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...

9. Chapter 9: Celadon

These Silver Eyes

Chapter 9: Celadon

---

Nicknames:

Zorua - Loki

Bayleef - Gaia

Feebas - Freyja

Shelgon - Ares

---

Teddiursa: Male

Ability: Pickup

Moves: Baby-doll Eyes, Lick, Scratch, Fury Swipes, Payback, Seismic Toss

"Ursa," Teddiursa said quietly, offering me a Pokeball from who knows where.

Where did he get this from?

I took it out of his hand and ruffled the fur on his head.

"Thanks lil buddy," I said, rolling the pokeball in my palm as I inspected it.

Pickup was an ability that allowed a Pokemon to identify items of varying value.

Once a pokemon encountered something with said value, they were filled with an urge to take them. Wild pokemon even had the urge to steal those valuable items from people who already owned it.

The type of pokemon tended to affect what they stole as well. Meowth's were famous for stealing gems and coins of value, while Teddiursa used theirs for mostly food, especially honey.

Teddiursa weren't as bold as Meowth or Zigzagoons tended to be. They typically just used their ability to stock up on food. Pickup Teddiursa were typically foragers and had an easier time evolving into Ursaring, due to having the necessary nutrients needed to survive.

A Pokeball wasn't really something they'd see to much value in and I don't know where Teddiursa got this from but oh well.

Not like I had a problem with it. Pokemon with Pickup who were born around humans, typically tended to gain an interest in valuable things that were material in nature and not just food.

Green beamed, joining me in patting the shy Teddiursa. I watched in amusement as his face darkened slightly in embarrassment, blush adoring his face.

My companion squealed. "He's so cute!" she gushed happily.

He was. I would easily concede that point.

Teddiursa looked fairly standard. Nothing too impressive about it but it had a good starting point for me.

Seismic Toss implied that one of its parents was a fighting type. If I had to guess, it was a Primeape... which was a little strange considering Ursaring and Primeape tended to have disputes with each other but if Team Rocket were involved than yeah...

"Do you want a nickname?" I asked curiously, gazing at Teddiursa with a tilted head. "Something for you to differentiate yourself?"

Teddiursa had a pensive expression at that before gazing back at my team.

Gaia waved cheerfully with a vine, making him flinch shyly. He quickly turned back to me once he noticed how many eyes were on his person.

"All of them have nicknames except for Metang," I told him helpfully. "If you don't want one, you don't need one. I'm not putting any pressure on you," I shrugged.

No one said anything as Teddiursa mulled over the idea of getting a name.

He glanced back at my team, looking nervous and I almost assured him one more time but I refrained from doing so.

You couldn't coddle someone who wanted to change themselves. You needed to be a little forceful and let them take that step forward.

Teddiursa put a paw to his mouth as he continued to debate with himself if he should get a nickname. I wasn't expecting him to turn the situation into something like this but I was fine with it.

This was important to him so I'd treat it important.

Finally he glanced up at me and his features shifted into one of determination.

"Teddi!" he nodded eagerly.

I nodded with a smirk and tilted my head.

Well to be honest… Teddiursa had a few pretty good nicknames… His whole theme was moon bear after all.

But that perfect nickname was Artemis and Teddiursa was a dude. There was also Diana and Luna on the Roman side as her counterparts… but again, Goddesses.

I could just do the same thing I did with Ares, but those names sounded a bit more feminine in nature.

Maybe Luna was my best bet? I guess it sounded the least egregious.

Nah. This was important to him so I had to really try.

So I guess I should keep his name at least in relation to Artemis…

Apollo?

Nah, Apollo was practically her complete opposite…

I pursed my lips. Why did all the Romans and Greek gods of the moon have to be Goddesses? Give me at least one to work with! I didn't even know the name of the Norse one!

Well fuck them too. I'd just have to expand my sources of mythology.

"How about Oberon? You'll be a king of your species under the moon you all love so much," I informed him quietly, gauging his reaction.

A bit outta there, but Oberon was actually a pretty good name. He was most known for being the fairy king sure… but he was also heavily associated with the moon, there was a moon named after him back at my other world.

Not to mention his name origins included the word bear. I think it had something to do with nobility so it was perfectly suitable for a pokemon owned by me.

So all in all, perfect… and judging by the look in his eyes, Teddiursa quite liked that name too!

He nodded eagerly and I smiled down at him.

"Alright then. Everyone, this is Oberon. He's the newest member of the team," I introduced.

At seeing the eyes of everyone, including Green's team, there, Oberon immediately fled behind my legs, sticking one head out and gazing nervously at them as he clutched my long pants.

I refused to show even the slightest bit of emotion at how fucking adorable that was. Seriously, I had a reputation to upkeep here.

Green did not. She squealed at the cute sight and dearly looked like she wanted to kidnap and squeeze Oberon to death.

"On that note, everyone… this is Dree! We all met him but we may as well do it formally!" She beamed, officially introducing the Dreepy to us all.

Dree wasn't as nervous as Oberon but that probably fled as he laid eyes on both Loki and Ares, not to mention me. He was still a bit of a wreck around me but at least exposure therapy seemed to be going well.

Our older members all made various noises, greeting the two newest members of the team with general cheer.

Oberon stuck his head out a little further at that, looking stunned by the greetings. His black eyes were wide in nervous awe

"Bay," Gaia encouraged happily, ever the social butterfly.

"Don't be afraid of them," I reassured. "They're your new teammates after all. Most of them are nice."

He nodded slowly and hesitantly walked from behind me.

"Try waving," I offered.

Oberon nodded and raised one of his paws to wave at the crowd.

He immediately let out a panicked yelp as Gaia immediately wrapped him in her vine and dragged my newest member into the team.

I rolled my eyes and let it be.

Let them get acquainted. Better for it to be now than later

---

"Hello!" Gaia beamed, bringing their new teammate close to them all. "I'm Gaia! I heard you managed to follow us all the way here from the Game Corner! That's really impressive."

"U-Um..." Oberon stammered, looking like a Deerling caught in headlights.

Loki rolled his eyes. "Gaia, did you miss the part where Silver said he's shy? You're scaring him."

Gaia's eyes widened. "Oh oops!" she exclaimed, gently placing him down.

"Sorry about her. Gaia is excitable," Loki apologized, peering at him with curious eyes.

"That's... okay?" Oberon muttered, not looking too sure of himself.

Loki didn't look bothered by their new teammate. "I'm Loki, I was Silver's first pokemon. Gaia was his second. That's Freyja, his third, followed by Metang and Ares," he introduced, pointing at each with his muzzle.

"N-Nice to meet you!" Freyja greeted shyly.

"N-Nice to meet you too," Oberon replied.

"Two pests who are afraid of their shadows. My vassal truly knows how to select partners. Wonderful," Ares grunted neutrally, eyes glancing between Oberon and Freyja.

Oberon wilted slightly at that and Freyja instantly glared at the giant dragon.

"I'm surprised you still know how to speak. I thought evolution took the last of your intelligence!" Freyja scowled.

The Shelgon's eyes narrowed. "The audacity for you to dare speak to me when the gap in our strengths is this vast. Were I still my previous form, you'd already know your place."

Freyja snorted. "Look at you, acting like you've actually changed! Isn't that rich?! Once a dumb brute, always a dumb brute!"

Gaia sighed. "There they go again."

"They... do this often?" Oberon asked.

"Multiple times a day," Loki replied, ignoring them easily. "You get used to it. Neither of them are going to hurt the other because Silver will let them hear it."

"W-Wow," Oberon muttered. "I didn't think Freyja would have what it took to stand up to... Ares," he tested the names on his lips.

"None of us really get it," Gaia explained. "Maybe Metang does but Metang doesn't talk to anyone."

Metang chanced a glance at their team. "The animosity they harbor stems from the battle with the tusked dragon long ago," they explained.

"Figured," Gaia and Loki replied at the same time.

"Tusked dragon?" Oberon asked curiously.

Gaia nodded with a small scowl. "Yeah! It was a while ago but we ran into a tough dragon called..."

"Fraxure," Loki supplied.

"Fraxure!" Gaia repeated. "Wanna hear about it? Actually we can tell you about all our journeys so far! Metang can use that big brain of theirs to help too!"

"Do not drag me into such meaningless conversation," Metang rumbled.

"Too bad! You're joining! We need more team bonding!" Gaia said decisively. "Freyja! Ares! Stop arguing! We're gonna get to know Oberon better!"

"Oh... okay!" Freyja said, shooting Ares one final glare.

"Must I join such ridiculous endeavors?" Ares scowled.

"You will! How else can anyone explain how truly amazing you are?!" Gaia beamed.

"...I suppose you have a point. Very well," Ares grunted.

"W-Wow, Gaia is..."

"Effective?" Loki finished Oberon's train of thought.

Oberon nodded and the Zorua smiled.

"Gaia's nice but don't get on her bad side. She's got a mean streak," Loki advised. "Just be yourself, it'll be fine."

Oberon nodded and watched as his new teammates got ready to break him in...

"Y-You're our trainers first pokemon, right?" he asked timidly.

Loki nodded curiously.

"Um... do you think he's a good trainer?" the Teddiursa eventually asked.

"..." Loki pondered the question, looking a little troubled for a bit.

He looked down at his body and eventually said, "I think Silver is the best trainer a lot of us could have asked for. Whether you think the same is up to you... spend time with our trainer and maybe you'll love him as much as we do."

Oberon looked stunned. "O-Okay! I wanna be as brave as him one day!"

Loki smiled slightly. "He'd call you an idiot for that. Silver doesn't think he's brave at all but I didn't say that."

"R-Really? But he never smelled afraid even once!"

"What's on the outside of a person doesn't always match the inside," was all Loki said.

Oberon nodded slightly at that, looking a tad confused. "O-Okay... you're really nice. Do you want a berry?"

Before Loki could answer, Oberon shuffled about and pulled out a Pecha Berry.

The Zorua looked at the Pecha in surprise. "Where did you get that?"

"I-I found it," he mumbled.

Loki burst into tiny chuckles. "You'll fit right in I think. Now c'mon. Gaia gets impatient quickly."

"Loki! Hurry up! Stop hogging our new teammate!" Gaia urged.

"Coming coming," Loki rolled his eyes.

Oberon looked confused but nodded all the same, trailing after the Zorua into his new team.

---

Green sidled up to me with a smile on her face and I glanced at her.

It was the morning of the day after our Game Corner raid so the commotion was likely still going strong.

"You alright?" I asked, gauging the way she walked and declaring it good enough.

She nodded eagerly and showed me her flashing Pokedex.

We both peered at it and I raised a brow at the contents.

On it was the news.

The Celadon Game Corner had been shockingly exposed to be a rocket hideout by an unknown source. A group of Officer Jenny's had investigated the random report and had encountered dozens of Rocket Grunts and pokemon, both wild and captured alive.

"The owner of the Celadon Game Corner is currently under investigation and fire. Currently, he has declined to respond to any questions," the reported finished.

Nice. I hadn't left anyway for them to track my anonymous note back to me (I had Metang use his shoddy psychic skills to write it) and they actually followed through on it.

But...

"Doesn't seem like they caught Proton. He's wanted after all so that would have made the news," I scowled.

"He somehow got away," Green frowned with me. "Maybe he fought his way out."

"Doubt it. There would be a bigger commotion," I pointed out. "Between you and me... I'm assuming he got teleported out," I muttered quietly.

Green's eyes widened. "By the..."

