green froze at that, red rimmed eyes wide, as she gazed at me with a shocked expression.

My eyes were narrowed suspiciously. It's not like I was naturally curious but I hated having questions unanswered and this was a question that needed to be answered.

Being confused was one thing I really disliked. The more in control I was, the more at ease I could be.

"I thought my small bathroom break was good enough at hiding the fact that I was crying... but he's really observant."

I stared at Green, wondering what was going through her head and hummed.

"What happened? Who made you cry?" I asked with furrowed brows.

She shook her head rapidly. "No one made me cry, Silvy! I was just a little upset earlier but Vee helped me out."

I gazed at her suspiciously but dropped it.

If Green wanted to talk about it, she would talk about it. It was in her blood to get things off her chest so I saw no reason to pressure her about it…

But since she had been crying...

I rustled in my bag and pulled the skates out, before handing them over to Green.

"Here. You can learn how to use them by watching me tomorrow," I said bluntly, dropping the green skates in her hand.

Green gazed at the gifts with wide eyes, repeatedly looking at me and then the skates and then me again.

"You got these… for me?" she asked hesitantly.

"You wanted to learn how to skate right?" I raised a brow.

Green said nothing for a while, before she let out a squeal of happiness and tackled me to the ground.

"!"

"You're the best, Silvy! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!" Green exclaimed happily, wrapping me in a tight hug.

I grunted at the hug but just shook my head. "Whatever."

"Do you think I can learn how to use them before the boat ride?"

"It's in a few days, so yeah. I got it down fairly easily so you should too."

Green was actually more nimble than I was so something like skates would be right up her alley.

"Okay! Let's go practice tomorrow while our team does light training!"

"Alright."

"And don't think I forgot that you called other people your friend before calling me that! From now on you'll call me your friend too!"

"Sure."

"...Why did you concede so easily?"

"I've gained the right amount of fulfillment from tormenting you on that subject. I can just torment you in other ways, Leaf."

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST CALL ME GREEN?!"

"See?"

---

The days had passed by quickly and the time for Green and I to board the S.S Anne had finally arrived.

It had been largely uneventful. There had been one day where Green had gone to go watch Ash's gym battle and she told me all about it.

Apparently he had actually won on his first try, using his Pikachu and abusing the fact that it was faster than the Raichu by a good margin.

...First try? Didn't he lose on his first try?

Huh, well look at that. I guess our battle really did motivate him and he had Brock with him too. That was a gold mine right there.

That reminded me of something else actually... it happened about a day ago.

---

"Silvy they arrested that Damian guy."

I snorted at that, turning towards the pajama wearing Green scrolling through her Pokegear.

"Yeah?"

Green nodded. "After I reported him, they kept silent about him but recently, a Nurse Joy reported that he abandoned his Charmander to die in the rain."

I raised a brow. "Attempted murder on Pokemon is a serious offense. What was he thinking?"

I didn't think he'd be a huge dumbass in this world too. Pokemon were quite protected by the laws and doing something like abusing your own pokemon, was immediate grounds to being detained.

To think that he'd still go through with it was awe inspiring. Good riddance.

She scowled ferociously. "Yeah, he's been completely stripped of his status as a trainer and thrown in jail for now. Thankfully, Ash was able to save the Charmander before its injuries got fatal."

I mulled that over. "I guess it's a good thing we reported him. That dude is a serious problem."

She nodded. "I feel bad for that Charmander but... if Ash was able to save him then that's the best we can ask for."

"Did he catch it?" I asked boredly, reaching out and popping one of the Pokeblocks in my mouth.

They were pretty good.

"Yeah and get this! He has a Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle!" Green exclaimed with wide eyes. "Can you believe it? He missed a starter and ended up getting all three!"

I snorted. "He's lucky, just like you. Maybe that's something all you Pallet kids have in common."

Green spluttered angrily at that.

---

Besides that, I also hung out with Gold and Crystal on the day that Green went to go watch Surges battle. I wanted to find something to do and we happened to run into each other...

Despite how awkward it was... that seemed to only be the case for me.

Those two spoke to me like I wasn't a criminal and that was the weirdest thing ever. How could they so confidently just put that past them?

They were all just too earnest... I wasn't used to such naive and innocence.

I sighed at the thought of my counterparts and just ignored it for now, focusing on moving for two people.

We had woken up damn early for this because I refused to be held up in a line and while I was fine… Green was practically dead on her feet.

I had to basically drag her to the ship and flash both our tickets to the amused, albeit stern, guy checking them, before we were allowed in.

The S.S Anne was enormous, eclipsing every single ship I had been on since landing here and it was luxurious to boot!

It dwarfed every ship there by a good amount and I have no doubt in my mind that the citizens who opted to board this ship, had a lot of money.

I couldn't stop the impressed look as I inspected it all. The design of the ship was calming, filling me with a type of serenity. The deck was made up of wood so smooth and clean, I could see my reflection on it. The furnishing looked so expensive, I thought I was in a 5 star hotel!

The decor was dominated by marble and decor of famous water type pokemon.

Blastoise, Dewgong, Lapras... they were crafted beautifully and I inspected each marble with an impressed eye.

Even the exhausted Green made a noise of awe.

"Wow," she awed, leaning on my shoulder for support. "It's huge… I can't wait to explore it after I have the energy."

I snorted at her, before one of the marbles caught my eye.

"What's this supposed to be?" I mused, gazing at the marble of a 4 legged creature. It seemed to be the most well worked on sculptures there but for the life of me, I couldn't pinpoint what it was.

Green perked up lazily, lifting her head off my shoulder.

"Oh... I think that's a sculpting of one of the three legendary guardians of the Johto region, Suicune," Green mused, scrutinizing it with a gaze.

I tilted my head at that.

"This was Suicune?" I asked incredulously.

No the hell it wasn't. I knew how Suicune looked and while this creature was 4 legged much like the water beast, it was missing a lot of details.

There were no diamond shaped markings, no crest on its head and most notably, no billowing cloak either.

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Yeah. Suicune. Right."

"It's not like anyone knows how Suicune looks," Green rolled her eyes, sinking back onto my shoulder.

Oh... that actually made a lot of sense. I knew how Suicune looked but it was still a legendary and legendaries were impossibly rare to spot.

So did that mean I was the only person who knew how a majority of legends looked?

I rolled my eyes. "Alright idiot. Let's go find your room. You're about to start drooling on my shoulder."

Likely because of the close proximity of when we beat Surge, Green and I had rooms right next to each other so when I eventually found hers, I dumped the half asleep girl on the bed and made my way to my room in a just a few seconds.

"G'night Silvy," she yawned happily.

"Night," I grunted, quietly shutting her door and letting her sleep in peace.

I could already tell from dropping off Green, but the rooms were insanely nice. They were fully furnished, with expensive looking furniture and I whistled at the luxury of it all. They really didn't hold back at all on how to design these ships.

How the hell could they afford to make not only a ship like this, but one that could fit all these people?

It was kind of nuts really. Just allowing people onto a ship like this for free just because they won a gym battle... trainers sure were valued.

I released my team into the spacious room and let out a tired sigh.

"We're on the ship now and for once… I'll actually be exploring it," I informed them all, taking a seat on the bed and grunting as I practically sunk into it.

"I woke up a bit too early today, so I'll get some rest because Green is probably going to drag me around everywhere and I need the energy for that," I sighed, falling back.

My team watched my body slowly disappear into the mattress, before Gaia cheered and leapt onto the bed as well.

"The beds big enough. If you all wanna sleep with me feel free," I yawned, shutting my eyes to catch up on sleep.

To the surprise of absolutely no one, I was almost immediately swamped by my entire team besides of course, Metang.

I adjusted as best as I could, until we were all in a fairly comfortable spot and I snorted.

"Ares, Freyja… I swear to all that is holy if you're arguing wakes me up, there will be hell to pay," I said blandly.

Ares thought about protesting but she was very tired herself.

"Gon," she replied eventually.

"Bas," Freyja nodded.

Loki and Metang were the only members, besides me, on our team who could properly function in the morning. The rest were not morning pokemon at all and Gaia in particular, threw some of the biggest fits if you woke her up early…

Gaia was already asleep, burrowing into me with a content smile.

Loki was right above his head, curling up and dozing.

Ares stared jealously at Freyja resting on his midsection and growled at seeing the smug smile she was shot.

She growled quietly at the Feebas and I rolled my eyes as she seemed to mutter something before sliding to my other side.

Her complaints immediately died as my hand instinctively began patting her and Ares fell asleep in bliss.

Metang's eyes flashed, as they gazed at the pile and the steel type resisted the urge to do something as uncouth as snorting.

"Make sure you get enough sleep, Metang. Proper rest is necessary for a healthy body. Don't overwork yourself."

"With how often you nag me, Blight, I don't even need to utilize my photographic memory to remember your orders."

"Yeah yeah whatever you say. For someone who prides themselves at maintaining their emotions, you sure are sassy."

"I do not know what you mean."

I rolled my eyes and fell asleep.

As I fell asleep, I did finally hear Metang let out the snort they had been holding back though.

---

By the time Green inevitably woke up and dragged me out the room, the ship had been filled and we had already set sail.

I had woken up fairly easily, refreshed from the nap, and I returned my team before following my companion out of the room.

She was dragging us to the all you can eat buffet because she was hungry and since I was also hungry, I let her take charge.

It's not like I knew what to do on this ship anyways.

As we headed there, I watched wide groups of people just mingling about, conversing with each other about every little thing.

It... was kinda disgusting. I hated being around large groups of people.

I took my focus off the people and stared instead out at the sea, letting out a sigh at the great expanse of water.

I could still see Vermillion from here but as time passed, it would just fade more and more into the distance, leaving just the sea.

"There's a big tourney happening on the ship, Silvy!" Green beamed, biting into a waffle with a delighted hum.

"Yeah?" I said in disinterest, slowly eating my scrambled eggs.

Green nodded excitedly. "Don't be so uninterested! It's being split into 3 groups!"

That made me perk up slightly.

She grinned victoriously. "Yeah! It's being separated by amount of gym badges! One through four, five through seven and then eight!"

One through four you say…

"Now I'm a little interested," I admitted.

That would be easy. I can confidently say I was better than any trainer with four badges…

Green was too…

"You're joining the tournament?" a voice asked.

I scowled and Green lit up.

"Crystal!" Green beamed. "And you must be Gold!"

Gold and Crystal both smiled at her, plates of breakfast in their hands as well.

"Hi, Green," Crystal greeted. "Yes. This is my best friend, Gold."

Gold grinned cockily at that. "I hear your Oak's best trainer!"

A gleam entered her eyes at that. "I definitely am! Are you joining the tournament too?" Green asked, beckoning them to join us.

I glared at her and she effortlessly ignored it.

The 4 seat booth (Green wanted to grab a two seater but who the hell had time for that?) was quickly filled, as Crystal sat next to me with a smile.

Gold took a seat right next to Green and the two immediately began shooting into conversation like the battle freaks I knew Green was… and the battle freak I knew Gold probably was.