"Yeah, likely," I replied with a frown.

"But can't you feel when he's close by?" she asked in shock.

I sighed. "His power is just that great."

To be honest, if I tried really hard... I'm pretty sure I could locate Mewtwo. I couldn't understate how strong the Legendary was... if I focused, I'd be able to feel it like a beacon of sorts.

What a disturbing thought. It was better for my health if I just ignored it like I had been doing this entire time.

"That's really scary," Green mumbled nervously. "I thought it was because I didn't swing hard enough. I was already thinking of ways to up my strength."

I snorted loudly.

"I still can't believe you used my bat before me," I commented in amusement.

I was just a little slighted by that but it was fine. I realized something about weapons the moment I stole this knife.

It was created... weapons really were excruciatingly difficult to get so if you couldn't buy them... just create them.

Green shuffled nervously and leaned into me.

"Please don't tell anyone, but I don't think that's the last time I'm gonna use your bat," she whispered so quietly, I nearly couldn't hear.

Oh but I heard alright and it caused me to erupt in laughter.

Her cheeks dusted red at the sound of my laugh and I pat her head. "You're a good person, Leaf. Thanks for saving my ass back there."

She beamed with rosy cheeks, clearly not used to me complimenting her so earnestly and grabbed me in a crushing hug.

"Of course I'll save you, Silvy! I know you'd do the same for me!"

I rolled my eyes in amusement. "Yeah yeah."

Green sobered up slightly. "Um... I saw you stab that Proton guy. Are you okay?"

I blinked and frowned. "Yeah I'm good... well as good as someone who stabbed someone can be."

My companion bit her lip at that. "I dunno how you can do it..."

I clenched my fist. "Anything to win," I said firmly.

Stabbing him hadn't been hard at all... and that was the problem.

It was far too easy. I didn't like how easy it felt to stab Proton because one move, and that stab would turn into something fatal.

But... I wasn't moral enough to think that I shouldn't stoop to Team Rockets level. That wasn't me. I wasn't some hero that believed myself better than my opponents.

I'm not the type of person to say, "You won't be any better than them if you do this."

That wasn't who I was. If stabbing Proton was the best way to get outta that situation, then I'd stab him again.

I was a boy who desired freedom. And I would get that freedom.

Let's just hope I got to earn it without becoming a murderer... and if I couldn't? Then oh well. It is what it is.

I would do anything to free myself from the Rockets. I'd even make deals with the Devil to do so.

Green glanced at me in some concern and pulled me into a hug. "You can talk to me about anything you want to Silvy. I know you don't wanna talk to anyone else so I'll listen to your problems," she said in determination.

I sighed at that and pat her on the head. "Thanks Leaf. Now, let's get our day started. We've got a Gym Battle to prepare for."

The both of us would be fighting Erika in 2 days so it was good to prepare for that.

"Alright! Let's spend today training while the noise dies down!" Green grinned. "We can check out the department store another time!"

I perked up at that and nodded.

The department store was a great way to get resources…

"Alright let's get to training," I instructed. "We've got a big battle two days from now. Practice the moves you struggle with and when you get them all under control…"

I pulled out the TMs I stole and showed it to them.

"...You'll learn some new moves to perfect," I smiled.

"Yep!" Green beamed. "We did a great job yesterday but it's time to focus up for the gym battle! Our opponent is a grass type gym leader so for this battle I'll use…"

I listened to her enter trainer mode and snorted, turning to my team in the meantime.

"Alright you guys. Get to it and I'll check you all soon. Oberon, with me. I need to understand more about you," I stated, pulling out my dex and gazing at it.

My Teddiursa jumped at that and nodded, scuttling over to me as quick as his little feet could take him.

I absentmindedly crouched down and caught him with one hand, as he stumbled and tripped from the speeds.

He yelped as he fell into my hand and my eyes flickered back over to him.

"No need to rush," I assured, hoisting him back up. "You won't get in trouble for taking your time."

"Teddi…" Oberon said quietly, gazing at me in surprise.

I watched as he shuffled around, before he pulled out an Oran Berry to hand over to me.

I erupted in a slight chuckle and took it out his hand.

Where was he getting these from?

"Thanks little man, now let's see what Pokeblock you prefer…"

---

Gaia's eyes narrowed slightly as the bush near her ruffled and she immediately launched of flurry of leaves towards it.

Vee burst out of it and growled, shooting out a flurry of stars that collided with the Light Screen Gaia immediately conjured.

At the same time, a jet of piercing water nearly crashed into Vee, but the blue figure of Lapee intercepted it, absorbing the water and rejuvenating her slightly.

She began setting up to sing, but a dark aura washed over her that abruptly stopped anything from coming out.

Her melodious voice turned scratchy and Lapee shot a dark glare of embarrassment over at the smug Loki, opening her mouth to blast him with scalding hot water.

The Lapras only felt more anger as the water washed over Loki with no effect, revealing that it was an illusion the entire time.

Gaia let out a battle cry, pinpointing Lapee's location immediately and shooting Magical Leaf after Magical Leaf after her.

The Bayleef's eyes narrowed at seeing a burly figure step in front of the leaves, taking the attack without so much of a flinch.

Saury rumbled, shooting a toxin sludge at Gaia without any hesitation that the Bayleef hastily blocked with Light Screen.

They both shot out a flurry of leaves that collided with each other, ignoring the sharp leaves that made it through.

Lapee didn't remain silent, opening her mouth and shooting out a pulsing cold beam that Gaia swiftly ran away from.

As Saury positioned to catch her location, he let out a grunt of surprise as a psychic sheen suddenly surrounded him.

The giant Ivysaur was launched back across the clearing and right as he caught himself, a fiery turquoise beam crashed into him.

Saury let out a roar of pain, right as Ares, boosted with Dragon Dance, launched herself over to his position. There was an eager gleam in her eyes as she lumbered over with her enhanced speed while the Ivysaur attempted to recover.

She gave him no respite, smashing her full weight into the Ivysaur and sending him soaring through the air at incredible speeds.

Metang watched coolly and intercepted Saury's flight, claws shining to ensure the Ivysaur was put down.

The attack didn't connect however, as Metang was suddenly hit by a stream of flames.

It's eyes flashed in annoyance and it regarded Larvee for a split second, encasing her in a shell of psychic energy.

"Tang," was all it said, before a thin jet of steaming water crashed into the Larvesta.

Larvee cried out in pain but was silenced as Loki burst from the shadows with a dark aura, crashing into her with a purpose.

He didn't even wait to see her fall unconscious, dipping back into his illusion with a predatory look in his eyes as he immediately went for Togee next.

The Togepi activated Metronome, waving his tiny little arms about as they glowed white and he opened his mouth, firing a massive burst of fire that shifted into Kanji.

Loki's eyes widened and he hastily jumped out of the way of the Fire Blast, fur singing as the heat washed over him slightly. He narrowed his eyes and slipped into Agility, immediately rushing the exhausted Togepi.

Togee saw his approach and clumsily tried to activate Metronome once more, shooting out a weak Air Slash that Loki deftly jumped over.

Finally, the Zorua snarled, shooting dark energy, before following up with a dark tackle.

Togee flew back a few feet, unconscious on impact and Loki once again, vanished, avoiding the flurry of leaves.

Saury grunted warily and Lapee attempted to rejuvenate him with Life Dew to no success because of Loki's administrations.

The kindhearted Lapras actually scowled in annoyance, gazing at the Gaia who just shot out a Heal Pulse as well.

She opened her mouth and attempted to use Freeze-Dry on both the Bayleef and Shelgon but was met with complete resistance as the green shield of Protect erupted from Ares, protecting them both.

A metallic beam of energy crashed onto the ground beneath both Saury and Lapee, separating the two very briefly and giving an opening.

Gaia's eyes gleamed and she immediately lunged, vines snaking out of her body and grasping Lapee without any hesitation. The Lapras let out a cry of panic as the vines mercilessly wrapped around her.

Vee saw and attempted to assist, only to cry out as Loki burst out of the shadows again, tackling him with his full weight.

As Vee tumbled, Loki's eyes glowed purple and he opened his mouth, shooting forth an Extrasensory to seal the deal.

"Eev!" Vee shouted, crumpling on the ground.

At the same time Lapee let out a cry from Gaia's assault and collapsed, unable to sustain herself at all due to Loki.

Saury grunted and attempted to stop the charging Ares, failing as the dragon bulldozed his defenses and crashed into him full force.

The accumulated damage was too much and the Ivysaur eventually fell.

"Shel," Ares rumbled in satisfaction.

As the rest of them relaxed minutely, they suddenly stiffened as Vee shakily got up.

"Vee..." he said in determination, glaring at the healthy pokemon.

Ares would have raised a brow if she had one but she was swiftly silenced as Vee began glowing a bright white.

A stunned silence washed over the field, as they watched the Eevee begin changing before their eyes.

No one dared interrupt such an important milestone so they witnessed with bated breaths as Vee's body underwent evolution.

He lengthened, brown fur turning into lilan and smoothing over. It's ears remained large, as a tuft of fur formed near his face. A red gem conjured from the evolution, embedding itself firmly in his forehead and his tail turned slender, splitting at the end.

"Espeon," Vee said finally, gem glowing brightly as his eyes flashed.

Then, he shut his eyes and let out a distressed cry, collapsing abruptly at the new surge of psychic powers.

"Alright, that's enough!" Green shouted, making the Dreepy next to her jump. "Oh geez, he decided on Espeon? I was expecting to consult this a bit more!"

I frowned, Oberon looping his arm around my neck, as I slowly approached. "We should take him to the Center fast. Evolving into an entire new type, especially one as a psychic is overwhelming him. If I knew, I probably wouldn't have been in the area either."

She nodded hastily and returned Vee to his ball, along with the rest of her team.

I followed suit and our little spar officially ended in favor of us rushing to the Center at record speed.

The Center was fairly close to the outskirts of Celadon, so we made it there fast at our pace and entered the building without hesitation.

"Nurse Joy!" Green called urgently, handing her Pokeball over. "My Eevee just evolved into Espeon!" was all she said.

Nurse Joy did not need any further prompting. She easily grabbed the Pokeball and smiled reassuringly at Green. "Don't you worry. It's natural for evolved psychics with weak stores to get overwhelmed, especially if they weren't a psychic before. They can perceive the world easier but I'll make sure there are no complications."

Green smiled in relief and nodded, before the two of us handed our Pokeballs over to the inquiring Chansey.

"Sorry for calling the fight off early... though I think we both knew how that was going to turn out," Green said as we took a seat nearby.

I waved her off. "It's cool. It was just a spar anyways. Evolution is way more important. We can spar anytime," I mentioned.

She nodded thankfully. "I'm shocked though! Our fights are normally 50/50 these days but that group battle wasn't close!" she exclaimed.

"My team is a little more independent than yours," I replied easily. "With Loki doing his thing as well, it was overwhelmingly in my favor from the start... also we fought as a team before."

Green nodded in awe at that. "It's definitely your win. I don't even think Vee's evolution woulda helped in the long run."

The two of us had decided to dabble into doing full team fights instead of 1 on 1s. It was in preparation for our future encounters with Team Rocket and it helped build teamwork not just between our members, but us as well.

That's why Green and I didn't give too much orders out. It was too chaotic and the noise would drown out our orders both in spars and the real thing.

Like Green said, it wasn't really close. My little soldiers were well used to me giving them some of the reigns, not to mention in an all out battle, Loki and Gaia were incredibly frustrating to deal with.

Saury's power had been overwhelming before but he wasn't unstoppable. I had caused him to faint on many occasion and with Ares evolution, it actually became much easier to do so.

The gap between Green and I had completely closed. In fact, I edged out on her just a little... though with Vee's evolution it might have shifted back into her favor.

That was fine. I liked this power struggle between us. It made things all the more exciting.

"Was Espeon Vee's preferred?" I asked curiously.

Green mulled it over. "Espeon or Jolteon. That's what he wanted the most I think..." she explained.

I nodded at that and took a sip of water. "What about you? What did you want?"

Green blinked before flushing slightly. "I brought up Sylveon with him once and he bit me," she admitted.

My laughter turned into abrupt coughs as the water made its presence known. "Y-You deserve that," I coughed, resisting the urge to snort.

She rubbed the back of her head bashfully. "It was worth a shot! Espeon and Sylveon were tied for me but I was really fine with anything he wanted."

I nodded thoughtfully at that and we fell into a comfortable silence.

On our way to the Center, we heard quite the commotion. It appears the addicts weren't very happy that their precious Game Corner was shut down. I had already seen plenty of Jenny's forcefully bringing people down due to their disruptive nature.

I rolled my eyes.

They were all pathetic. You bring down the stronghold of a notorious organization who kills and kidnaps for fun, but all you can think about is no longer being able to gamble.

I guess it's a good thing Green and I remained anonymous. The attention after that, would turn me into a public criminal.

"Miss Green, Mr. Silver. Your Pokemon are ready!"

The two of us perked up at that and immediately approached the desk to greet the polite Nurse Joy.

"Your Espeon will be fine. Just give him time to get used to his new body. Espeon's are some of the most sensitive psychics there are so evolution is especially jarring for Eevee's when they turn into one," she explained.

Green nodded, relief clear on her features and the two of us accepted our teams. "So is there anything I should do?"

"Just let him get used to his body. Increase his diet as well and if you wouldn't mind, have him speak with Silver's Metang on how to best control psychic energy. Due to also having lacking to almost nonexistent reserves, Metang should be able to explain how to utilize psychic energy quite well to Espeon," Joy said quietly, making sure none but us could hear it.

I nodded appreciatively at that. "We can do that."

Green beamed. "Awesome! Okay! Thanks so much Nurse Joy!"

"Of course. You two have a wonderful day," Nurse Joy smiled, waving us off.

I mulled over her words. "Alright back to training. This city is insufferable right now," I muttered.

"Agreed," Green nodded. "I'm so excited! Vee finally evolved!"

I nodded. "Espeon's are real strong too. A valuable addition," I mused.

She nodded eagerly as we headed back to our base. "I saw Metang coordinating somewhat with the team. I wanna do that too!"

"It'll get better with time for sure. He just needs to get used to it," I shrugged. "Let's just hope he can function around me. I imagine just evolving into a psychic type is gonna be rough but with me around..."

Green frowned at that. "Maybe we should stay a good bit away from each other for now? I can get Vee accustomed for the remainder of the day and then maybe expose him to you..." she mulled.

"Smart," I nodded. "We can just train separately for now."

"Kay!" she beamed in agreement. "I'll go this way."

With that, she marched off with a beaming grin.

I watched her go until she disappeared and grunted, releasing my team right after.

"Hey," I greeted. "You all probably know but Vee evolved and since he's a psychic, we decided to train separately for today."

They let out noises of understanding and easily got to work.

"Loki, are you okay?" I asked curiously. "You've been lost in thought for awhile now."

Loki jumped at that and gazed at me with wide eyes.

I narrowed my eyes slightly. "What's up? What's got you conflicted?"

My first pokemon frowned slightly and shook his head. "Zor, zor," was all he said.

I perked a brow. "Just thinking about Vee's evolution huh. You two are kinda rivals..." I mused, nodding at that. "Don't worry. You'll evolve when you're ready."

"...Zor," Loki said and I missed the way he glanced down at his body.

I ruffled the tuft of his hair that was growing bigger by the day and smiled. "I was gonna get you started on Sucker Punch... but I think we can hold off on that for now since you're so focused on Night Daze," I muttered, pulling out a disk.

Loki perked up and I smirked.

"I don't plan on giving anyone else TMs just yet besides Ares... but you need a bit more variety before evolution so here, the TM for Shadow Ball," I muttered. "Wanna learn it?"

When he evolved, I planned on teaching him Flamethrower but for now, Shadow Ball would be good to give him some type variety.

While it wouldn't help him hit things he couldn't before, variety was useful and he wouldn't have difficulties using the strange ghost type, especially considering he could already use Dark and Psychic moves.

Loki nodded at my question and I returned him to his ball. It didn't take me long at all to get things ready and I slotted the Pokeball against the disk, watching as the ball glowed with the ghostly purplish energy.

I grunted at the strange sensation but ignored it, releasing Loki from his ball and watching as his brows furrowed slightly.

Finally, he conjured a small purplish ball that he fired against a tree.

I whistled at the impact, noting the hole with an impressed eye. "Great. Practice that along with Night Daze."

"Why have you not given me that TM," Metang asked immediately. "I already know that I can learn it."

"When did you steal my Pokedex? How do you even know how to operate it?" I asked in exasperation.

"Simple affairs. I've already consumed the knowledge on my species. As for operations, it was slightly difficult to operate but it was a good exercise in psychic abilities."

I blinked at that. "You used your psychic abilities to use the Pokedex? How... the hell did you do that?"

"I have been improving somewhat. It just requires a tad amount of pressure. Now, you may stop changing the subject."

I sighed and made my way over to Metang. "You still aren't proficient in your psychic capabilities. Learning a ghost move would only throw that further into disarray. You're clearly improving more than i thought but it's still not enough..."

I paused. "Alright, how about this... you're already making good progress so I imagine it'll be sooner rather than later, but once you can fully operate this Pokedex without struggling, I'll teach it to you and we can get started on Psychic."

Metang mulled that offer over. "Very well. I accept your terms. This benefits me as well... I quite enjoy using this device."

"It's a deal," I said, watching in amusement as they failed to rip it out of my hand with their psychic abilities. "You got your work cut out for you."

"Your attempts at humor have failed miserably. You should remain aloof."

"Dick," I muttered under my breath.

"You are not quiet either."

"Quiet enough to catch you!" I barked back.

"...Touche."

I snorted at that and stopped in front of Gaia.

"You are not learning a new move," I said immediately, patting her gently as she pouted in outrage. "I know. I know."

"I've been thinking of ways to help you beat Saury," I muttered to her, making her perk up at that. "It'll take a bit but I got a solid idea. But that's for later... for now I want you to master Body Slam... and then we can get started on learning more grass moves, like Grass Whistle."

Bayleefs were unable to learn Petal Dance and Petal Blizzard until evolution so Gaia was pressed to find a really hard hitting grass type move... and Solar Beam required far too much energy that we didn't have right now. As a result, I'd have to focus on her utility...

Though, I could probably try and teach her Energy Ball at some point. It was difficult for them to learn but we could achieve it.

Gaia beamed at me and nodded eagerly, trotting off happily.

I smiled and made my way to Freyja. "Hey girl," I greeted, running a hand against her scales. "You've been making good work on the moves you have, so I think it's time to learn a new one."

She nodded eagerly and I mulled over if I wanted to teach it to her.

"It's called Confuse Ray. Instead of relying on Water Pulse to confuse opponents... we'll just do it ourselves. It'll make battles for us much easier but this move is hard to learn," I explained.

Confuse Ray was a scary move. It was far more sinister than say... supersonic, which just jumbled up your senses due to piercing noise.

Confuse Ray, while messing with your senses, made you see things that weren't there. It messed with senses by utilizing the strange ghost energy. It forcefully pushed ghostly energy inside of you.

Considering Freyja didn't have an ounce of ghost energy inside, this move was going to be a hassle to learn and I couldn't cheat by teaching her Shadow Ball because she couldn't learn it.

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much progress on this one but there wasn't much else I could actually teach her, barring like Dragon Pulse.

She didn't have enough stores for that though... which was why I hadn't given her the TM for Ice Beam yet.

"No sweat if you can't make fast progress on this move girl. Take your time with this one and continue mastering your previous moves," I encouraged.

Freyja nodded happily and I smiled at that.

She had been getting much better lately. It was harder to get her down.

Even Ares evolution didn't do much besides making her angrier that the brute had become a bigger brute.

Metang translated that for me. I would never call Ares a brute! I was her glorious vassal after all.

"Love the optimism girl," I praised, running a hand against her scales again. "Confidence is a good look on you."

Freyja blinked before blushing happily. My adorable little fish nuzzled me and I laughed at the ticklish sensation.

"Fee!" she beamed, turning away to focus on her task. I watched her dive into the pond with a fond smile.

As I got up to approach Ares, I'm very sure I heard a groan of disgust leave Freyja's mouth.

I chuckled at that and stood in front of Ares so she couldn't glare over at my water type.

Hard considering she was only a little shorter than me but hey.

"Ares," I greeted, pulling out a disk. "Wanna learn Flamethrower?"

She tried very hard to mask the unsavory gleam in her eyes. Evolution had made her more aloof but she was upping it to look cool.

Dork.

"Alright then," I rolled my eyes, returning her to the ball and connecting it with the disk.

I released her from the ball and watched those wide yellow eyes light up.

"Don't you dare," I said immediately. "You were about to aim at a damn tree weren't you?"

Ares' silence was all I needed to hear to know her answer.

"You're an even bigger troublemaker than me," I sighed, pointing at a large boulder. "Hit that instead."

She nodded and opened her mouth, firing off a stream of flames.

I watched in visible interest as it crashed into the boulder, swiftly scorching the surface area to the color black.

"Not bad," I whistled. "Practice that move. We're gonna be using it very soon. Shoot in the pond over there and do not hit Freyja... unless you two want to train."

"Shel," Ares rumbled, trotting off over to the pond with Freyja in it.

They shot each other looks of disgust and I snorted in amusement.

"Finally," I mused, turning towards Oberon. He had been trailing me the entire time and I smiled down at him, handing him a pink pokeblock.

Oberon liked the sweet flavor of blocks by far. It must have been attributed to his love of honey but he adored whenever I gave him some.

"Alright little man, you're stronger than I expected... but there's always room for improvement," I began, walking off to an isolated area. "You have three types down already and you can learn a lot more so we'll definitely be leaning into that."

Oberon hung onto my every word.

"But for now, we'll start easy. The first move you're gonna learn is Slash," I informed him. "Once you learn it, we'll combine it with Fury Swipes and target important parts of our opponents body."

My Teddiursa's mouth opened in shock. Maybe he wasn't expecting me to have already had a plan for him...

Or maybe he wasn't expecting me to be so ruthless.

"You're small right now Oberon," I said truthfully. "And unlike Loki, you don't got the speed to back up your size. So we'll have to handle battles a little different. We're gonna make every hit count, so every time you land one, they're gonna regret it."

Thankfully, he could learn many types of moves so it's not like he'd be starving for options at his peak. I didn't really care for Normal Type pokemon but they did have the benefit of typically being able to learn a lot of other typings.

Oberon looked up at me in awe and nodded hastily.

"Right. Cycle through your moves. We're gonna get you used to them until it's second nature," I ordered. "Then, we'll get you started on Slash. You'll understand all your moves well and based on what you can learn... Fury Swipes might be really good for us."