"It's like looking at two Gold's," Crystal sighed fondly, digging into her plate of eggs, pancakes and sausage with surprising daintiness.

"Nice way of saying two dumbasses," I grunted, dropping a sausage each in Loki and Ares mouth.

Crystal gazed at my two pokemon in blatant interest, giggling at my words.

I watched in some interest as she released that Croconaw of hers and a Growlithe, occasionally dropping scraps of her plate in their mouths.

Croconaw was glaring at me as per usual, up until that Misdreavus of hers materialized from thin air once more.

She said something and Croconaw let out a begrudging scoff, that transformed into another glare as Ares made a warning noise.

The Croconaw began sizing up my fearless Bagon and the two began growling at each other, before Loki and Misdreavus intervened and got the two away from each other.

Crystal watched the interaction with exasperation in her eyes before thanking her Misdreavus.

The ghost type nodded, clearly used to this before it noticed my gaze and immediately shrunk away from me.

I frowned and mulled it over.

"What's the deal with your Misdreavus?" I eventually asked.

Crystal pursed her lips at that. "I'm not sure. Misteree doesn't normally act like this," she said in confusion.

Misteree in question, gazed at me and simply shook its head, before vanishing from sight.

"Weird," Crystal muttered.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't think too hard about it. I know I'm not," I shrugged.

She nodded reluctantly. "So you're planning on joining the tournament too?" Crystal asked curiously.

I shrugged. "I'm thinking about it."

She seemed surprised by my slight disinterest, tilting her head in confusion. "I heard there's a huge prize for first place."

Green, Gold and I all perked up fully at that.

"A prize?" I mused, eyes glinting with actual interest now.

"What is it?" Gold asked curiously.

"I'm not sure," Crystal admitted with a slight frown. "All I know is that top 4 gets prizes."

"First place will get the best prize… so I just have to get first place!" Green beamed.

"You think you're getting first place with me joining? I'd like to see you try!" Gold grinned competitively.

The two grinned at each other and I snorted, leaning back into my seat.

"First place gets top prize… guess I have to win," I muttered to myself.

So I would need to beat a lot of impressive trainers in order to get my prize...

Not bad at all. I could probably do that.

Crystal saw the dangerous gleam in my eyes and rightfully scooted away.

"All of them are freaks," she sighed.

---

"Ash! You didn't oversleep!" Green cheered happily.

Ash perked up at that and a grin made its way to his face.

"Brock woke me up on time! We had to wait in such a long line to get in!" he exclaimed.

Green beamed. "Silvy made sure we got here early so we didn't have to wait on a line. I was mad at him for waking me up but it was totally worth it!"

I rolled my eyes at that. "You tried to bite me," I reminded her flatly.

"You chopped me on the head!"

"After you tried to bite me."

"I'll try it again!"

"I know, this is your fourth time trying to do it."

"Next time it'll work!"

Brock sweatdropped at the two violent companions, before gazing towards the two unknown trainers.

"Who are these two?" the former gym leader asked.

"Leeches who won't stop following me," I retorted instantly, glaring at Crystal and Gold.

I don't know where the hell they got the idea that we were friends from but my group of two had turned into one of four and this was not how I expected it to go.

"This is Gold and Crystal!" Green introduced with a grin. "They're our friends! They're from the Johto Region!"

Crystal and Gold nodded, "It's nice to meet you —"

I zoned them all out and sighed, slinking away from the group quietly and deciding to go on a detour.

That group was getting a little too big and attention grabby and that meant eyes on me and I didn't want eyes on me right now.

A region with Ash, Gold, Green and Crystal…

What a disaster…

They were talented and if they all chose to attack Team Rocket in the future, it would be great…

But Team Rocket had Mewtwo and Mewtwo was not something that a bunch of kids would be able to handle…

Hell I doubted the League could handle Mewtwo. That was mostly me going on theory, considering I didn't yet know just how strong Mewtwo was but... something told me it was impossibly difficult to defeat.

Normally I'd be fine letting them take the attention off of me and using them for my gains… but there was a very real possibility they could die going after Team Rocket and like it or not, daddy dearest probably had no interest in killing me.

"Hey Foggy Fortress. I don't suppose you wanna help me more against a God and my evil dad huh?"

Silence.

Tch. Whatever. I was expecting to go at it alone anyways. Legendaries wanna harass me but as soon as I need their help, nowhere to be seen...

They better hope I never get the means to harass them because if I did? Yeah good luck legends.

"Oh, Silver! Where did you go?" Misty asked curiously, noticing my arrival. I noticed that there was a little Squirtle by her side and raised a brow at it.

"The winner of the tournament gets an egg," I told them easily, scratching Loki's head idly.

They all blinked.

"...How do you know that?" Crystal asked slowly.

"I figured out," I said blandly, utterly uninterested. "The tournament is gonna be a 3 on 3. It starts tomorrow morning."

Green yelped as I flicked her trainer id over to her.

"I signed us both up already, Leaf. For the sake of finishing it in the span of one day, the tournament isn't that big. I'd suggest signing up now if you wanna battle."

Green balked at that, gazing at me and her id repeatedly, before patting down her dress in disbelief.

"You… are a sick sick person, Silvy," she said flatly, pocketing the id.

"You scare me a little," Crystal admitted with wide eyes.

I snorted. "I'm here to win. If any of you meet me, don't be too sad."

"Zor," Loki said to them apologetically.

I looked at the fire in all of their eyes and smirked.

Maybe this would be fun.

---

The S.S Anne was kind of fun when I decided to just enjoy the vacation aspect of it.

At some point, Ash and his friends broke off from us (I wasn't paying attention as to why) and so, we had been reduced back down to the group of 4 colors.

It pretty funny that none of us pointed out that we were all named after a color but I wasn't going to be the one to start that strange conversation.

We walked aimlessly around the ship, me listening to Gold, Crystal and Green chat like they had been lifelong buddies.

Three chatter machines. That's what the hell they were.

We weren't on deck anymore, due to me growing tired of all the people there and when I made it known that I was about to go below deck, they unanimously decided to follow me.

"Hey! I think we found the game room!" Gold grinned eagerly.

Green's eyes lit up and the idiot duo immediately rushed into the room.

"It's just us again," Crystal shook her head with a small smile.

I sighed in exasperation and just walked into the room. "Not like we have anything better to do."

As I made my way through the section of the ship that seemed dedicated to games, I took in all the sights.

There were typical arcade games, fashioned and changed to fit into the thematic of this world... like a fighting game with a flurry of fighting types.

"Gold loves this game," Crystal commented as we walked past it. "His favorite character is Poliwrath."

I grunted. "And yours?" I asked, as we approached the rest of the group.

"Hitmonchan!" She exclaimed.

I mulled that over and nodded. "You don't strike me as a person to like Hitmonchan. You look more like a Medicham enjoyer."

"I'm pretty sure you just stereotyped me on purpose," Crystal sighed in exasperation.

"Guilty as charged," I shrugged, perking up at hearing Green let out a frustrated shout.

She was at a stall, one that I'd find at a carnival or fair.

There were a bunch of marks up all in the shape of pokemon and some fake pokeballs to the side that Green was holding.

"I can't win!" Green complained, scowling slightly at the apologetic man on the other side.

My eyes narrowed slightly at how unapologetic he actually was.

"That's cuz it's a scam," Gold said, shrugging helplessly. "You're not supposed to win em until you fork over a good amount of money."

"Gold! Don't say that out loud!" Crystal reprimanded as we approached the duo.

I said nothing, watching as Green gazed longingly at a plush of a Clefairy and I tilted my head.

"Lemme try," I said suddenly, walking up to the stand with a neutral expression.

I paid the fee and accepted the pokeballs, glancing at the game with a contemplative expression.

Then, I tensed my arm up and began rapid firing each ball with extreme force, knocking down each target with expert aim before that dumbass hidden Murkrow could blow it off course.

Hah, trying to trick a professional criminal was never going to work out well. I knew all the dirty tricks in the book.

The owner of the stall gazed at me with a slack jaw and I stared at him with an innocent expression.

"Give me the Clefairy," I demanded, holding out my hand.

"H-Huh?! B-But," the man stammered, clearly confused by what he just saw.

I guess a perk of being raised by Team Rocket is that I was practically a child soldier and so I was capable of physical feats that not many people my age were able to do. He clearly didn't expect me to be capable of knocking down each one that quick but hey.

He should just be glad I wasn't cheating with Loki, now that would be fun.

"The Clefairy. Now," I pressed, narrowing my eyes and glaring at him.

"R-Right!" he conceded easily, spineless dork that he was. He placed the Clefairy plush in my hand and I rolled my eyes, before tossing it over to Green.

She caught it and gazed at the plush with wide eyes, before she squealed happily.

"Wow! Thank you Silvy!" she gushed, hugging me gleefully and then hugging her plush.

I grunted. "It was nothing. Bad scams just piss me off," I told her.

"You did that pretty easy," Gold mused. "How good are you at these games?"

I shrugged. "Dunno. That one was just easy."

There was a challenging gleam in my counterparts eyes and I raised a brow.

"Wanna test that?" he challenged.

---

What followed after Gold's request, was a series of challenges between the 2 of us... that eventually transformed into the 4 of us.

I discovered that the carnival games were very easy for me! If it required anything remotely physical, I was good at it.

As a result, I completely dominated my little group in the stall games. Because I didn't really care for any of the prizes, I just handed them off to Green (I ignored the fact that I may have given some to the ecstatic Crystal).

I saw a little Steelix plush though that I got for Jasmine. She'd probably either love it, or already own it.

Knowing her, she'd own it but love it because it was a gift.

Despite dominating the fair games, I couldn't really feel too good about that... because I got absolutely smashed in every single arcade game.

It was honestly embarrassing how much better they were than me in them.

"That's that!" Gold grinned, watching as his Poliwrath flexed in victory on the screen.

"..." I scowled in annoyance at the prone body of the Blaziken that I was using.

Gold was the best at this game and I was the worst and it showed in the fact that I barely dented his hp bar.

"You're good at all the carnival games but man you gotta up your game in arcade!"

My scowl deepened. "It's not like I ever played a video game. Of course I suck at them," I replied with a grunt, putting the controller down before I could smash it.

I stood up. "Someone else can take my spot. I'll just watch," I decided.

Stealing a portable video game was now high on my list. I refused to let this embarrassment happen again.

I paused, noticing that the silence was carrying on and gazed at my group.

"What?" I grunted, frowning at how awkward the air suddenly was.

"...Sorry bout that," Gold said slowly. "We didn't realize you didn't play."

"Yeah... sorry Silvy," Green said guiltily.

I blinked at them before an annoyed feeling coursed through me. "Stop fucking apologizing. When did I tell you to apologize?" I scowled.

Who cared if I didn't play? If I was really offended by it, then I would have mentioned it the first time I got stomped in one of the arcade games.

"We've been in here long enough," Crystal suddenly said. "We should go get dinner early before it gets too packed."