As I mulled over the move set I wanted for Oberon, he hung onto my every word and I smiled as he immediately charged forward.

I crouched and caught him before he could fall, standing him upright.

"You're pretty clumsy huh? We'll work on that," I assured.

He nodded, before handing me a Sitrus Berry and getting into it.

I chuckled at that, idly pulling out my Berry Pot to plant the Sitrus in.

I think Oberon was going to be a good addition.

---

"Loki."

Loki perked up at that, turning his head towards Gaia with a curious look.

His friend was looking at him with a suspicious glint and he tilted his head at that.

It was currently the two of them with no other member around. Silver was in the distance, cleaning Ares shell, along with Freyja's scales as they both fought for his attention.

"What's up?" he asked curiously.

"Why aren't you evolving?"

He froze at the question. "What do you mean?"

Gaia's eyes narrowed. "You're ready aren't you? I can tell. You've been resisting it," she pointed out quietly.

Loki pursed his lips at that. "No point lying about it. Yeah, I'm ready," he admitted quietly.

The Bayleef looked somewhat confused. "How come?" she asked curiously. "I didn't think you would stop yourself from evolving. You and Silver are really similar so I expected you to want to be stronger."

The Zorua sighed. "It's nothing so serious, Gaia... I just don't know if I'm ready yet."

Gaia looked at him with a scrutinizing gaze. "You know you don't have to be nervous you'll disappoint Silver. I'm sure if you talk to him, he'll help solve your problems," she whispered encouragingly.

Loki mulled that over. "When the opportunity comes, I'll talk to him and see what he thinks... but I imagine he'll think I'm being dumb for not wanting to evolve as quick as possible," he muttered.

Gaia sighed and pat him gently with a vine. "You can be just as dumb as him too. It's all in your head, Loki. I'm sure whenever you two talk, it'll be fine!" she encouraged.

Loki wasn't used to being called dumb. He liked to think he was only second to Metang in terms of intelligence.

Maybe he was being silly.

"Next time it gets brought up, I'll say something and we'll go from there," Loki said finally. "Now stop bugging me."

"Don't wanna! Silver doesn't want me learning any new moves so let's spar," she grinned. "Maybe the beating I give you will motivate you to evolve."

Loki sighed tiredly, glaring flatly at her. "You're more like Silver than I am. You two are practically made for each other," he said, rolling his eyes as he got up.

"Of course! That's why he took me! Silver is my chosen trainer!" Gaia beamed, snatching Loki up with her vines. "Now let's go!"

Loki sighed again and just let it be.

---

"Stray too far and I'm strapping you to my baseball bat."

"Tog."

"Fuck you too."

I was currently in the department store with Green. We had time to kill so we decided to check it out in case there was anything we each wanted to buy.

We managed to procure a good bit of money from Proton's office in the Game Corner, along with some other miscellaneous items, like a Silph Scope (apparently it helped you spot ghosts easier in their incorporeal form), 3 Nuggets and a Fire, Water and Thunder Stone.

I told Green she could have the last one but uh... looks like Vee made up his mind before she could use them.

There had also been a lot of drugs but... yeah Green said she couldn't pick those up and it would be hard for me to get rid of them.

Sure we could just burn em, but then why take them in the first place? I'm sure the League would figure something out with them instead of us needlessly incriminating ourselves.

Overall, it was a really good haul that turned downright incredible when you accounted for the TMs we got.

Now we were in the Department Store for various reasons such as it being a super store.

Seriously, it was huge and it had way more stuff than just essentials for traveling.

Like clothes. It had clothes and Green wanted to buy herself some clothes, so she left me with the horrific task of watching Togee.

There was also the fact that she wanted to get some provisions for Vee but I ignored that in favor of being annoyed that she wanted clothes.

Because he was a handful and would refuse to sit still (and I also refused to watch her by new clothes), she thought it would be a bright idea to stick me with the Togepi.

"It's good bonding time! You know you're technically Togee's dad so spend some time with him!" she beamed, ignoring the complete look of horror Togee had shot her at that statement.

I caught it though and words could not explain how badly I wanted to attack her for saying that.

But here we are, with a perfectly healthy Green and a perfectly grumpy me, on two different floors.

I rolled my eyes and watched as Oberon idly clutched my neck tighter due to the amount of people in the place. He currently had two arms looped around me, shrinking into my back as we walked past a person.

His paws smelled like honey and wet fur so I was definitely going to bathe him later today.

I actually bought a batch of honey earlier for him. It seemed to be his definite favorite thing to enjoy, so I'd give him some sometimes.

I was currently on a floor filled with foods to feed your team. The last batch seemed like a good one and my team approved of each of the ones specialized for them, so I wanted to get more.

There's also the fact that I had a companion to account for too. Green had already said I could just tell her how much I spent and we'd split it halfway because her team quite liked the batch of foods I got as well.

I didn't really mind. It was better for me to get the stuff anyways.

As I walked through the aisles, scrolling through my pokegear to figure out which was the correct one, I absentmindedly picked out exactly which ones I needed.

Without really even thinking about it, I snatched one for checkout and a few others because of my made up 5 for 1 special, effortlessly concealing them in my bag while keeping the other out in the open to pay for.

"Tog?!"

I raised a brow and gazed at Togee, who was looking at me with slack jaws. For once, there wasn't a vindictive look in the little shit's eyes.

No. He just stared at me with true shock.

…

Oops.

"Don't tell Green," I said bluntly.

"Tog! Toge, pi, toge!" Togee suddenly said, pulling on my pants with awed eyes as he looked around the store rapidly.

I blinked in confusion.

"Teach you?" I mused. "What the hell do you want me to teach you? I thought we hated each other. This goes against our pact," I pointed out.

Well, I didn't hate him at all and he had been giving me strange and somewhat horrified looks lately instead of malicia... but this was still pretty out of the blue.

Why was Togee asking me to teach him? What exactly did he want me to teach…

Ohhhh.

I snorted in amusement. "You know Green's gonna kill the both of us if I teach you how to be a better thief right?" I whispered to him with an amused glint.

How the hell would I even teach a Togepi how to be a good thief? Would those skills even remain when he became a Togekiss?

Togee waved off my concern, not at all phased by what his mother was going to do to him. If there was one thing the little shit was, it was hard headed.

He did not learn his lesson. No matter what you did, his ignorance prevailed.

I mulled it over and decided that if he was gonna steal anyways, might as well make him good at it.

Less stress for his trainer that way. Green was probably tired of apologizing to people about her Togepi's less than stellar personality.

"Alright sure whatever," I shrugged, going to the checkout and paying off my single bag.

Togee actually looked like a sweet Togepi in that moment and if I didn't know him so well, I'd actually think he wasn't a demon.

"C'mon, let's head to the TM floor there's stuff I wanna check out there."

Togee climbed atop my shoulder without any hesitation, a starstruck look in his eyes as he hung onto my every word.

To think that my thieving abilities would be the thing that won this Togepi over.

"Alright first things first… always be aware of your surroundings and you gotta be sure of your course of plan. As long as you have a plan, even situations like a packed store are nothing to you," I muttered.

All the while Togee (and unknown to me, Oberon) nodded, hanging onto every word I said.

---

Green blinked at the sight before her, holding bags of clothes and other miscellaneous things.

Next to her, Vee was unsteadily carrying a bag with just his psychic energy, though it faltered as I showed up.

Vee's eyes shifted over to me and he tried to flash me a smile despite how nerve wracking my presence was to him all of a sudden.

It must have been jarring. Vee was probably not used to feeling things like this from me. We spent quite a bit of time together after all.

Green looked helplessly confused, rapidly blinking as she stared at me.

The reason she looked so confused, was probably because of the sight of Togee sitting proudly atop my shoulder, no hint of animosity radiating off of him.

"You two didn't kill each other?" she asked in surprise.

"Nah," I denied, patting Togee on the head. "We get along now."

"Tog!" Togee agreed.

Green looked on dumbly, idly picking up Togee and regaining proper custody of him.

"What did you guys do?" she asked eventually.

"…" Neither of us said a word.

Green let out a suffering sigh and hastily dragged me out of the store before I could steal anything more.

I couldn't even steal the TMs. They were behind the counters of the checkout area.

Lame.

"Silvy," she said in a hushed whisper, dragging me back to our camp.

"You can't just steal from them! I don't mind if you take from bad people because they're bad you know… but the Celadon store didn't do anything to you! You're not bad Silvy so you don't have to do bad things," she said quietly.

I paused at that and frowned in contemplation.

It's not like I was at risk of getting caught. Why was she so worried?

Green stared at me with a firm frown and I sighed.

"...I'll limit it to once per city," I said finally.

Once per city that she'd know about of course. Me? Stop? Hah.

My companion gaped at me.

"It's a work in progress. I know you're still gonna do it behind my back but ," she sighed eventually.

I smiled. "Don't worry. I'm very good. It helps me hone my skills as well."

"That's not the point! And please don't smile, it's creepy!" Green urged.

I rolled my eyes. "Rude," I said flatly.

The reason we chose to enter the city, was that the commotion had largely died down. In fact, the city was very quiet.

"Silver? Green?"

Oh. I think I knew why the city was quiet now.

The two of us stopped at being called, gazing at the one who called us.

"Oh if it isn't Ms. Aunt. Fancy meeting you here," I greeted, tilting my head curiously.

What the hell was she doing here? Seeing my aunt so soon after the events of Vermillion?

Odd.

Lorelei was staring at me with a delighted expression that she hid pretty well.

It was impressive. I doubt anyone would be able to tell how happy she was.

Why the hell could I tell?

"Ms. Lorelei," Green beamed quietly, waving at her excitedly in a way that didn't draw too much attention.

"That's why the city is so quiet now," I mused.

Lorelei sniffed once. "It was quite loud but the moment I showed up and established... boundaries, it became far more tolerable. Rest assured, the city will not be as raucous as it was before my arrival," she said.

"Scary," Green whispered to me.

I snorted in amusement.

"What are you doing here?" I asked curiously, watching as she approached us at a measured pace.

Gotta respect how there was no hesitation at all in her. She saw no issue with the fact that she was an Elite 4 member approaching a fellow redhead.

My aunt looked as rigid as ever, wearing something a lot less casual for the occasion but still managing to make all the heads around turn.

If she noticed, she didn't say anything. Lorelei stopped directly in front of us and we stared at each other for a long while.

There was clearly something she wanted to say or do, but she was much too awkward to do so and I had 0 interest in finding out what it was.

"I was here on business but I've mostly wrapped up for the day… I'll tell you about it but do you have a more quiet area where we could speak?" Lorelei asked softly.

...Was she serious right now?

I nodded with a roll of my eyes, curious about what she had to say. "We set up camp somewhere in Route 7. If you don't mind getting leaves on you, you can come," I informed her.

Lorelei looked only mildly offended. "I was a trainer at one point as well. It's almost standard to get a little bit of dirt on you. I'm not sure what image you have of me, but I assure you it's incorrect to some degree."

I snorted. "Coulda fooled me, princess. Now come this way, your highness," I taunted with a mock bow.

Green bit her lip and looked away to hide her amused expression.

Lorelei twitched as soon as I said princess. Judging by the deep breath she took, I could tell she was trying very hard to not glare at me.

Heh. Annoying a stiff was very funny. Doubly so when it was someone I was related to.

"Silvy, stop harassing your aunt," Green admonished with a small smile. "C'mon Ms. Lorelei, our camp is this way."

"Please, just call me Lorelei. Silver makes me feel old enough," Lorelei sighed, following after us and ignoring the glances at our group.

I minded it though and glared at one offender who was creeping after us.

Before I could violently teach him a lesson, Lorelei's Ninetales merely shot the weirdo a piercing glance and immediately caused him to wither away.

I scoffed and shoved my hands in my pockets as the temperature steadily dropped around me.

Stupid cold ice types.

"Silver we need to talk about your mannerisms," Lorelei said quietly, turning her red eyes onto me.

I raised a brow and easily met her gaze. "What about them?" I asked ignorantly.

"It's utterly deplorable," she said without hesitation, completely missing how not genuine my question was. "You must portray yourself in a more favorable and refined light. I received reports about a week ago of a feral redhead nearly attacking several people inside of Mt. Moon. I had no idea what they were speaking of but after meeting you, I know exactly what they meant."

I raised a brow at that. "Huh, I didn't think that would actually spread. Guess that flying master wasn't speaking out of his ass," I mused contemplatively.

"Dragon master, Silvy."

"Please watch your language."

I ignored them both.

---

"You really don't know how to cook?" I asked with a raised brow.

That was really surprising to hear actually. Lorelei looked like the type of woman who could do it all.

Lorelei coughed, drinking the tea offered to her. "It was not something I spent a lot of time learning. I can make something fulfilling but... the taste leaves much to be desired."

Green nodded in understanding.

I did not.

"Wow, I would think someone as stiff and proper as you would know how to cook, aunt," I mocked with an amused smirk.

Lorelei seemed more interested in drinking her tea than interacting with me. She took a long sip out of it, daintily placing the cup down and not showing any indication that she even drank anything.

"The reason I'm here —"

I snorted loudly at.

"—Is because we received a message regarding Team Rocket performing operations inside of the Game Corner. Such a preposterous report was almost disregarded... but there was no harm in validating such a thing so the Police Force swiftly gained permission to conduct an emergency investigation," she explained, shifting into the professional mode that she was well known for.

It was really impressive. It was like she was the perfect robot when she slipped into this mode. There was never an inflection, nor any emotion that would help figure out what she thought about the entire thing.

She truly was ice cold to the core. No wonder she was insanely awkward.

"According to Gym Leader Erika, by the time they arrived onto the scene, most of the action seemed to have settled down and there were multiple freed pokemon, along with… incapacitated grunts," Lorelei explained gently.

Incapacitated huh? Yeah, she was avoiding mentioning their deaths. She did this back in the hospital as well. Most likely to protect me.

Eh, whatever. I was a kid after all.

Green and I nodded at the information she was feeding us, invested in hearing the aftermath of our heist.

"The pokemon, captured by Team Rocket, were very agreeable… some were injured but the ones freed didn't seem too affected by the drugs injected into them. The Game Corner has effectively been shutdown and everything of value has been confiscated… I decided to offer my assistance in lieu of the surge of protests. I have been very effective in doing gathering the ones who decided to transform their anger into violence and they will be dealt with accordingly."

I tilted my head at that. "You?" I pointed out in confusion.

Why would they send Lorelei of all people? Intimidation tactics seemed more fitting for someone like Bruno or even Agatha…

Actually, Lorelei was quite literally the last person I'd send here for intimidation. The current Kanto Elite 4 was Bruno, Agatha, Lorelei and Karen.

In fact, I'd probably have sent Karen. Dark types were very good at getting their point across...

Why the hell was Lorelei here —

"...Are you stalking me?" I asked suddenly, narrowing my eyes suspiciously at her.

Green choked on her tea at my blunt question and I absentmindedly began patting her back.

She shot me a grateful and incredulous look all at once. "T-Thanks Silvy?" she stammered.

"No problem."

"...I am not stalking you. I merely volunteered after seeing that you were in Celadon," Lorelei said as measured as possible.

I noticed that she wasn't looking at me at all and that got an abrupt chuckle out of me.

Well, if there was one thing my aunt was, it was honest. I could appreciate that.

"Should you really be telling us this?" I asked curiously. "This seems like league business."

"It is League business… but besides the fact that I'd like to keep you two informed of Team Rocket matters, I have many reason to believe that you were involved in the exposure of the Game Corner."

The two of us froze at that and I turned towards Lorelei with a curious gaze, making sure I didn't show anything to her.

"Why do you think that?" I asked.

Lorelei didn't look even slightly unsure of her statement. "Anonymous call, a broken window yet no signs of any human interference, traces of powder lingering in some areas... all of this occurred on the night of the same day you two arrived in Celadon. No one knows but I believe it was a joint effort between you and Green," she pointed out.

Goddamnit. My aunt was too smart and attentive for her own good.

Suddenly, her stalking me wasn't so funny.

"Stop stalking me," I said with narrowed eyes. "You're using base assumptions to jump to that conclusion. Green and I were out training in the forests after applying for a gym battle," I denied.

Lorelei gazed at my firm expression. "A very solid alibi. You did only enter the Pokemon Center earlier today... but I believe that was on purpose wasn't it? After all, you prefer to avoid Pokemon Centers but in recent times, you've consistently entered them," she pointed out.

...

"Not to mention, back at the hospital, you merely said Team Rocket is all of our problems but you weren't being entirely truthful. This is where I do believe I don't understand the picture but I do have suspicions of such things."

Green said nothing but I could tell she was having a harder time keeping a poker face.

...

Shit. This made me realize something.

Lorelei knew more about me than she was letting on. And the worst part was that I didn't know what she knew.

I'd have to replay every conversation I had with her and assume my pathing had been tracked by her.

What did she know?

"Silver, I am not your enemy," Lorelei said softly, attempting to place a hand on my shoulder and thinking better of it.

I was at least a little thankful for that.

"I'm just… worried. For the both of you," Lorelei said truthfully. "I want to understand what drives you to attack Team Rocket so brazenly, Silver. What makes you refuse anyone's help? You have gone through something and I... want to help."

"…" I said nothing, even as Lorelei got closer to me. I just stared warily at her, trying to think of what the hell this woman knew about me.

Did I even want to know? How screwed was I?

I froze as she tentatively pulled me into a tight and warm (cold technically because she was damn cold) hug.

"You don't have to trust me immediately… but just know I'll always be there to help you if you need it. Whatever you tell me will stay between us," she assured.

I snorted. "Yeah right," I rolled my eyes.

"I'm serious, Silver. I have a duty as an Elite 4 member... but I also have my duties to you that I'd like to catch up on," Lorelei told me gently.

…

"...Why?" I asked curiously, gazing at her with my disturbing eyes.

My silver eyes bore into her blood reds and my aunt didn't even flinch.

"We're family. If I have to become the only family member you're willing to trust, then I will do everything in my power to do so," she said firmly.

…

I sighed in defeat…

"I'm being targeted by Team Rocket if you couldn't already guess. Though, I'm sure you could," I muttered quietly.

Green's eyes widened at that and she stared at me from the side, expression eventually going soft as she stayed out of it.

"I can't tell you why they're after me," I admitted bitterly.

"That's okay." Lorelei didn't look bothered by my response. There was just an understanding look in her eyes, as she stored the information away along with all the other things she learned about me in such a short time.

The effort she put into understanding me...

"Does your knowledge of the Game Corner have to do with why they are targeting you?" she asked patiently.

"No. They probably don't know it was me who did it," I said truthfully.

Her brows furrowed and she mulled over my response, absentmindedly rubbing my back in a circle.

I nearly recoiled at the foreign feeling before I realized it didn't feel terrible.

"You wish to continue your journey," Lorelei pointed out bluntly.

"Yes," I nodded.

"You will refuse all manner of protections I offer?"

"Most likely. I won't let you take leave so you can follow me around the region."

"…" Lorelei pursed her lips at that and nodded to herself.

"Silver whatever you're going through… no matter what it may be, understand that I will protect you," she said strongly. "I'm fine with you keeping things to yourself for now. I'm very patient… but if there's one thing I want you to promise me, it's that if something happens, you will immediately call me."

…

"Alright, aunt," I said quietly. "You'll be the first person I call."

"That's all I ask so thank you," she said softly, stepping back from me with a small smile.

"...Stop stalking me," I said flatly, staring tiredly at her. "I thought it was kinda cute but now I don't think it's very cute anymore."

Lorelei had the decency to look kind of embarrassed. "I apologize but I just find myself very concerned about your wellbeing... so I frequently check up on you," she replied.

"We've barely known each other for a week. Why the hell are you so concerned?" I raised a brow.

Lorelei frowned. "Do you think time is a factor in how I should feel about you?" she asked in some confusion.

"Yes," I answered without hesitation, like it were common sense. "We haven't known each other long enough for you to react and act the way you do."

This was the same way Jasmine and Green warmed up to me way too fast. It was so weird. Why did they become attached to me so quickly?

My aunt looked at me with a perplexed expression. "Silver... love and care are not transactions. They should not cost time to be bought. It is a priceless thing that cannot be measured in such a way. If someone feels love, they simply feel love," she said softly.

I froze completely at that.

"You are my nephew. Is it so baffling that I care about you?"

"..." I said nothing, realizing that everything I said now would probably be stored away.

It was clear the league had eyes on me now, so I'd have to manipulate their thoughts on what could possibly be wrong with me.

Yeah...

"Don't worry, Lorelei!" Green assured, mercifully sweeping in to save me. "I've got his back!"

As Lorelei gazed at Green, I shot her an appreciate look for taking the attention off me.

I'm sure she noticed it because Green was more aware than she let on... after all she interrupted that conversation to give me a break.

What a sweet girl... I felt a little too weird to speak right now so I was glad she did it.

"Thank you, Green. Please also take down my number. I trust you more to recognize when a situation is getting bad before Silver does," Lorelei requested.

She was probably right but I still scowled.

Green blinked, before her face lit up red at that. "Y-You want my n-number?! Really?" she stammered excitedly.

Lorelei nodded. "You've listened to all of this and Silver hasn't shown the slightest bit of discomfort at how much you know. He trusts you and I trust his judgement."

Green nearly fainted on the spot. "Oh of course I will! I-I'm so honored! I'll try not to be a bother!"

"I wouldn't mind if you messaged me updates. Silver doesn't contact me," my aunt frowned.

I rolled my eyes. "Do I really need to message you? You're stalking me anyways. If you have enough time to stalk me, you have enough time to message me," I said flatly.

"Well... I didn't want to overstep my boundaries," she admitted. "I would never mind a message from you, but I'm sure you would have times where you would mind a message from me."

I snorted. "Well, you aren't wrong."

Green nearly squealed aloud but nodded hastily. "Life updates on the way! I'll get Silvy to say hi!"

"Thank you, Green. You're a good girl," Lorelei said, flashing her a smile.

Green finally squealed.

I watched my companion with an amused glance.

She was such a fangirl.

---

"You don't have an ice type?"

If you listened real hard, you could hear the disappointment in Lorelei's curious question.

"Haven't really encountered any," I admitted. "Not many I'd want either."

I had no positive or negative feelings about Ice types. My favorite was Sneasel but well… I had Loki now instead of my original first pokemon.

"I see…" Lorelei pondered, patting the fur of the Alolan Ninetales curled up against her.

We were currently in our camp, just relaxing in preparation for the next day so that we could get our gym badges and get out…

But Lorelei was still here.

Weird.

"Since you already know. We encountered a Executive there," I informed Lorelei, getting her eyes to widen. "But we dealt with him. You didn't find him?"