Green nodded eagerly. "Good idea! If it gets too crowded Silvy might choose to go hungry!"

She yelped in pain as I effortlessly chopped her head and I sneered at her.

"C'mon then. Let's go then," I decided. "Afterwards, I'm retreating to my room. I've been too social today."

"You're a social guy," Gold said dryly.

"And you're shorter than me," I replied just as dryly, looking at the boy that I barely inched out.

Before he could reply, I was already off and I heard a rush of footsteps, followed by complaints from my counterpart rival.

Honestly, it was just too easy.

"H-Hey wait up! I have too many plushies!" Green complained.

Crystal pinched her nose, holding her smaller amount of plushies with a sigh.

"If you can catch up to me, I'll put it in my bag."

"Y-You're such a dick, Silvy! I can tell you're speeding up!"

"I'm the only one with the foresight to have brought my bag. Get to running."

---

I calmly adjusted my black gloves and fiddled a bit with my hair, before ultimately deciding to leave it like this.

"Maybe I'll change it's style up another time," I mused, running a hand through it in contemplation.

The time of the tournament was here and I was ready to win it all.

Green and I had separated before the tournament to prepare so I was in my room making those final preparations.

I… enjoyed it a little. We had some fun but now it was time for me to win it all.

I slipped on my long sleeved black jacket with red trims, dark trousers, some black boots and black gloves.

"Time to win," I muttered to myself, returning Loki to his ball.

It made sense that the tournament for 3 badges only went up to 3 on 3, considering we were still relatively new trainers…

It was the most fair way to regulate these battles. Some trainers might not have 6 and it also saved time… not to mention, swapping wasn't allowed which added to the saving time aspect.

But I really wish it wasn't 3 on 3.

Why?

Because the less pokemon used, the more favorable a match went towards Green.

Naturally, the more pokemon used, the more favorable a match went towards me.

Green and I did friendly spars with each other a lot and it was pretty obvious that my team was a lot more balanced than hers.

Two of her pokemon were practically unusable right now, though Larvee could still be used against weaker opponents.

As time passed, our teams would eventually balance out and we'd become equally dangerous at 6 pokemon by the time we became formidable but for now, the amount we used matter.

That didn't mean I was discounting Gold and Crystal either… nor was I discounting the trainers with 4 badges… but I was going to crush them all and if I wanted to win it all, that meant I was eventually going to run into Green.

No biggie. I just needed to beat her.

The tournament wasn't that big, so I just needed to win 3 matches to win it all.

Easy.

---

I calmly took in the arena underdeck I was currently in, watching as people in the crowd cheered at the festivities of this tournament.

My tournament group of 1-4 badges was in the smallest arena and people were obviously more interested in the higher tier badges, so our crowd was the smallest.

1-4 badges also had the least amount of trainers which was why my tournament was the quickest. Quite frankly, any trainer with Surges badge that had under 7 badges, was quite notable...

Which was why I wasn't surprised at all to see that my opponent was my rival counterpart at all.

"Wow, first round!" Gold grinned eagerly, glaring at me with those molten eyes of his.

"Unfortunate that you have to make such an early exit," I mused, mulling over who I was going to use in my match against him.

"I could say the same to you! I wanted to meet one of you in the finals, but I guess it'll be Green or Crys!" Gold exclaimed.

"I already know who I'm meeting in the finals," I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

"Welcome everyone! We're about to witness the second battle of the first round! On the right side, hailing from Newbark Town of the Johto Region, we have Gold! And his opponent, hailing from Viridian City, Silver!"

I tuned out the noise of the speaker and gained a look of concentration.

"Trainer Gold! Please send out your pokemon first!" The referee requested.

Gold wasted no time, clutching a Pokeball and grinning as he launched it.

"Let's go Ataro!" he exclaimed, sending out his very first pokemon.

The Aipom cheered, soaking in the crowd's attention much like his trainer did.

I pursed my lips at that and nodded, tapping one of my balls.

"Metang," I said eventually, sending out my choice.

Gold's eyes narrowed and I felt the curse he let out in his mind.

Based on my team, Gold could probably tell that this was the worst matchup for his Aipom.

"Astonish!" Gold shouted immediately.

"Agility," I said immediately after. "Dodge it."

Metang said nothing as they slipped into Agility, rocketing away from the little monkey.

"Catch it and then Beat Up!" Gold ordered.

Aipom began chasing after Metang with dark energy coursing through its body.

But much to its confusion, it wasn't making as much headway as it expected.

Gold's brows furrowed in confusion due to how fast Metang was moving... and I pressed my advantage.

"Blitz it," I commanded.

On a dime, Metang whirled around and smashed into Aipom, launching the little thing back with expert precision.

"Ataro!" Gold shouted, still looking somewhat confused. "Use Agility! Catch it!"

Ataro huffed and nodded, attempting to slip into Agility... only to fail completely.

"Extrasensory," I instructed.

Gold's eyes widened in realization. "You sneaky bastard! That's not Metang!" He shouted, right as the strong beam of energy crashed into Aipom.

I smirked smugly. "The jig is up, Loki," I shrugged.

Metang snickered, Illusion fading away to reveal Loki in all his glory, posing as my steel type.

"Ugh, I should have known something was up when it was outspeeding Ataro!" Gold scowled furiously, watching as his Aipom shakily stood back up.

Metang didn't quite know Agility yet. He could tap into it very slightly, but it wasn't nearly enough to be called Agility. Just a tiny speed boost is what it offered.

I didn't say anything that would incriminate Loki posing as Metang and I relied on the fact that Extrasensory being a psychic type move, would distract my opponent from the fact that Metang couldn't learn it.

Sadly, Gold wasn't as stupid as I was betting on and he must have remembered our first battle very well.

Pity. Oh well, the damage was long done. Aipom was battered and Loki was fresh.

That didn't mean I'd underestimate him any further.

"Snarl, don't let it get close," I ordered.

"Avoid it! Don't try and use Agility either!" Gold barked, eyes frantically trying to think of a way to claw back from this.

Ataro yelped and ran from the wave of dark energy.

"Swift!"

Then it turned on a dime and fired off stars of energy, getting a groan of annoyance out of me.

Everything had a tracking move! I'm convinced!

"Destroy them!" I barked in annoyance, watching as the stars careened towards Loki.

Loki didn't need to be told twice, he lunged away as dark energy began forming in his mouth and launched another Snarl, this one far more widespread to take out the stars that were locked onto him.

"Quick Attack," I ordered.

"Get away!" Gold barked.

I watched with an impressed expression, as Ataro began booking it with speed that surpassed even Loki's normal output.

Now that I thought about it, Ataro was very agile. It was capable of practically dodging any long ranged ability, it was almost as good at dodging closed ranged and it was a freak at getting away...

All of this was probably attributed to the fact that it had Run Away as its ability.

"Pursuit," I grunted. "Don't let it out your sight."

Loki growled in affirmation and lunged forward at blistering speeds, tailing the speedy Aipom with increasing speed of its own.

Much like how I imagine an encounter in the wild would go if a Zorua was hungry enough, Loki chased Aipom across the entire field with a vengeance, powered up by the relentless Pursuit that would ensure he reached his target eventually —

"That's it Ataro! Use Counter!"

My eyes widened in shock at that but before I could even give the order to back off, Loki slammed right into Aipom.

The dreadful force of the Pursuit, was only second to the devastating Counter and I couldn't stop my mouth from opening as Aipom's tail that doubled as a hand, curled into a fist and punted Loki, blasting him away from the surprise move.

"Hah! That's our style, yeah Ataro!" Gold grinned viciously. "Lure em in and hit em where it hurts!"

Ataro let out a tired sigh and but his tail waved victoriously.

I was still stunned, recalling Loki to his ball with pursed lips.

A oneshot. Counter played perfectly into that Aipom's playstyle of luring you in with its expert nimbleness.

Seems like even someone like Gold had a bag of tricks up his sleeves...

"Metang," I said coldly, ignoring the referee telling me to send out my next pokemon.

The order for the match to begin only lasted for a split second, before Ataro was wrapped in a purple sheen and slammed into the wall.

There was a brief silence, as Ataro was slowly peeled off the wall, right before a beam of red light returned him.

Gold pursed his lips, gazing at the real Metang with a frown.

"Explotaro! Let's go!" Gold shouted, sending out his starter this time.

The Quilava growled, flames exploding out of its head and butt. It gazed at me, before its flames exploded even more in a clear desire to defeat me.

"Smokescreen!"

"Useless," Metang and I both said in unison, even as the smoke began covering the field.

Metang's eyes began glowing purple and I was satisfied to hear the Quilava cry in pain.

Gold sucked his teeth. "Ember!" he barked.

"Outta the way," I grunted.

Metang rumbled and floated aside, letting the flames sail harmlessly past him as his eyes flashed purple again.

"Quick Attack Explotaro! Don't let it use that psychic move on you again!"

Quilava began dashing across the field, not giving Metang a solid chance to lock on and capture him in its psychic energy and I pursed my lips.

"Bullet Punch."

"Be careful. It's going to use a fire move as soon as you close the distance. So use Iron Defense right before you connect," I grunted.

"Noted."

Metang effortlessly cut off Quilava's path of action, charging the fire type with fists at the ready.

"Flame Wheel! Collide with it!" Gold instructed, a hungry glimmer in his eyes for a win.

Quilava matched it, rushing Metang with an urge to finish the battle quickly.

Gold's starter leapt into the air and began spinning, flames converging around him as the momentum carried it right into Metang.

Who let out a grunt, body sheening with the effects of Iron Defense. The super effective move no doubt still hurt, but Iron Defense did it's job well in shielding them from the full effects...

"Zen Headbutt launch it up."

...And gave Metang ample time to bash its skull into the airborne Quilava's underside.

Metang followed my order to a T, launching the Quilava up higher into the air, before its eyes began glowing purple.

"Shit! Explotaro use Incinerate!" Gold urged, eyes wide in a panic.

Quilava struggled and opened its mouth, but before it could fire the attack, Metang forcefully smashed it into the ground...

Explotaro let loose a pitiful noise, right before exploding in flames that tagged Metang due to their proximity.

Then, Quilava slumped over and shut its eyes.

"Flame Burst," I scowled in annoyance. "Are you alright?"

Metang grunted, hiding their discomfort at being hit by 3 consecutive fire moves.

I frowned at the burn marks on Metang's steel body and deduced that he probably couldn't take too many more of those.

It was a good thing that Quilava was unconscious.

Gold returned his starter with a frown and cupped his final pokeball.

"Alright Larvitaro! Let's wrap this up!"

I paused in some shock at that.

A Larvitar?! Gold had a Larvitar?!

Wait a goddamn second...

"You've got a lot of confidence! Reminds of a kid I fought a while ago! He had a rare pokemon too! A Larvitar of all things!"

That stupid old bastard Flint was comparing me to Gold! What the hell?!

Oh that solidified it. Didn't give me a TM, sucked at battling and compared me to Gold.