My aunt turned a startled gaze towards me. "Did... the executive have... an assortment of fully evolved poison and dark types?"

My brows furrowed in confusion. "So you did catch him? That was his team alright. It was Proton."

Lorelei gazed at me with horrified eyes.

"It matches up with what we've seen him with but I didn't want to entertain the idea that you two encountered Proton because well... he has a terrible reputation."

I nodded. "I believe it. Violent man," I muttered.

Lorelei frowned. "Barring the fact that you somehow survived an encounter with a Crobat... and you managed to deal with him, we saw no sight of Executive Proton. Did you two perhaps..."

I shook my head. "We got outta there as fast as possible after he attacked us... but wait, you have his pokemon?" I asked in confusion.

She nodded. "They have been properly restrained. A Weezing, Crobat, Cacturne, Sableye, Toxicroak and Drapion were all accounted for. Though, the Weezing and Crobat were, well..." she coughed.

"Dead," I finished for her. "You know you don't gotta really hide the fact that things die. This is the third time you've done it," I informed her.

Lorelei flinched at my words. "I'm aware that you likely know what I mean... but I would prefer not to be the one to inform you of such things," she said carefully.

I rolled my eyes.

So the Crobat and Weezing died? I guess the Weezing got jumped by the wild pokemon before Proton's other members could react to them.

And well, the Crobat was unconscious so yeah. A sitting duck.

Did that mean Proton was also killed by the wild pokemon?

But they would have seen his corpse at least... so that meant he had to have been saved by Mewtwo.

But taking him and not his pokemon? A trainer without their team was practically worthless—

Oh. Ohhhh. Yeah. I get it now.

Yeah. I don't think we had to worry about Proton anymore. My father was the leader of the Mafia after all.

Well... huh. I got Proton killed didn't I?

Oops I guess. At least judging by the fact Mewtwo wasn't currently at my location yesterday, no one knew it was me who attacked Game Corner.

Small victories.

I shrugged at that. "How long are you staying here?" I asked curiously, turning towards the woman who was way too close to me.

She had barely left my side since this whole thing started. Occasionally, she would run a cool hand through my head.

I must have been too drained to tell her to fuck off for that.

"I will remain for another day to ensure Erika has things fully under control. Afterwards, I will head back to Indigo," she explained easily.

I nodded before pausing. My eyes narrowed as a thought occurred.

"...What do you plan on doing tomorrow?" I asked suspiciously.

"…" Lorelei pursed her lips and turned her gaze towards me.

I narrowed my eyes further.

"...I was going to handle personal affairs," she said vaguely.

"Like?" I pressed.

"The Celadon Department store has quite a good variety of Pokemon dolls…" Lorelei admitted, slightly embarrassed to be doing so.

Green perked up. "You like pokemon dolls too?!" she asked excitedly.

My companion reached into her bag and pulled out an army of plushies. The most obvious were the various evolutions of Eevee and the suspiciously new looking Espeon doll.

I eyed Vee for a bit and was satisfied to see him blush in embarrassment, getting a snort out of me.

"So do I!" Green grinned happily. "I love collecting them! My mom likes when I send them to her as gifts too and I gotta start giving some to Jas as well!"

"What about you, aunt?" I asked innocently. "How many dolls you got?"

Lorelei stared at me and I watched as she pushed her glasses up slightly.

"My house is full of them," she admitted painfully slowly. "It's a hobby of mine to collect them."

"So cool," I mocked. "So you're staying in Celadon for longer just to buy more?" I asked.

"That's awesome! You have a collectors heart! We should compare!" Green grinned happily, totally oblivious to the horrible embarrassment I was currently submitting my aunt too.

"I'd… be delighted," she replied eventually.

I snorted. "So besides the fact that you want to buy more dolls. You're definitely here to watch our gym battle, right?"

"...You did all this on purpose," Lorelei accused flatly.

"I wanted to see how far you were willing to go to hide the fact that you're blatantly stalking your nephew," I said with an amused smirk.

Lorelei sighed in defeat. "I do believe it's time we start disciplining you. Your terrible behavior has gone on for far too long," she muttered.

I blinked before my aunt focused her undivided attention onto me.

"You may join if you'd like, Green. It would be beneficial for you to pay attention."

"Y-Yes ma'am!" Green saluted.

Huh? The hell was she talking about? Discipline me?

"What the fuck?" I muttered in confusion, before letting out a startled noise, more akin to a cat, at the icy cold hand touching my neck.

What the fuck?!

I turned a wild gaze towards Lorelei, who didn't look even remotely bothered by the fact that she just touched me with her freezing hands.

"Language," Lorelei was all she said.

"Language?!" I snarled. "I'll show you something worse than language."

I glared at my aunt, before immediately lunging at her with malicious intent.

Lorelei's eyes widened, as I landed atop of her.

"What do you think you're doin— O-Ow!" the Elite 4 member let out an uncharacteristic shout, as I bit her neck without any hesitation.

"Silver!" Lorelei yelped in disbelief, pushing me off of her.

"I hate the cold," I hissed, unbothered by the fact that I just bit my aunt. "Do that again and we've got more of those coming."

I was not above doing such a thing. I nearly bit Lance when he put his hand on my head on multiple occasions.

Lorelei looked shocked, likely never expecting anyone to ever physically attack her. She touched the spot where I bit her and I was satisfied to see annoyance take root.

She put a hand out to calm the alert Ninetales and finally glared at me.

Oh she wanted to do it herself?

That increased my respect for the dainty woman by a lot.

"You plan on doing this by yourself?" I asked with a raised brow. "You think you can handle getting dirty?!"

"I will do what it takes. I fought with my sister all the time. This is nothing new," she explained, glaring at me.

"I'll fucking show you something new!" I barked.

"You need to stop acting like you're feral!" Lorelei announced, very willing to tussle with me to prove her point.

"No. Acting how I act, lets people know that they should fuck off and leave me alone!" I snarled challengingly, poised to lunge at her again.

"What the hell…" Green said dumbly, watching as my aunt and I glared at each other.

"Nevermind, this must run in the family," she decided, nodding to herself and taking a seat to enjoy the free entertainment.

---

I grumbled slightly, nodding in some respect as I brushed my hair. "I didn't expect you to be so willing to tussle," I noted, straightening my hair out.

She was damn strong too. Guess years of being an elite level trainer, made you impressive yourself.

It also helped my theory that humans had to evolve further than the ones in my world to keep up with Pokemon to some degree. Lorelei, for all her daintiness, was athletic as hell.

Ninetales was a mix of horrified and amused at what his trainer and I had just done. I couldn't blame the regal fox, he probably never saw his trainer get down like that.

Good. I prided myself in making so many people act out of character.

Lorelei huffed and accepted my brush, holding her once perfectly cared for hair and straightening it out. "I didn't expect you to be a literal rabid beast. I clearly needed a different approach for you."

"I respect that... there's no way you're gonna get me to change my ways though," I said bluntly, yawning slightly.

She let out a sigh. "I'm beginning to realize that… but I'll accept that challenge," my aunt said. "Turn around, the back of your head is still a bit messy."

She was certainly a stubborn one.

I snorted and did so, allowing her to brush the back of my head down. There was a brief silence between us, only broken up by the sound of the brush scrubbing my hair down.

"So are you sleeping with us? It's about that time for us to sleep and today has been eventful so I'm tired, " I asked my aunt.

Lorelei looked slightly caught off guard by that, evident by the pause of her brushing. "You wouldn't mind? I have a hotel reserved so I could sleep there. Actually, it's quite the large room, I'm sure all three of us could comfortably sleep in there…"

"We already set up our tents and I'm too lazy to pack them up," Green admitted truthfully, thoroughly exhausted from all the laughing she did.

I nodded in agreement.

"I see..." Lorelei muttered, resuming her brushing slowly.

"I don't care what you pick," I shrugged truthfully. "It's up to you but I wanna sleep out here. The city is far."

Green yawned and nodded. "I'll sleep in my tent tonight then," she decided.

"Sure. Goodnight Leaf," I waved.

"Night Silvy! Night Lorelei," she waved.

"Alright, I'm goin to sleep too," I grunted, feeling as she stopped brushing my hair.

I stood up and stretched out the kinks in my body. "Goodnight, aunt."

"Wait," Lorelei called out. "Where exactly would I be sleeping?"

I blinked. "In Green's tent."

"No, Silvy. Stop being like this."

I pursed my lips at that. "Thought she was asleep…" I muttered.

"It hasn't even been a full minute yet. Why are you like this?" Green asked inside her tent.

"I limit test how much I can get away with things," I said blandly.

Damn. Thought she was just gonna accept it. Green was a huge Lorelei fan after all. Who wouldn't wanna sleep in the same tent as her?

"Alright, you can sleep in mine. There's enough room," I said begrudgingly, turning towards the confused Lorelei with a sigh.

"It's good to know you find everyone equally disgusting, Silvy."

"I discriminate fairly, Leaf."

I didn't wait for my aunt to say anything and vanished into my tent.

I bet a lot of people would kill to be in my position…

"Whatever," I sighed, not really pleased by the complete turn of events that took place in the span of a day. I didn't think Lorelei was just gonna full on stalk me. I thought being an Elite 4 member kept her damn busy but clearly not. I wouldn't be surprised if she was aware of every move I made.

Having an Elite 4 aunt who was very willing to keep tabs on you, kinda put a dent in any future plans I was planning. Especially when that same Elite 4 member was clearly too smart for her own good.

To think she figured me out so much. If I realized that she knew more during our meeting at the hospital, I would have been more careful with what I said.

It was careless of me. Lack of information was as critical as having information.

"This is quite the tent," Lorelei noted quietly, removing her glasses and gently placing them to the side.

I grunted and immediately honed into my preferred spot, sighing as my head connected to the mat. "Just pick a spot."

With that, I shut my eyes and ignored the shuffling as Lorelei picked a spot to rest for the night.

Her body was just naturally cold. She radiated like no warmth at all which was funny because Green was kinda the opposite with the body warmth she emitted.

I would know. Green was very clingy (are you even surprised?). Least she warmed me up when the nights got cold.

Funnily enough, Green said I was fairly cool as well.

"This is a bit awkward," Lorelei admitted quietly.

"You're just an awkward person," I told her truthfully. "Must run in the family, I suck at socialization too."

For some reason, that seemed to ease Lorelei and I heard an almost quiet chuckle erupt from her body.

"I suppose that's true. I've never quite been the best at dealing with people outside of professional situations either. Too... cold they said," she informed me.

"Dork but I'm the same. But you can scratch the professional part... and the part where I do it on purpose," I snorted.

It was dawning on me, that I had let my defenses weaken around Lorelei by too much to be normal.

I don't know if it's what she said or how she delivered it… or the way she would absentmindedly rub my hair or my back in a way that felt good but… I let my guard down way too fast.

I withheld the urge to sigh as realization hit me.

I was such a kid. No wonder I slipped up like this… it was also no wonder I was so accepting of Green and her mannerisms.

Yearning. That's all it was. The desire for things I didn't have when I was even younger most likely.

Back in Hoenn, when I met Joy, I thought I was self assured and confident in how I was going about things.

But now? Not so much.

"I'm getting tired for real this time," I told her. "Goodnight aunt."

"Goodnight Silver," Lorelei said quietly, cool yet quiet breaths temporarily brushing against me.

I sighed at feeling the cold air and stared out into the darkness, mind running with dozens of thoughts.