I was gonna trash him if we ever rematched. I'm sure of it.

Metang rumbled, looking worse for wear but wanting to continue this battle.

I grunted and stared evenly at the scowling Larvitar. "Confusion," I instructed.

"Payback!" Gold immediately countered, eyes narrowed.

Larvitar grunted, channeling the dark energy and immediately breaking the psychic hold on its body. The stubby little thing lumbered across the field and my eyes narrowed.

"To the right, Iron Head when you see the chance," I said.

When Larvitar eventually reached our position, Metang simply moved to the right like I said, floating out of its way and dodging the super effective dark type attack.

Metang began glowing, ready to cave in little Larvitar with extreme efficiency.

Larvitar let out a pained roar as it was nearly lifted off its feet but before it could get sent flying, the ground type clamped its teeth around one of Metang's arms.

"Yeah that's right Larvitaro! Don't let go!" Gold encouraged, as dark type energy began flooding its teeth.

My eyes widened and I felt my connection to Metang grow weaker.

"Bullet Punch! Keep hitting him until he lets go!" I demanded.

Metang let out a roar, free right arm glowing with steel energy as it bashed its fist over and over into Larvitaro.

Still, Larvitar did not let go. It winced in pain every single time it got hit but the little thing actually looked too angry to let go...

"Payback! Knock it out quick!" Gold shouted.

I clenched my jaw. "Iron Head! Drag it closer!"

In a last ditch effort, Metang used the fact that Larvitar refused to let go and swung the trapped arm wildly towards its body, head glowing once more.

At the same time, Larvitar's body gained a black aura once more and the two crashed into each other.

I watched with a stiff expression as Metang lost the ability to float, falling towards the ground to signify that it was unconscious.

Meanwhile, Larvitar groaned and stood up, spitting out something and glaring fiercely at me.

I returned Metang to their ball and mulled over it.

This match was as good as over. I just needed to send out Gaia and wipe out this feisty Larvitar...

But that was just the easy option wasn't it?

"Freyja," I said calmly, sending her out of the ball.

I heard an audible gasp in the crowd that sounded suspiciously like Misty, as my Feebas took to the field.

Besides that though, I felt the mass confusion in the crowd, none more confused than Larvitar.

Gold's eyes were narrowed, no doubt realizing that I could have used Gaia to end this match in an instant but I didn't.

Then, he shrugged and accepted it as it was.

"Sandstorm!" Gold said instantly.

I scowled in irritation, as Larvitar conjured up a vicious sandstorm that would soon become its innate ability once it evolved. It bashed against the psychic barriers and I turned my gaze towards the uncomfortable Freyja.

"Rain Dance girl. Don't let the sand bug you," I instructed gently.

Freyja looked back at me and nodded nervously, summoning her customary rain cloud even in the face of the powerful sand.

She didn't get a chance to fully soak in the effects of the rain, before a plethora of rocks were launched her way.

They pelted her with ruthless force and she squealed in pain.

Larvitar burst onto the scene, swiftly following up on his Rock Slide with ruthless precision.

"Icy Wind!" I shouted, watching as Freyja recoiled from the pain.

She whined and shut her eyes, before blasting the lunging Larvitar right in the face with a cold gust of ice.

It clung to his skin and he roared in annoyance, but before he could reach out and grab Freyja, he was blasted in the face by a Water Pulse that also helped launch her away.

Larvitar howled as the water connected to his icy body, causing the cold to seep further into him and causing the ground type to convulse.

"Larvitaro! Focus on my voice!" Gold shouted.

The downside of using Sandstorm, was that the winds were quite loud in it and as a result, it could be slightly difficult to hear orders.

When Larvitar was already screaming in rage, it made hearing very very hard.

The ground type pawed furiously at his face and glared bloody murder at Freyja, then stamped the ground repeatedly, sending a wave of rocks and dust soaring towards Freyja.

She swelled up and launched a Water Pulse at the ground again, but she wasn't fast enough to dodge all of the Stomping Tantrum and some tagged her again.

Freyja let out a cry of pain and I knew she couldn't take more of this. She was my most frail pokemon by far, lacking even more durability than Loki so one more hit and she'd probably be unable to continue.

"Freyja! To the right!" I shouted.

She heeded my order and it was right in time, because a giant boulder flew through the air and tried to crash into her.

Larvitar scowled as his Rock Tomb missed and he looked poised to pick up another boulder...

Well, until a swift line of water slammed right into his chest.

The Larvitar let out a confused rasp, before scalding hot water slammed into it next, getting it to scream in pain.

I whistled in shock, not expecting that out of Freyja and the Larvitar tried to push itself up, before it lost all the power to do so and slumped over in defeat.

"Larvitar is unable to battle! As a result, Gold has no usable pokemon! Silver is the winner!"

"I-INCREDIBLE! WHAT A PERFORMANCE BETWEEN THESE TWO YOUNG TALENTED TRAINERS!" The announcer screamed, stunned by our display.

"You used that Sniper Pulse and Scald without me telling you too," I mused slightly, picking up Freyja with a small smile.

She needed the most guidance in battles. Loki was the most independent fighter.

"Fee," Freyja mumbled tiredly.

"The Larvitar reminded you of Ares so you felt an unexplainable rage take over?" I asked in amusement.

She nodded and I chuckled genuinely at that.

"Holy shit!" Gold exclaimed. "I was a little skeptical at you sending out a Feebas but she showed me," the boy explained with wide eyes.

I turned towards him and mulled that over.

"That was a good battle. You improved... but not as much as I expected," I told him.

Gold didn't look too upset that he lost, taking it well in stride and he simply put a hand to his backwards hat.

"You're saying you expected me to be better than that?" He asked in surprise. "Does that mean you actually don't think I'm a terrible trainer?!"

I rolled my eyes. "You have a lot to improve on. That Larvitar is a loose cannon. Get it under control before it becomes a Tyranitar... or hell even a Pupitar," I said harshly.

"That sounds more like you," Gold said, nonplussed by my harsh words. "I found Larvitaro on the way to Viridian! He was a ways away from Mt. Silver but that didn't stop him from attacking us! It was a tough battle but we won and I caught him... he's still warming up to us but he loves battling!"

Ah... so I was the direct reason Gold had a future Tyranitar now. He found it enroute to Kanto...

Huh, did that mean I changed both him and Crystal's future teams?

"You're tough but not unbeatable," Gold grunted, a fire in his eyes. "I knew it was right to make you my rival. Next time, it'll be even closer."

I snorted and rolled my eyes. "Good luck with that. I won't be waiting for you to get stronger."

He grinned competitively and despite myself, I felt a sort of fire get lit.

Gold was good. Gold was a real good trainer...

And I was better than him.

That didn't mean I was way better than him. He was just as talented and would only get better... so that meant I couldn't slack off. If I slacked off even a little, he'd catch up and win.

Why did the idea of staying ahead sound so exciting?

Probably because as a rival, it's my job to lose and now I'm winning against the one who ensured I remained second place.

I wanted Gold to continue to get stronger... so that I could continuously beat him at his best.

That sounded fun.

"You have a twisted smile on your face right now," Gold told me.

"Good," I replied, turning on a dime and walking off the battlefield.

There should be a few more battles coming up. I guess I could watch them.

---

One of the battles I opted to watch worth mentioning, was between Ash and Green.

It was actually a little surprising because Ash actually put up a fight.

The battle started off with Green sending out Larvee and in response, Ash had sent out his Pidgeotto.

The ease at which Pidgeotto had dispatched of Larvee had even left me surprised. Ash knew exactly what to take advantage of and made the match look like what would happen if a Pidgeotto actually ran into a Larvesta in the wild.

Gusts, Wing Attacks, using its speed to avoid the little bug... it was quite tactical of him.

Judging by Green's surprise, it was not something she expected either.

But now that she was expecting it, well... the battle turned into what I kinda expected it to be.

After Larvee fainted, Green had immediately sent out Lapee to take the reigns of the battle.

Despite her best efforts, Pidgeotto was only able to leave a few marks on Lapee before a well timed Freeze-Dry, froze her wings and rendered it useless.

With that problem dealt with, Ash returned Pidgeotto and after a few seconds of mulling it over, sent out a Bulbasaur.

It was a tiny thing but it had a fierce glare that contrasted the stoniness of Saury.

It fought fiercely too, with a sense of urgency that contrasted Saury's ruthless precision.

Razor Leafs, Vine Whips, Leech Seeds... it was throwing out a barrage of attacks...

And none of them were capable of denting Lapee.

I scowled at that. Lapee was a problem of a pokemon. I know I called Green a two pokemon team, but her Lapras was very strong too.

And one of the most annoying things about it... was that Green literally took a page out of my book and taught it Life Dew so that it could stay in battle for a lot longer.

It showed here perfectly. Lapee was a machine and even after Ash's Bulbasaur exhausted its options, she just healed right back up and finished it off with an Ice Shard that was too fast for it to escape.

Surprisingly though, Pikachu was almost able to take her out. The little rodent was far faster than it had been when I battled him and it managed to evade all of Lapee's attacks, while peppering it with nonstop Thunderbolts.

It was putting up a great assault... up until Lapee used Sing, then Life Dew... then Water Pulse and Freeze Dry.

I don't know if Green had a direction with Lapee before, but I'm pretty sure I gave her one.

But still, Ash put up more of a fight than I was expecting. He actually looked like he was beginning to tap into that potential of his...

Hah, did he really take the shit I said to heart? What was it with people wanting to prove me wrong?

---

"I saw your battle with Gold... it was really good!"

I stood across from my opponent with a focused expression and Crystal smiled at me.

She had battled a 4 badge trainer earlier in the first round. I don't know the full specifics of it but I do know that she managed to win with one pokemon left.

"I underestimated you a lot," I said truthfully, gauging her with a contemplative look. "I won't do that in this battle."

Her smile turned a bit challenging at that and I saw a glint enter her eyes. "Alright then. Show me what you've got!"

"Welcome everyone to the semi finals! These two trainers battled amazing opponents to get here but only one can continue! On the right side, hailing from Newbark Town of the Johto Region, we have Crystal! And her opponent, hailing from Viridian City, Silver!"

I paused, hearing the cheers and noting that the crowd was a lot bigger than before.

Were the other tournaments done? That didn't seem right...

"The crowds been spreading information about 5 trainers who were really impressive in the 1-4 circuit!" Crystal shouted to me over the crowd. "The only thing as exciting than seeing a high stakes full badged match, is watching new trainers with potential on their journey!"

I hummed at that and nodded. So Gold, Crystal, Green, Ash and I had managed to catch people's attentions?

Not bad. I guess paying attention to potential rising stars did sound fun for both the fans and the haters, in case they failed.

"I don't care about their attention," I said truthfully, clutching a ball as I was instructed to release first. "I'm just here to win and get my prizes."

Crystal grinned at that. "Let's make this a good battle! I won't lie and say I haven't been looking forward to this!"

With that, I tossed my ball onto the field, releasing Gaia in all her glory.