What do I do now? How do I approach things? I guess I could play the "I'm one of Team Rocket's experiment" card and play on their sympathy?

But that would still incriminate me with Team Rocket if they did a little digging.

Goddamnit. Lorelei finding out about me threw things for a real curve.

Wait a second. How the hell did Lorelei figure out I existed?

"Considering Lorelei is also a redhead who's hair is much closer in shade to yours, they'll probably say we had a secret child this whole time."

Lance.

My eyes narrowed in the dark of night.

Lance played me like a fool didn't he? Lance knew more than he was letting on too.

Did he bring up Lorelei to test how I'd react to hearing her name? When I lacked a visible reaction, not even knowing how she looked... did he assume that I was related to her in another way?

Of course he did. That's why I was currently sleeping in a tent with my aunt.

Lance that conniving bastard. I bit back a snarl of irritation and felt my anger spike.

I didn't like being treated like a fool. I really didn't like it.

And here I was, about to admit that he was cool. The asshole set my Elite 4 aunt onto me.

...I sighed.

Well, I suppose it was a good thing I hadn't committed egregious crimes since landing in Kanto. My goal of eliminating Team Rocket did not change but my desire to do it alone, only strengthened.

The league knew things about me and I didn't know what. If they were going to stalk me, then I'd let them stalk me attacking Team Rocket nonstop. If I did that and they didn't connect the dots with me and Giovanni, I could portray myself as a victim instead of a criminal.

Whatever. I'd do what I continued to do. It's not like the league was scarier than Mewtwo. The biggest threat to me currently, was the psychic type and I needed to find a way to deal with him.

"What a mess," I thought, once again taking note of the woman sleeping next to me.

She even slept dignified. Truly an ice queen —

I let out a strangled hiss as I was abruptly pulled into a bear hug.

My tired state, meant my struggles achieved absolutely nothing and I scowled.

Remember how I mentioned my aunt was actually strong? Well yeah I wasn't kidding! What the hell was this grip she had on me?!

Eventually, I gave up trying to escape and just shut my eyes.

Lorelei was squeezing me against her like I was some damn toy and judging by the even breath brushing against my neck, she was well and truly asleep so this wasn't intentional.

…

Fucking forget it. I'm going to sleep. I'm too used to this bullshit happening to me.

---

A gasp of horror woke me up and I blinked blearily at seeing red fill my vision.

It only took me a second to realize that red belonged to my increasingly familiar aunt and memories of last night filled my head.

I sleepily glared at her with all the fury a tired and grumpy person could muster. "Did you seriously flip me to face you while I was sleeping?" I asked in disbelief.

"I-I..." Lorelei looked stunned, completely caught off guard. Without her glasses it was much easier to see her expressions.

It also helped that I was close as fuck to her.

"You what?" I pressed with a firm glare. "You forgot to tell me that you're a serial hugger? Woulda been nice to mention so I could set up a barrier between us," I scowled.

"And could you fucking let me go?!" I barked, still trapped in her grasp.

Lorelei released me like she had been burned and I dusted myself off as regally as I possibly could, after the situation that just took place.

My aunt actually looked panicked, embarrassment flooding her so fast that I would have laughed if not for the fact that I was also embarrassed as hell. "Silver, I am so terribly sorry. I had no idea that I was... I tend to sleep with my pokemon dolls so —"

"So you thought I was a doll?!" I sneered.

She spluttered slightly at the interruption. "That's not what I was implying, no. I just built up such a habit and since you slept right next to me, my habits got the better of me and —"

"No wonder you buy so many dolls. Your grip must have destroyed them," I said bluntly.

Lorelei coughed, reaching for her glasses to properly distract herself from this horribly awkward situation. "Well... at least you are rather comfortable?" she tried placatingly.

I immediately groaned. "You fucking suck at this. Is that really your attempt at reassuring me?"

The silence was loud. "Was... it that bad?" she asked tentatively.

I pinched my nose at the dork and let out a suffering sigh.

"The less you mention it, the better. Just understand that whatever image I had of you, was destroyed last night."

"You had a positive image of me?"

"No. It's just worse now."

After falling asleep, Lorelei seemed to take my compliance as freedom to do what the hell she wanted with me and I ended up absolutely crushed against my aunt.

Needless to say, she was clearly mortified to find out that her pokedoll was in fact not a pokedoll but her very belligerent nephew.

Utterly ridiculous.

"You should be glad I wasn't uncomfortable or neither of us woulda got sleep," I scowled, pushing out of the tent to get away from the grabby woman.

Ice queen my ass. She wasted no time at all grabbing me in her sleep. Who knows what she would do in the early morning?

Lorelei followed me outside of the tent and at the same time, Green's tent opened up and she stepped out with a yawn.

"G'mornin. What on earth were you two arguing about?" my companion grumbled, blinking blearily as she wiped her eyes.

She began blinking even more as she gazed at the two of us.

"Are you two alright? Both your faces are red," Green pointed out with a look of confusion.

Lorelei coughed lightly as I looked away with a scowl.

"My aunt is not as cold as she makes herself out to be," I said bluntly, ruffling through my bag to prepare for breakfast.

"Huh?" Green muttered.

"Really, I'm sorry about my actions," Lorelei repeated. "I'm embarrassed just thinking about it. You were just very comfortable and right there so…"

"Please stop talking," I interrupted her, stamping down my embarrassment even further.

"Wha...?" Green scratched her head.

At least Green wasn't bad when she inevitably found my goddamn body. Not even Gaia crushed me that hard against her and she was clingy enough to use her vines on me.

Lorelei was a whole other beast. That was completely ridiculous.

"I can't help but think you're thinking unsavory things about me," my aunt muttered.

I glared at her to confirm that I was before ruffling in my bag again. "I'm making eggs. If you have a problem, raise your hand."

Green raised her hand.

"Yes you can help, Leaf."

Green lowered her hand.

Lorelei placed a hand into the air.

"...You can help too aunt."

Lorelei placed her hand back into her lap and I sighed.

Green and I were getting a little decent at cooking. Breakfast was one of the few things we learned how to make good at a fairly impressive rate so that was nice…

But Lorelei said she didn't know how to cook, so I'd have to keep an eye on her…

And it was a good thing I did. My aunt wasn't just bad at cooking, she was horrid!

"I'm sending you the recipes Jas sent us," I decided immediately on her behalf. "I can't believe you're such a shitty cook. I used to be that shitty... But I'm 12."

"Please watch your language," Lorelei chastised, not looking at either Green or I as she diligently ate her eggs. "I must admit, I thought it would be easier. Jynx is quite fond of cooking so she normally handles it when I make food for myself," she admitted.

"...Are you serious?" I asked incredulously.

"Don't worry about it! We kinda suck too!" Green reassured, wolfing down her plate.

"What the hell did you eat when you were a trainer?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Packaged foods and rations," she said truthfully.

I glanced at my aunt with an incredulous gaze.

"Wow are you one of those people that are only good at their job?" I asked curiously.

"...I am more than capable of doing other things," Lorelei defended. "There are just many things I didn't have the time to dedicate to in my pursuit of honing my craft. Becoming a Master required much of my attention."

Huh, so even someone as smart and dignified as Lorelei, suffered from tunnel vision.

"Honestly, people speak as if your completely perfect. It's kinda cool to know you suck at so many things too," I nodded.

"We're learning how to cook too! You can learn at the same time as us!" Green grinned encouragingly.

Lorelei opened her mouth and closed it.

"It's genuinely shocking that you and Green are traveling companions," she said finally.

I snorted in amusement and grabbed all the plates for washing.

"We need to get ready for the gym," I said bluntly, watching as Green began packing everything up.

"We leaving right after?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah. You still wanna skip Sabrina right?"

"Yep! We'll go to Fuchsia!"

I rolled my eyes. "I'll ignore how inconvenient that'll make our travel plans. Wrecking that freak later will feel satisfying for me too," I muttered.

" I'm impressed that you two have such good plans and you properly communicate them... but please refrain from using such derogatory terms when speaking of our gym leaders," Lorelei requested with a sigh.

"We had an interesting first meeting," I replied bluntly. I had no intention of telling her how my meeting with Sabrina went, now that I knew these guys were mentally logging info about me.

Lorelei blinked. "You remained in Saffron for less than an hour. In that frame you already encountered Sabrina?" she asked a little incredulously.

"I can't seriously be the only one baffled by the fact that you have been tracking my journey right?" I asked Green. "Am I weird for this? I can't be?"

"Famous trainers get tracked a lot..." Green said sheepishly. "But yeah it's a little strange that someone is so invested in you."

Lorelei pursed her lips at that. "I see... I will moderate my monitoring then. How does once a day sound?"

"You're a freak," I replied bluntly, rolling my eyes. "Do whatever you want."

"Right. But that doesn't change the fact that you and Sabrina had a strange encounter. Does this have to do with Jynx refusing to tell me why she is afraid of you?"

I shrugged. "Probably," I replied.

It was no secret psychics were wary of me. I wouldn't be surprised if most trainers with experiences psychics realized I was weird. Jasmine certainly picked up on Bronzy not liking me off our few meetings.

Lorelei pursed her lips at that and nodded, likely understanding that this was not something I'd be telling her no matter what.

"We're headed to the gym now. You wanna come with us or sneak in?" I asked her.

Lorelei frowned. "I'll head out first to speak to Erika about matters pertaining Celadon," she murmured, releasing Jynx from her pokeball.

"Sure," I said, watching as Jynx inched away from me, eyes glowing.

Lorelei shot us both a small smile before she vanished to the gym.

"Alright Green, it's showtime," I grunted.

"Kay!" she beamed challengingly, adjusting her white hat confidently.

Erika… our first gym battle after the disaster that was the S.S Anne.

I was a little pent up honestly so… I was going to make a statement this match.

Judging by the antsy Green, she was here to prove a point as well.

Good.

"Bet I'll beat Erika with less pokemon than you," I grunted.

Green whirled on me with a challenging glint. "You're so on! Loser washes every dish for a week!"

I nodded in agreement. "It's a bet."

With that we set off.

---

"Still smells as shitty as possible," I sighed, pulling out a black half mask and covering the bottom half of my face.

Green accepted the forest green one I was holding and placed it on.

"You got one for me?" she asked with wide eyes.

"Yea," I muttered.

Green's eyes shone in joy and she pulled me into a hug that I ignored. She didn't raise my hackles anymore so it was just easier to allow them.

She had a tendency to hug for too long though, so it normally left me with the task of dragging her wherever we were going.

"We're here for our gym battle," I grunted to the receptionist.

I glowered at the lady glaring at me, daring her to say something.

"Head to the back to meet Gym Leader Erika for your battle. I hope you enjoy it," she grit out eventually.

"Thanks doll. Maybe afterwards you can take me out for dinner," I said snidely, lowering my mask with the sole intention to show her my thin and painfully fake smile.

"I'll take you out for ice cream after Erika crushes you, don't worry," she replied with fake cheer, beaming at me with a twitching grin.

"Are you even allowed to eat ice cream? Wouldn't want your lactose intolerance to act up," I said in faux concern.

"I don't have lactose intolerance," she said in a moment of confusion.

"Oh. You just look like someone who does," I shrugged ignorantly, getting her polite facade to crack completely.

Green dragged me to the back of the gym right as we opened our mouths to sling obscenities at the other.

Green shook her head. "You two don't even know each other... how did you end up hating each other so much?"

"What makes you think that? We just agreed to go on a date," I said idly, finally stopping with the glaring as I lost eyesight with her.