Crystal bit her lip, inspecting the Bayleef and trying to run through the odds that it was Loki in disguise.

It filled me with satisfaction to see people so wary of me even before the match started.

"Archeree! Let's go!" She shouted, sending out her Growlithe.

The puppy yipped and I grunted as I gazed at it.

"Poison Powder," I began immediately.

"Ember into the powder!" Crystal retaliated.

Gaia shot out a dusky purple cloud of poison but before it could make it far, a flame was spat into it, causing an explosion to take place.

My eyes widened as Gaia squealed in surprise, shooting back slightly as she was caught in it. There were burn marks on her and she began coughing, the ignited powder doing a number on her.

"Flame Charge! Don't let her recover!"

"Reflect!" I barked back, filing away the dangers of using Poison Powder against a fire type.

Growlithe shot across the field, flames covering its body.

It leapt at Gaia, ignoring Crystal's shouts of warning and crashed headfirst into a Reflect. The blue wall cracked at the impact, but it completely halted Growlithe's momentum, allowing vines to immediately wrap around it.

Gaia squeezed tight, glaring at Growlithe through the screen of Reflect before she yanked forward.

I winced as she repeatedly began banging the Growlithe onto the blue wall over and over again.

Crystal had a look of horror on her face at that, probably not expecting Gaia to just start ragdolling Growlithe against a Reflect like that but she recovered.

"Archeree, Flame Wheel! You need to burn those vines!"

"Drop him Gaia!"

Gaia dropped him, vines getting slightly singed as the Growlithe erupted in flames. She growled in anger and without prompting, summoned razor sharp leaves that soared after the fire type.

"Agility! Run!" Crystal urged.

Growlithe began running for its life, even as the Magical Leaf chased him down.

Crystal grit her teeth at the sight of Gaia beginning to glow and said, "Pivot! Run to her now with Flame Charge!"

I narrowed my eyes as Growlithe immediately pivoted, rushing to Gaia's position with a single-minded focus. Flames began surrounding its body and then it began circling Gaia at high speeds, not giving her a chance to react.

She whirled to one side and Growlithe was on the other in an instant, choosing right then to attack and launching himself into Gaia's side.

"Bay!" Gaia squealed, tumbling to the ground as the fire type attack struck her.

Growlithe whined as the leaves finally reached and cut into him but he ignored it, shaking his head and glaring at Gaia.

"Don't let up! Fire Fang, grab her neck!" Crystal ordered.

He was on her like a rabid dog, fangs burning as he sunk his fangs into her.

"Gaia!" I barked in concern as she squealed. "Listen to me girl... Use Poison Powder and then Synthesis!"

Crystal's eyes widened in horror.

"Wait! Archeree get out of there —"

She didn't expect Gaia to follow that order without any hesitation. Crystal thought there would be some slight pause at that... but maybe now she was beginning to realize just how much Gaia loved me.

A massive explosion ensued, as Gaia blew a poison powder directly into the flaming Growlithe. She squealed as burn marks covered her body and I promised myself that I was going to spoil her rotten for the next few days because of what I just did.

But thankfully, she began glowing with the familiar energy of Synthesis that made our risky play worth it.

It didn't get her to mint condition but it was better than the state Growlithe was in.

"Wrap this up! Body Slam!" I ordered, watching as Growlithe limped back to its feet.

"Run away!" Crystal urged with a look of panic. "Get out of her way!"

Growlithe tried to obey the order. The half conscious dog turned on a heel and attempted to run, only to be met with a Reflect that blocked off its path...

It's confusion didn't last very long as Gaia slammed her full body into him that looked more like a Take Down than a Body Slam, pressing and crushing Growlithe into the solid blue wall.

Gaia panted before letting out a triumphant battle cry that made the crowd go crazy.

"Good job," I praised, watching as Crystal returned Growlithe to his ball with a look of surprise on her face.

"You... made Gaia really scary," Crystal complimented with a somewhat disturbed expression.

Both Gaia and I puffed up at that. "Thanks. She's got a talent for it."

"Bay!"

The girl shook her head slightly, before a focused expression came back on and she immediately shot out the next pokemon.

"Misteree, let's go!" she shouted with a glare.

I grunted as the Misdreavus stared at us. She tucked away her wariness for me and instead fully focused on the panting Gaia.

"Magical Leaf," I ordered, wasting no time at all.

Gaia agreed with the sentiment because the leaves were already flying after the Misdreavus with expert precision.

"Blow them away with Ominous Wind! Then Shadow Sneak!"

Misdreavus let out a cry, summoning a cyclone of purplish wind that crashed into the leaves, ripping the psychic properties out of it and making them clatter uselessly to the ground.

Then, she vanished from Gaia's sight, putting us both on alert.

We didn't have to wait for long, because the Misdreavus popped out of the shadows directly behind Gaia with a sinister gleam in her eyes.

"Hex! She's burned!"

My eyes widened in shock, as purple energy surrounded both Misdreavus and Gaia.

Misdreavus' eyes began glowing and then Gaia let out a shriek of agony, as she began to get assaulted from all angles leaving her no room to escape. The purple energy surrounded her and tormented her with force that didn't give her much chance at all to fight back.

A beam of light returned her immediately and I stared at the spot she was at in shock.

Ah, so that's why Crystal was a strong trainer... Okay then.

Noted.

"Loki," I said with a frown.

Misdreavus and Loki stared off and before any orders were given, they were off.

Misdreavus immediately dipped into the shadows but Loki rocketed forward, a black trail of energy trailing him as he seemed to chase something that wasn't there.

Right before he reached his target, Misdreavus popped out and let loose a shrill shriek that cause him to freeze up.

Then, she summoned an orb that she shot directly at Loki, who opened his mouth and let loose a Snarl.

The Confuse Ray was instantly destroyed by the dark energy and Loki launched another Snarl, this time targeting Misdreavus who yelped in a panic and dashed away.

"Will-O-Wisp!" Crystal shouted.

"Don't let her!" I replied.

Misdreavus began conjuring up mystical flames filled with energy that was more ghost than fire but right before she fired them off, Zorua began mocking her.

A look of annoyance crossed her features, as the dark energies unknowingly washed over the ghost type and she banished the flames in her anger, before rushing Loki with a vengeance.

"Misteree no, wait!" Crystal shouted but it was too late.

The ghost had already fallen for the provocation and Loki watched with a victorious glint as she vanished into the shadows, only to appear directly behind him.

Right as Misdreavus lunged, Loki lifted himself on his hind legs and slammed downwards, erupting in a dome of crimson energy that caught the Misdreavus by surprise.

"Dreavus!" Misdreavus shouted, as the Night Daze consumed her.

I rolled my eyes. Loki was upset about the battle with Aipom so he did more than was necessary. We didn't have Night Daze mastered yet so it was still a massive drain of energy.

But it got the job done, that's for sure.

Crystal returned Misdreavus to her ball with a surprised frown.

"Misteree is really hard to rile up. Taunt is effective," she muttered. "We'll have to work on that. She's gonna be embarrassed to have lost in such a manner."

I snorted and watched in interest as she released her final pokemon.

Croconaw let out a roar at his arrival, that got louder as he realized just who his opponent was.

I gazed at the Water type with a tilted head, before nodding to myself.

Loki turned towards me and beckoned towards my belt and I snorted.

"So you remember that too huh? No complaints?" I asked curiously.

"Zor," he said with a shake of his head, allowing me to return him to the ball.

"Alright then," I nodded with a smirk. "C'mon then girl, looks like you're getting that battle you wanted."

Ares let out a roar on her arrival, that only grew more in intensity as she saw that her opponent was that Croconaw who really liked giving me the death eye.

According to Metang, Ares saw me as her vassal... and as such any slight on me was a personal slight on her.

That was pretty damn adorable.

"Dragon Dance!" Both Crystal and I shouted at the same time.

Both our eyes went wide at the order but our pokemon followed it without hesitation.

"Water Gun!" Crystal shouted.

"Rage! Absorb it!" I retorted. "Afterwards Dragon Breath!"

The Water Gun splashed uselessly on Ares, just fueling her more as Rage took effect and she opened her mouth, letting loose a giant Dragon Breath that careened towards the Croconaw.

"Aqua Jet! Get away!" Crystal ordered.

Croconaw grunted, water converging around him as he launched himself out of the way of the Aqua Jet.

"Now get close and use Bite!"

Still with the watery aura around him, Croconaw rushed towards Ares with a hungry glint.

He opened his mouth, jaws at the bit to clamp around the smaller pokemon —

"Shut its mouth with a headbutt, then Dragon Breath."

—And promptly regretted it as Ares viciously swung upwards with her head, forcefully shut its mouth.

Then, a Dragon Breath hit it directly in the midsection and launched it away.

"Bite, don't let it get too far," I ordered with narrowed eyes.

Ares rushed forward, powered by her Dragon Dance.

"Ice Fang!" Crystal ordered.

My eyes widened as Croconaw lunged forward, teeth glowing with icy energy.

He growled furiously as Ares clamped onto him and it was then I noticed that there was a familiar red tint in its eyes.

Rage?! This thing also had Rage?!

As Croconaw ignored the pain of being bit, his own sharp fangs clamped ruthlessly onto Ares, making her cry out as the super effective attack hit her.

Croconaw practically ripped her off of him and began furiously shaking his head, Ares in his mouth the whole while.

"Dragon Breath!" I shouted in concern, watching as she struggled weakly.

Ares heard my order and began charging a Dragon Breath that Croconaw took notice of.

Before she could fire it, Croconaw launched her away, disrupting the attack.

Ares rolled along the floor and I frowned as I watched her shakily pull herself up.

She was panting and as if sensing my hesitation, she turned around to face me...

With a smile.

My psychotic Bagon was smiling in joy despite the weakness in her body and the fact that she just got ragdolled by a Croconaw.

Despite all that, she was still enjoying this battle.

And it was all made clear to me as she began glowing white.

My mouth opened in shock at that and I rubbed my eyes to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

Nope, Ares was glowing white and going through a metamorphosis right before my eyes.

Her shape turned into that of a sphere, reminded me of a pupa as she turned quadrupedal before my very eyes. Her helmet seemed to have changed, transforming to cover her whole body and I watched grey legs begin protruding out of the shell.

I contemplated wiping the stupid grin off my face, but as two big yellow eyes gazed at me, reflecting the eagerness in my smile I let out a laugh.

"Look at you girl!" I exclaimed. "What the hell?! I didn't even know you were close to evolution!"

"Shelgon," Ares rumbled, voice significantly deeper.

The Shelgon before me looked magnificent... actually...

Hold on.

"Ares... why the hell are you so big?" I asked in confusion, scratching my head as I gazed at my Shelgon.

Shelgon while quite heavy, weren't the tallest pokemon around. The average one was about 3, almost 4, feet tall.

Ares looked like a solid 4 - 5. No seriously, why the hell was she so big?

I scratched my head in confusion and just shrugged.

We'd figure it out later.

Evidently, Ares didn't care nearly as much as I did and just turned towards Croconaw and Crystal.

"Well, this isn't what I was expecting," Crystal said in surprise.

"You and me both," I shrugged truthfully. "...Ares, use Dragon Breath."

Crystal spluttered at that, eyes going wide as I abruptly ended the temporary lull of the battle.

"Aqua Jet into Ice Fang!" she shouted, watching in shock as a gargantuan Dragon Breath left Ares mouth.

Croconaw frantically coated himself in water, dashing away from it as he rushed the giant Shelgon with a purpose...

Only to run into a sphere of green energy.

My eyes widened in interest as Ares used Protect of all moves and I remembered that this was a move Shelgon's innately learned.

Seems that was true... though the sight of Ares of all of my members willingly using Protect was a little shocking.

Still effective though.

As Croconaw recoiled, Ares lumbered about and glared at him, before opening her mouth (oh she still had one!) and firing point blank at him.

The following explosion was giant and I watched as Croconaw's body was sent soaring away.

Crystal returned him with a look of acceptance, gazing at me with wide eyes.

"I... wasn't really expecting to go against a freshly evolved pokemon," she said bluntly.

"That was a good match. I enjoyed it," I said truthfully.

I was in way too good of a mood to get sassy so I just nodded, inspecting Ares' new form with eyes full of wonder.

She preened under my attention, big yellows eyes gazing at me expectantly.

Seriously, she was huge. She was only a little below my chin and while I wasn't the tallest guy around... still.

"I'm proud of you girl. We gotta get you checked up," I muttered, returning her to her ball with a satisfied smile.

"C'mon I know you still wanna talk so just walk," I said, turning towards where the Nurse Joy was kept and making my way to her.

Crystal scratched her head and nodded, following after me with a somewhat scared expression.

She probably wasn't use to seeing my visibly happy...

It was a valid expression.

---

"You're forfeiting the match?!"

I nodded easily, not missing the disappointed look on Green's face.

She was the other finalist after all. She was probably looking forward to battling me.

"I'm satisfied with this tournament and I'm tired," I shrugged simply.

"B-But I wanted to battle you," Green said glumly.

"We travel together Leaf, you can battle me whenever you want."

"But it would have been so fun with the crowd watching!" she exclaimed.

I smirked, patting her messy head. "Then we'll just have to meet in the League. I dunno why but I'm extremely tired," I explained to her.

I had just finished getting Ares checked on and she was perfectly healthy with no complications...

But there was no explanation as to why she was so huge.

Eh, maybe Lance would know.

"Professor Oak might know too!" Green had told me. "It might be that same thing with Saury!"

Oh right... but I didn't want to talk to Professor Oak.

"Promise me we'll have an all out battle after this boat ride," Green demanded, accepting that I had no intention of playing this last match out.

"Promise. I'd be sick to my stomach holding back against you anyways. I will always fight to crush you," I said truthfully.

"That's the way I like it!" Green beamed.

Soon, Green, Crystal, some random who had lost to Green in the Semis and I were called to the podium. My sudden forfeit was met with heavy disappointment but... since when did I give a fuck what the people wanted?

I wanted a life of peace and I had to earn it myself. If they wanted some excitement, they should take up battling themselves.

The random and Crystal both received a hefty cash prize, a bundle of potions, including hyper and max potions, and a bundle of pokeballs, great balls and ultra balls.

I got the exact same things as them, with a bigger cash bonus, along with an assortment of 10 of each kind of Pokeball.

Finally, Green got all the aforementioned gifts the others got, with the largest cash prize, along with the prized egg.

It was a black egg (sick), looking drastically different in scheme to Togepi's own and I peered at it with visible interest.

"I wonder what it is," Green mused in awe, peeking at it with blatant curiosity.

I shrugged, only to blink as the egg was shoved onto me.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"Take it!" Green exclaimed.

I blinked even more. "Uh, nah I'm good. You're the one who won," I denied easily, yawning as another wave of tiredness hit me.

Seriously, why was I so damn tired?

Green shook her head insistently. "In the first place, I joined this tournament so I could win the egg and gift it to you!"

...

"Why? I already forgave you for the Togee thing," I grunted.

"That doesn't change the fact that I took him," Green whispered to me, refusing to concede. "Please just take it? Consider this me returning the favor for you getting me Togee."

I opened my mouth and then shut it. I would hate having to return the favor to someone and she must have been holding this over her head for a long time.

"...Alright fine," I sighed, accepting the egg and watching her grin brightly. "You can change your mind at anytime before the egg hatches and I'll give it back," I reminded her.

"I'm good!" she denied.

"I thought Crys and I were good… but you two are crazy strong!" Gold exclaimed with wide eyes.

Crystal nodded, a little humbled by the battle that took place. "You two are so ahead of us… I've never felt more motivated to get stronger..."

Green beamed. "I wouldn't have gotten this good without Silvy!"

I grunted, rolling my eyes and feeling embarrassed by the gushing going on.

"Just train with each other," I muttered, placing the egg away into the incubator.

For my own maturity, I'd actually watch over this egg and make sure we didn't get a repeat of the Togepi thing... though I wouldn't really care if it happened.

"Next time we battle, I'll give you more of a challenge. I was only close to winning because you returned Loki and let him do his own thing against Misteree," Crystal said in determination.

"I look forward to it," I muttered, nodding towards the two. "Now, I'm gonna go sleep. This dragged on for way too long."

"Good idea," Green yawned. "I'm tired too."

With some farewells, Green and I departed heading to our respective rooms to get some much needed rest.

I sighed and landed on my bed, sinking into it and feeling drowsiness quickly consume me.

Sleep sounded good right about now.

I took a deep breath and fell unconscious, slipping into my sleep far too easily.

---

Mewtwo is near.

My eyes snapped open and I rocketed up, a cold sweat forming on my face as I was rudely awaken by some unseen force.

I leapt off my bed with a sense of urgency I never felt before.

Mewtwo was near me. I don't know how I knew that but I could tell that the legendary was startlingly close to me.

"Zor…?" Loki muttered quietly.

I jerked my head towards him and my first pokemon jolted wide awake, at seeing the alarm in my eyes.

Why the fuck was Mewtwo here?! Was it here for me?

"Loki," I hissed, beckoning him over and having him leap into my jacket. "Something's not right here."

Loki's eyes sharpened at that and he nodded.

I huffed and grabbed all my essentials (and extras from the ship), securing them to myself with a grim expression.

We were in the middle of the ocean with a legendary looming and Freyja was not a Milotic yet so swimming wasn't quite an option —

Wait, am I stupid?

I needed to get Green and not leave her for dead. She had Lapee as well so we could definitely get out of here.

Fuck... but doing that would draw Mewtwo's attention to her. If it really was here for me, I'd be painting a massive target on her back.

Wait, fuck I'm getting too ahead of myself. I needed to verify the situation first.

I ignored the way my body thrummed, sensation appearing and reminding me of the looming danger, and slunk out of the room quietly.

Almost as soon as I stepped out, I saw a man in a dark outfit, tampering with the door that led to Green's room.

The guy never saw the way my eyes flew open in murder, nor did he hear me charging him…

But he certainly felt the hand gripping the back of his head and slamming his face brutally into the wall.

It was probably a good thing for him that he fell unconscious because that meant he didn't feel the vicious foot that further broke his gushing nose.

I glared at the body in disgust, wondering how a pervert like him made it onto the ship… before my eyes honed in on the giant R on his black outfit.

…

…

"Fuck," I hissed in realization.

The reason Mewtwo was here, was because Team Rocket was on the damn ship!

Ah fucking hell, they were raiding the S.S Anne? In the middle of the ocean? With a legendary on the prowl?!

"Champion. Team Rocket are on the S.S Anne. I don't know when you're gonna read this but it'll probably all be over by then," I messaged Lance, glancing back and forth periodically.

I rang his number for good measure, but I didn't have any intention of actually speaking to him. Just needed to potentially bring it to his attention.

I glared at the unconscious body and dragged him into my room, giving him another stomp for good measure to make sure he stayed unconscious (is what I told myself).

Then, I stole his hat and placed it atop my head.

"Loki, you know what that R means right?" I asked quietly, securing it and hiding my hair.

Loki nodded with a grim expression.

"Wrap me in an illusion for now. We'll pose as these assholes for the time being," I grunted.

Loki nodded effortlessly, using Illusion to wrap me in its ability and donning the attire of Team Rocket.

I let out a cool breath and my eyes narrowed.

That's why Team Rocket had been so silent… because they had been planning something big with the S.S Anne. Something like this probably required a lot of resources and planning to account for...

I wasn't expecting this. I didn't know that they would attack the boat…

A scowl made its way to my face and I immediately dialed Green, Gold and Crystal.

To my surprise, they all answered.

"What?" Gold and Green groused.

"Silver? You don't seem like the type to call ever. What's the matter?" Crystal asked, a bit more worry in her sleepy voice.

"Don't be loud," I muttered. "Team Rocket are on the ship."

There was a tense silence at that, before I heard rapid shuffling.

"What?!" Crystal hissed in shock.

"They're here?!" Gold hissed.

"Yeah. There's an unconscious one in my room right now. He tried to break into Green's room so I dealt with him."

"W-What?" Green said in disbelief, wide awake now. "One tried to break into my room?"

"What type of freak?" Gold snarled.

"Don't let your anger get the best of you," I scolded harshly. "You guys need to understand the situation. We're in the middle of the ocean, getting raided by Team Rocket. You understand what this means right?"

There was a tense silence.

No one wanted to say it.

"They're aiming to kill us. This is the perfect scenario for them to do so. Our lives are in danger right now and to be honest, I think the ship is going to go under by the end of it so we need to plan escape routes."

There was a nervous silence and I sighed.

This is why I didn't want to drag them into this because at the end of the day, we were all just kids at the end of the day —

"So what's the plan?" Green asked seriously, stepping into my room.

She was decked out in her black dress and flinched at seeing me in the Team Rocket getup, before her gaze went over to the unconscious man on my floor.

"I'm going to pretend like I'm in Team Rocket. You, Gold and Crys meet up and stay as a group and make sure you find Brock at all costs. Bring awareness to the ship as best as you can," I instructed slowly.

"You're going alone? Are you crazy?!" Crystal asked in concern.

"It's fine," I retorted with a scowl. "I'm gonna try to slow them down in anyway I know how and I have Loki so I can blend in."

"Don't worry about me. I'll meet up with you all again because we're probably gonna need Lapee's help if worst comes to worst."

"Don't worry about him, Crys. We just have to do our part," Gold said strongly.

I felt some relief at that and sighed, before grunting at the crushing hug.

"Be careful," Green whispered in worry. "Remember what I said okay? If something happens to you, I'll cry a lot."

I frowned at that, before returning the hug for once.

"Don't worry, Leaf. I'm having fun traveling with you so I'll maintain it," I said truthfully. "Besides, I hate when people cry."

She nodded shortly, before a look of determination made its way to her face.

"There's a lot of civilians, but there's also plenty of trainers. Try and wake up as many as you can. Ash and his group should be around here somewhere. If you can get Brock awake, it'll be smooth sailing," I ordered, eyes narrowed into cruel slits.

"Right," Gold and Crystal said in unison, hanging up at the same time.

Green nodded and we rushed off in opposite directions.

I grunted as my phone buzzed.

"I'm on the way."

That's all the message said and despite the situation, I couldn't help but feel relieved that Lance saw my message.

---

"Having trouble getting these open?" I asked curiously.

The Team Rocket grunt looked at me with some annoyance.

"Hell yeah I am. Another minute and I'm just gonna have Mankey break these down," he snorted.

I nodded my head at that. "We don't wanna make too much noise idiot. One sec, lemme handle it."

He looked a little affronted at being called an idiot, but made way for me to greet the door.

I gazed at it, before pulling out a lock picker.

It didn't take me more than 30 seconds to break into the room and my "fellow" grunt gazed at my handiwork with wide eyes.

"Dude, what the hell?" he said in awe.

"Easy once you get the hang of it," I nodded, beckoning him in with a nod of my head.

"Awesome, I wish I learned that skill."

"I'll teach you after this is over," I said offhandedly, turning towards him and beckoning him in.

"Remember the plan right?" I asked.

"Course I do. Loot as much as you can, silence any strugglers and leave before the whole thing blows," he retorted, stepping into the room.

The lone person in there began stirring, before they eventually woke up.

It was an older girl, a trainer by the looks of it but her pokeballs were on the desk, quite a ways away from mher.

As clarity reached her, I saw her recognize the R's on our shirts and I grunted as horror made its way to her face.

"T-Team Rocket?!" she stammered in horror, looking back and forth rapidly before locking onto the Pokeballs at her desk.

"Ah, ah. Don't take another step," the grunt warned. "If you do you're gonna be in a world of pain."

I said nothing, crossing my arms.

"Hey... this one's kinda cute actually," he whispered to me.

"I guess," I agreed, gazing at her features.

No one I recognized but I guess he had a point, she was pretty.

"You guess?! Well maybe you wait outside for a bit while I have some fu —"

I swung my leg upwards, connecting directly with the dumbasses crotch.

The pitiful noise he let out was music to my ears and I delivered a roundhouse kick to his head.

"Would you just shut the fuck up," I said with a sneer, looking at his unconscious body without a shred of mercy in my body.

I mugged him of all his pokeballs, stripped him of his clothing and tied his limbs together with it, making sure he couldn't reach for anything.

"W-W-Wha…?" the girl said in confusion.

"How many badges do you have?" I asked her with a frown, kicking the dudes unconscious body for good measure.

"...Seven?" she said in confusion.

"Great. Team Rocket is invading the ship. We need all the help we can get. Put some clothes on, grab your team and try to wake up as many people as you can," I instructed, ear twitching as I began hearing noises.

Seems like more and more people were becoming aware of the Rockets. Hopefully Brock was one of them.

But things were going perfect so far. This was like the fifth rocket I had taken out.

"Disable it, Loki," I grunted, watching as my illusion faded away.

"H-Hey wait!" the girl called out in confusion, rushing out of bed before squealing as I pointed at her lack of attire.

"I told you to put some clothes on," I said with a scowl.

Without even waiting for the girl to say anything, I dashed out of the room at a brisk pace.

Since it seemed like more and more people were waking up, I could ditch the disguise and focus on meeting up with Green and co again.

I did my part as a person trying to save the asses of myself and whoever I liked. Everyone else could fend for themselves—

My eyes fluttered, as something smashed against my head and shattered.

"Been tailing you this whole time and you finally left an openin for yourself," a grunt said, holding a glass bottle in his hands.

"Perfect. Best to just take you out right now — A-AGHH!"

Whatever the grunt was about to say, cut off as a feral Zorua crashed into him and began clawing at him with murder in its eyes.

I groaned, as flashes went off and realized my entire team had released themselves.

I tentatively reached for the back of my head and winced at coming back with red liquid and glass shards.

That didn't feel good at all. It actually hurt a lot and I was very quickly losing focus.

A vine held me up and I watched Gaia's worried eyes gazing at my red matted hands.

She began glowing with the familiar power of Heal Pulse and while it helped dull the fogginess and pain a little, it wasn't perfect by any means.

I pushed myself up and grabbed a gauze from my bag, shakily wrapping it around my head.

A blue sheen wrapped around it, courtesy of Metang and I watched my steel type use the gauze with an almost jealousy inducing amount of precision.

"It would be unfavorable if you died of blood loss. We have many more concerns at our life currently."

I agreed wholeheartedly with that sentiment and stood on my two feet, gazing at the body of the rocket with some shock.

Even the smallest of pokemon, were more dangerous than say... running into a lion in the wild and this guy learned that first hand.

All you needed to know was that he was almost certainly not alive.

I grunted, opened the nearby window and heaved, both from the concussion I was probably suffering and the dead body next to me.

"Zor?" Loki asked in concern, fur matted with blood.

Ares was no better, blood dripping from her newly evolved fangs and I smiled shakily at them.

To the side, I saw an unconscious Zubat and Raticate, both drenched in water and writhing from what was probably psychic tampering.

"You guys are filthy, gonna have to get you cleaned. Freyja wash them off a bit," I said after a moment. "Thanks for protecting me."

"Bag!" Ares snarled, gazing at the corpse with disgust in her yellow gaze.

"...Zor," Loki said in relief.

"Metang, throw that body out of the window please."

"Understood."

As Metang wrapped the body in a psychic sheen, I sighed and reassessed my plan of action.

"We've done our job. Everyone should be aware of the rockets now. I've done my part now it's time for me to focus on staying alive," I said shortly to them all.

"We're gonna find Green and get out of here. Eliminate any Rocket who gets in our way. Prioritize the human first," I sneered.

That was one thing I didn't get. Why didn't people go for the trainer first? This wasn't sanctioned battling anymore.

I didn't give a damn about the Rockets drugged up, mess of pokemon. The humans were the real issue and we could deal with the Pokemon after.

"I'm returning everyone but Metang and Loki. Look alive you guys. We're making it off this ship," I grunted slowly, head throbbing as a headache bloomed.

My team made noises of affirmation and I returned them.

A wave of dizziness hit me, as an explosion rocked the ship and I took that as my queue to begin fleeing now.

"Green, where are you?"

"I'm with Gold and Crystal. We've done our part and evacuations are being held, while most of the Rockets are being dealt with. Are you alright? You called me Green."

"I took a shot to the head. Glass something. I might have a concussion."

"?! Please come to me quickly, Silvy! We've done our part. Lapee is ready to go so just get over here."

"Right, I'll do that. If I don't show up in the next 3 minutes. Leave."

"W-What?!"

"I'll be fine Green. You need to ensure you stay alive."

No sooner did that text leave me, did another gargantuan explosion rock against the ship, sending me tumbling.

I gasped as my back crashed against the wall and saw stars in my gaze.

"Bombardment of the ship has begun. We must go."

I shakily pulled myself up, dragging myself atop Metang's body.

"I feel weak," I admitted with a raspy breath, struggling to get my breath under control.

"That is why you have us."

With that, Metang dashed off, heading to the balcony of the ship…

But we didn't make it very far, because a massive explosion rocked the ship and blew open a hole to the ship.

Fuck —

My eyes widened and I only had a moment to return both Loki and Metang, before I was plunged into the cold water below.

---

Ariana oversaw the mission of Vermilion with a bored expression.

She was located on a helicopter that flew above the ship, a Ninetales resting next to her with an equally bored expression.

A mission as simple as this, should have been handled by Proton. A simple mission for a simple man.

It was his job to be upset at the useless grunts raiding the ship. The trainers aboard were rallying it looked and there was utter mayhem taking place on the S.S Anne.

"Human."

Ariana jolted at that and resisted the urge to scowl.

"What is it?" she asked with a frown.

"The odds have dropped considerably against us."

Ariana raised a brow. "And why is that?"

"There appears to be a formidable trainer aboard. A deeper search confirms that they used to be a Gym Leader."

Ariana pursed her lips at that.

Well that would explain why the grunts and officers were failing then. A Gym Leader?

"I suppose I'll go deal with him then. Is it Lt. Surge?" she asked with a frown.

That one would cause her some issue, especially if his full team was with him.

"It matters not who it is. I will deal with it. Remind them of their time limit. They have approximately 2 minutes and 47 seconds remaining before the bombs placed are set."

Right. That's what Mewtwo was here for. A casual flexing of power, while ensuring the mission didn't completely fail and of course, keeping Ariana's identity a secret.

"All Rockets, you have 3 minutes to flee," Ariana muttered into their comms, not caring if they couldn't hear her. "Failure to escape in that time frame, will likely result in your death. You've been warned."

That was all she offered them and Ariana shut the comms off.

"Prepare for takeoff. We're done here," she ordered the pilot.

What a waste of time. Why was she even here if Mewtwo was just going to solve every issue?

Oh she knew why, it was because Giovanni finally grew tired of her complaints about the whereabouts of their fucking son. So as a solution, he tacked her onto some random stupid mission, labelled it as important and made her pour attention onto it.

Ariana cursed under her breath at that, contemplating slowing down the destruction of the ship just to vent some frustrations.

Alas, things were not to be.

She watched as Mewtwo prepared itself the exact moment the third minute had passed, that cold and oppressive sheen covering its armored body, before the legendary psychic outstretched its strange hand. She ignored the explosions already going off and gazed at the legendary in some trepidation.

It mattered very little to it if there was anyone on board. It did not care if there were still grunts, officers or executives on board.

No... all it cared for was ensuring its task was completed.

Ariana couldn't stop the shudder at watching Mewtwo in action.

A monster. That's what it was. A monster that didn't yet realize how monstrous it truly was.

The first blast of power from the psychic, tore a hole into the ship, which made Ariana furrow her brow because she was well aware of the legends power.

She was further proven correct, when the second burst of power from Mewtwo, obliterated the gigantic ship completely.

Just a release of psychic power… and the job was done.

"What was that first attack for?" Ariana couldn't help but ask.

Mewtwo said nothing for a long while, merely gazing at the few survivors escaping.

It's job was to ensure that the S.S Anne was destroyed no matter what, all while ensuring the mission succeeded and the executive's identity was kept secret.

Fleeing passengers meant nothing to it... but one thing did.

"Are you aware that your spawn, the one named Silver, was aboard that ship?"

Ariana went cold, eyes flying wide in horror.

"What did you just say?!" she shouted loud enough to make Ninetales jolt up.

"It's as I said. Your spawn was aboard the ship."

"Is he still alive?!" she asked in horror.

"For now."

Ariana felt horror welling at that. Without even thinking about it, she returned Ninetales and released two pokemon from her ball.

"Gardevoir, teleport us to the water. Lapras, swim until we find what I'm looking for," she instructed with wild eyes.

Gardevoir's eyes flashed at that, glancing in terror at where Mewtwo remained stationary, before it nodded shakily.

Ariana mounted the sullen Lapras and the three were teleported directly atop the water, aways away from the S.S Anne.

Silver was on that ship?! That wasn't… that just wasn't possible! Why was he on that ship?! Was Giovanni aware?

Was that damned bastard trying to kill their son?!

She returned Gardevoir and released Zoroark.

"Wrap us in an illusion," she ordered, even as Lapras began swimming towards the wrecked S.S Anne.

That fool! Why was he even on that ship? If he just stopped being so stubborn he'd know that this ship was being targeted by Team Rocket!

That… that fool!

---

As I sunk, I suddenly gained all my clarity and realized that I was dangerously close to dying.

There was no way I could let that happen. Drown? After everything I've been through? No.

Not happening.

I ignored the freezing temperatures, held my breath and began swimming towards the surface because I refused to drown here.

My head was on fire, my lungs were on fire, my body ached but I refused to die here.

I swam against the heavy currents, I ignored the curious Goldeen and Magikarp, I ignored the Tentacruel contemplating if I was worth eating over the other fish, I ignored it all.

I just continued to swim with a single-minded focus.

But it felt so far... it felt like no matter how hard I swam, I was just sinking right back down...

Terror welled up in me at that.

I didn't want to die. I couldn't die to this... but how could I get out —

I was brought out of my hysteria, as something desperately tried pulling me towards the surface.

My eyes went wide at seeing the panicked Freyja attempting to save my life and I regained my senses.

At the sight of my little fish, trying their best to save me with a look of pure determination and fear… I mustered up all the strength I could and pushed.

Die? To fucking drowning? After all the things I prepared myself for... drowning was going to be what knocked me off?

Absolutely fucking not.

My alertness went up tenfold and I could see everything so clearly.

That clarity —I don't know if it was the breath of death— helped me see a shadowy figure near the surface and I desperately reached my hand out to grab them, feeling a well of relief at seeing it clench tightly around me.

As I was dragged out the depths of the ocean, two slender hands pulled me with a surprising amount of force.

I coughed harshly, clutching onto the person who saved me and letting out a small and shuddering sigh as I was immediately wrapped into a tight hug.

I never felt as small as I did until now, clutching the person like if they let me go, I'd sink to the bottom of the ocean and it took me a while to gather my wits.

As I steadily cooled my nerves, I took a deep breath I was hugging someone with too much vulnerability that I would never be comfortable showing...

But right now I had more things to worry about like being thankful that I was alive and the Lapras I was atop of.

It swam through the waters at a steady pace, bringing my panic to a steady lull.

Did Green find me…? Was she waiting for me this entire time?

But no… this wasn't Green. This person was taller than Green and older too judging by the figure that I was crushed again.

Considering I was still being hugged (I didn't realize the person was reassuring me with soothing words) I could only make out red hair a similar shade to mine.

Was this…?

"Better now?" the voice asked, soft in nature with a strong hint of authority in it.

I didn't trust myself to say anything wise, so I just stayed silent. I inclined my head and felt relief at watching Freyja steadily following the Lapras.

"Thank you so much, girl," I held out her pokeball and smiled shakily at her, returning her to the ball.

Finally, I turned towards the person who saved me and properly gauged them.

It was dark, but I could make out a head of red hair, that was no doubt on a woman's body, along with what may have been red eyes?

She was gazing at me like I were a ghost…

"Silver," she breathed out.

Wait... I knew who this was…

"I know this may be a lot to take in, especially considering what just happened to you..." the woman began.

"...But I'm Elite Four Lorelei and I'm… your aunt," she revealed. "My sisters name is Ariana… she's your mother, right?"

I stared dumbly at her and then just let the wave of exhaustion consume me, falling blissfully asleep in her grasp.

---

Lorelei gazed at her unconscious nephew with soft eyes, taking his light body and putting him in front of her, before she once again took control of the situation.

"Cloyster, Dewgong, Slowbro. Regroup with Lance's Gyarados and Kingdra and save as many people as you can. Reinforcements are on the way," she ordered.

Her pokemon nodded and rocketed off into the depths, giving her enough time to inspect the Champion himself, atop Siegfried as his dragons flew across the entire area.

Lorelei sighed and removed her glasses, before gently cleaning them with her woefully unprofessional attire.

Then, she gazed at Silver's unconscious body and ran a hand through his matted hair.

Her first meeting with her nephew and it was right after saving his life from drowning.

What a great start.

She had been sleeping, when Lance had abruptly woken her up with news that the S.S Anne was being attacked.

Seeing as she was the one most equipped with dealing with Water situations, Lance brought her along with him and on Sigfried's back, they soared over to a location that Lance was using his Pokegear to track.

It was as she was searching for survivors on Lapras, did her first pokemon inform her of a figure underwater rapidly attempting to swim to the surface.

It was a twist of fate that the person swimming up to her, happened to be her nephew...

She was glad she made it in time to save him... just thinking of the alternatives...

Lorelei frowned as she removed her hand from his head and gazed at the red matting her hands.

"Lapras, continue surveying for survivors," she instructed, releasing a Jynx from the Pokeball.

"Jynx teleport us to Vermillion then teleport back to Lapras. Inform Lance of what I'm doing."

Jynx sang in agreement, eyes glowing as she grabbed onto her trainer and Lorelei sighed as the three of them were teleported to Vermillion.

Silver was in dire need of medical assistance. Lorelei had no idea how long he had been underwater... but he also sustained a head injury in the process.

"Thank you... Jynx?" Lorelei asked, noting that her Jynx looked far more exhausted than she should be.

Jynx panted, gazing at Silver with wide eyes that prompted Lorelei to gaze at him as well.

She sighed and carried him inside of the Pokemon Center.

So many questions.

---

Ariana stared in total disbelief, as her younger sister Lorelei hugged her son and soothed him.

Silver clung to her body, shaking and shuddering in her grasp as she ran a hand through his soaked and terrified body.

…

Ariana felt a well of true rage flow through her and nearly threw caution to the wind, by lunging at her sister and taking her son back.

Unfortunately, or fortunately for her, things were not to be.

"Human. Our job is complete. We are leaving."

Before she could protest the decision, a blue sheen wrapped around her and she was transported away from the scene.

Ariana scowled and whirled on Mewtwo with fury in her eyes.

Legendary be damned! She would give this thing a piece of her mind —

"Compromise of the mission is unacceptable. I already hid your presence from the other humans, hid your identity from the grunts that are being captured and prevented you from getting captured. You have little room to be upset."

"My son nearly died," Ariana hissed.

"Your spawns safety was not apart of my mission. That is yours."

Even despite that, Mewtwo accounted for his presence. The one named Silver was far too curious to let die right now.

The Psychic was even aware enough to guide the woman, who this red haired human harbored resentment towards, to Silver's location.

But they did not need to know that. For now, Mewtwo's interest in Silver would remain… secret.

Ariana bristled at Mewtwo's cold words.

"Silver was on the S.S Anne?"

She stilled at that voice and whirled towards the neutral expression of one Giovanni.

"Correct. He was assaulted by a Grunt as well," Mewtwo intoned.

The psychic's purposeful words elicited the reaction he was looking for and he watched as Giovanni twitched.

"Assaulted by a simple fucking grunt?!" Ariana shrieked in rage.

Who did these grunts think they were?! Whose child did they think they had the right to touch?!

She'd have every single grunt cleaning Taurus shit for the rest of their lives!

"Where is Silver now?" Giovanni asked, lips almost forming an invisible frown.

Mewtwo spared Giovanni a single glance, already getting everything they wanted from this conversation.

"The city where the ship set sail. His alleged aunt served as an escort."

Giovanni raised a brow and gazed at Ariana, who grit her teeth.

"Yes. Lorelei," she grit out the name of her little sister.

"Interesting… is she aware of your relationship with Team Rocket?" Giovanni asked.

"Nobody is," Ariana retorted with a scowl. "But Silver and I look identical. It won't take a genius for her to realize who's son he is and by the way she hugged him… she probably already knew."

Giovanni said nothing at that and then nodded "Very well. He's accounted for and safe. The raid of the S.S Anne was not as smooth as I expected, but you did an admirable job salvaging the situation, Mewtwo."

"Naturally. This is beneath me. There is no reason to believe I'd perform any less than my intended role."

"Entirely correct. You are free to go partner."

Mewtwo said nothing, teleporting away from the two.

Ariana huffed and walked off.

"An excellent mission for you as well, Ariana… but where are you going?"

"You are not the only one who should be allowed to visit our child," she sneered.

Giovanni gazed at her for a moment.

"That is reckless. The S.S Anne sank, there were sightings of not only the Elite 4, but the Champion as well. Going there carries many risk."

"Then I'll take a page out of his book," she bit out, stressing her point by showing Zoroark's pokeball.

"…" Giovanni said nothing.

"Very well. Do as you wish. I shouldn't have to say this, but ensure no one makes any connections."

Ariana nodded tersely.

The door shut.

Giovanni watched it for a moment, before leaning back into his seat with a contemplative expression.

---

Mewtwo gazed down at the buzzing of Vermilion city, so high in the sky that no one would even be able to sense it.

Despite the thousands of people in the city, it was very easy for Mewtwo to pinpoint anyone it so desired...

None were like Mewtwo. Mewtwo was the strongest.

Even now, it would take but a small exertion to snuff out every life force in the city below him.

Yet Mewtwo did not because… because Mewtwo was curious.

About the spawn named Silver.

What Mewtwo purposefully omitted from Giovanni, was the fact that it was Silver himself who caused the plans to go so awry.

Mewtwo of course felt when Silver woke up. Mewtwo felt Silver recognize their presence. Mewtwo used the mind of one of the other humans to understand that it was Silver who set the plans failure into motion…

But why? What was the reason for Silver to sabotage something that was going to be handed to him so long as he listened?

Silver was aware of Mewtwo's superiority… yet that did not stop him from opposing Team Rocket. In fact, it seemed as if Silver was willing to oppose even Mewtwo themself.

Why did he not care about Mewtwo's might?

Giovanni cared much about his might and Silver was the spawn of him.

The armored legendary mulled over its thoughts more, unable to reach an answer when they would normally have an answer for everything.

It would continue to observe.

They were… curious, to see what Silver's motives were.

Mewtwo could end it right here… but this… rebellion was it? Yes. This rebellion of Silver's fascinated them.

Yes. They would watch this unfold unless told otherwise.

After all, Mewtwo was curious to see how Silver would ever manage to stop his strength.

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Hellooooo! Hope you enjoyed the chapter! It's been a fun one to write and I covered quite a bit of battles haha. Hope you liked it!

Lots of stuff happened so as always, I'll be here to reply to any inquiries... mostly. I don't do spoilers much.

I wanted to thank you all for the support! It catches me by surprise honestly to see so many people enjoy the story! I appreciate it a lot!

I have a server if ya wanna chat with me. I'm a lot more active there and answer in real time as opposed to email! If you're interested here ya go. The code is: discord. gg/BFFtXAXFU7