Green giggled. "All of this over the smell of the gym?"

"Shouldn't have gotten offended that it smelled so shitty."

The two of use conversed, even as we made our way to the back of the gym and when we finally arrived, I took in the sights.

There was of course the standard battlefield of the gym but besides that, there were trees decorating the area, dotted with various flora and even berry plants.

It was gorgeous to behold. The trees weren't too tall, but they were healthy and a glowing shade of green. It honestly looked like it was created by a pokemon with how healthy they looked. I admired them for a bit and found that the aroma of back here eclipsed the front.

Seriously if it could smell so pleasant back here, then why did it smell like hell in the front?

As a fan of greenery, it was a very aesthetically pleasing gym to look at. My favorite so far by a mile.

Near the largest tree under a shade, there were two women conversing in quiet tones to one another. They were both sitting on comfy and sturdy looking grass themed seats and the entire scene looked like something out of a movie.

The first one was easy to identify because she had made sure that I knew exactly who she was last night.

I was still a bit sour about that. She was never living it down even if I didn't need her mentioning it anymore.

My aunt was speaking to a young woman. She looked rather lethargic, almost appearing as if she were about to fall asleep at any moment, but it certainly didn't take away from her pretty features as she attentively responded to her superior.

Around the area, a small group of powerful grass types were lounging about and I gazed at them with an appreciate glance.

Tangrowth, Vileplume, Bellossom, Victreebel, Venusaur and Meganium...

That was quite the team Erika had. They all looked powerful, fitting for a trainer of her calibre. From what I knew of Erika, her first pokemon was a Tangela so that meant the Tangrowth happily soaking the sunlight above, was her ace.

I whistled, gazing at the Meganium in particular as I inspected the final form of Gaia.

Green was much the same awing at the Venusaur that Saury would become as well.

Both of them seemed to sense our gazes and perked up, turning towards us with slight interest.

The Meganium's eyes immediately locked onto me and I raised a brow at the action.

I must have spent too much time with Gaia if a Meganium was locking onto me like that from this far.

I tilted my head to the side and ruffled in my bag, before pulling out some snacks.

Meganium's gaze lit up immediately and it bounded over to my position, eagerly accepting the snacks with a delighted rumble.

I gazed at the evolved form of my starter and smiled at it, rubbing its head calmly as the large grass type eagerly butt it against me.

So maybe I had a soft spot for the Chikorita line now. Hard not to when you had Gaia.

The Venusaur let out a tired groan, gazing at Meganium with a half lidded gaze of disapproval.

I handed Green a snack as well so she could feed it to the Venusaur and my companion immediately gave it to the tired looking grass type.

It sniffed the pokeblock once, before deeming it acceptable. As it consumed the blocks, it let out a content rumble and allowed Green to rub its head.

"As trusting as ever, Meganium. Won't you stop making Venusaur grow older in stress? Don't you remember that time you got sick because you ate expired food?"

"Ganium!" Meganium said without hesitation, nuzzling me in satisfaction.

"Wow, Meganium really likes you!" Erika mused, a gentle lilt to her voice that kinda made her sound both airy and tired.

I stared at her with with a neutral expression, gauging the woman up and down.

Erika was... pretty damn short. Was she not taller?

Must just be one of the many oddities of my world.

"It's likely because he has a Bayleef," Lorelei interjected, knowing I was going to stay completely silent if given the chance.

Erika's eyes widened and she sauntered over to me with wide eyes.

"Is that so? You have a Bayleef?" she asked excitedly, looking far more awake now at the revelation. It was like a switch had been flipped and I watched the Grass Master regard us with a surge of energy.

I pursed my lips and nodded. "Yeah, her names Gaia," I said.

"Green here also has an Ivysaur," Lorelei stated, causing Erika's eyes to widen even further.

"You must show me!" Erika requested politely holding both our hands with one of hers. "I do love when trainers use grass types! They just aren't appreciated enough as a typing I fear. The Chikorita family especially is one that people unfortunately mistreat," she stated, making me pause in ripping my hands away from her.

"Don't worry. Anyone who does learns very quickly that Gaia and I are not to be fucked with," I found myself nodding in agreement. Anyone who could appreciate Gaia, was slightly less horrible in my books.

"O-Oh my!" Erika gasped, putting a hand over her mouth at my words. There was a faint blush and I rolled my eyes.

Stiff.

"Please refrain from using such harsh language," Lorelei said.

"No," I denied effortlessly.

Erika gasped again and watched with wide eyes as Lorelei twitched. "H-How bold!" she muttered.

Had no one ever denied Lorelei or what? Actually, I wouldn't be surprised at all if that were the case.

I snorted and without much hassle, released Gaia from her ball.

At the same time, Green happily released Saury and both our starters appeared in a flash.

"Bay!" Gaia cheered, rubbing her cheek against against my own happily.

I could never resist the urge to smile when my team was happy to see me and I cracked a wry smirk, allowing my most affectionate pokemon to get her pleasantries out the way.

Erika cooed excitedly, gazing at Gaia with pleased eyes.

"What a sublime Bayleef!" she gushed, effortlessly closing the distance between her and Gaia.

Gaia puffed up at that, letting out a pleased sigh as Erika easily stroked the leaf atop her head.

"Such a healthy color! You truly take good care of her don't you?" Erika asked, practically gliding around Gaia with proud and searching eyes.

"Of course I do," I grunted, pleased that the care routine I was setting up for my team was working out well.

"Amazing! Silver correct? I have high hopes that you and Gaia here will show the world the potential of the Chikorita line," Erika beamed, patting me gently on the head.

It was almost funny because she was shorter than me, but I still stared warningly at her.

"I'll bite you pipsqueak. Don't go patting me for fun," I said bluntly.

"P-Pipsqueak?!" she repeated with wide eyes. "How rude! My height is a sensitive topic!"

"Don't irritate me with something as patronizing as patting then. I am not above using someone's insecurities against them," I replied.

Lorelei let out a suffering sigh, knowing that I actually was very much willing to bite someone.

"Delinquent," Erika muttered under her breath.

I sneered at her but Gaia mercifully saved Erika from even more ridicule by kidnapping my attention.

She was lucky Gaia was a higher priority than her.

Erika took the time to divert her attention onto the second grass type and I heard the loudest gasp yet from her, as she laid eyes on Saury.

"Why this is the biggest Ivysaur I've ever seen! The Alpha phenomena?" she gasped, leaning towards the staunch Ivysaur with a look of awe.

"Yep!" Green laughed sheepishly. "I don't think the Professor knew that Saury had it. It would have been really unfair to hand him out while the other two were normal," she guessed.

I nodded. That made sense.

As usual, Saury didn't even flinch at the attention, meeting the gaze of Erika's Venusaur with a steady expression.

I snorted. Saury was certainly too cool.

"We're here for our gym battle," I grunted, watching as Gaia and Meganium conversed happily with each other.

"Oh right! Apologies!" Erika gasped, bustling about with a burst of energy. The short woman looked quite lost in her admiration of grass types and I was beginning to realize all the gym leaders were freaks in their own ways.

I suppose normal people couldn't reach the apex after all. You had to have a certain amount of insanity to reach the top of the mountain.

"I'd love to chat with the two of you more after these battles if you don't mind! The condition of your Bayleef and Ivysaur are superb!" Erika gushed happily, smiling at us.

"I'll think about it," I grunted, making my way to the stands. "You can have first battle, Green."

The last gym leader we both battled was Surge and I got first battle against him, so it was Green's turn to go first.

"Kay!" Green grinned eagerly.

Erika nodded with our words, before turning towards Lorelei. "Lorelei, what do you wish to do now? Thank you so much for showing up but I believe Celadon has calmed down from the uproars of these past few days so you really don't have to stay any longer."

Lorelei looked all business as usual, a far cry from how painfully awkward she was when trying to bond with me.

"I'd like to ensure that there are truly no more issues. By the end of the day, my work here should be done and I will head back to Indigo," Lorelei informed her.

"As thorough as ever. What will you do in the meantime?" Erika asked, yawning slightly as she practically glided over to her spot of the arena.

"...It's been a while since I've paid such close attention to the younger generation. Seeing as I have some time to spare, I believe there is no harm in watching these two battle," she replied without hesitation.

Real subtle Lorelei. Real subtle.

Erika looked genuinely surprised at her words.

"You knew their pokemon too! Are Green and Silver of interest to you? Well I suppose that makes quite a bit of sense. These two are making quite a name for themselves," The grass trainer mused.

"We are?" I asked curiously, raising a brow at that.

Green and I only had three badges to our names. I knew I was eventually going to make waves but so early?

Hm...

Erika nodded easily. "I haven't done extensive research because I'd like it for the trainers who haven't battled me yet, to surprise me with their choices. Just hearing that you two have a Bayleef and Ivysaur has left me pleasantly fulfilled! I've been hearing about you two!"

"Yeah?" I hummed contemplatively, tilting my head at that.

"Yes! Surge had nothing but praise for you both and he rarely praises rookies! Flint believed that Green was the strongest trainer of the rookie class and the sisters of all people, would not stop talking about you Silver! They never talk about anyone!" Erika exclaimed with wide eyes.

"Is she really an adult?" I thought, watching the woman constantly shift between lethargic and excited.

I was being talked about?

...Whatever. I guess I'd just take some pride in the fact that three famously attractive girls were talking about me so much.

In the grand scheme I didn't care, but they were still cute so small victories.

"Flint thinks I'm the strongest?!" Green asked with wide eyes. "Awesome! But Silvy is just as strong as me... it's a toss up these days who can win!" she explained proudly.

I rolled my eyes. "Wouldn't be a good rivalry if it was one-sided now would it?"

Lorelei looked proud and out of Erika's vision I saw her shoot me a small smile that I gazed away from.

Dork.

"Well in any case, I eagerly look forward to battling the both of you," Erika said regally, kimono fluttering with every slight movement.

I simply grunted and made my way to the stands, taking a seat with Gaia happily next to me. I absentmindedly pet my starter with a hum, before releasing Oberon from his ball.

My most recent capture gazed at me with curious eyes and I beckoned towards the battlefield.

"Watch. I'm not going to use you for this battle so just observe and see what they're about. You'll watch my battle too," I muttered to him.

Oberon nodded hesitantly, climbing atop my lap and sitting there as he gazed down at the battlefield.

He was still pretty weak but he had a good sense for battle. It was a work in progress and I'd have to use him in my battles on the way to Fuschia to build up his experience.

"Bay!" Gaia beamed, choosing to be out for the battle as well.

I smiled at them both and inclined my head slightly, as Lorelei took a seat directly next to me, ignoring the aura I was radiating that let anyone know if they sit close to me, there would be bad times ahead.

Kinda surprising they could pick up on it. There were quite a bit of people filling into the stands, as Green and Erika prepared for their battle to begin.

Surprising. I dunno if it was because 4th badges were interesting, Erika was popular, or rumor of Lorelei being here spread.

Probably all three.

"Aren't you sitting a little too close to me?" I asked idly, without indicating I was addressing her.

We were being given quite the wide berth and the moment Lorelei sat down next to me, it seemed to get even wider.

Lorelei stared straight ahead. "We slept in the same tent. I have hardly room to be embarrassed of such a thing after what transpired in there."

I rolled my eyes. "That's not what I'm talking about. Wouldn't it be bad if you sat next to a redhead who kinda looks like you? You have a reputation to upkeep. This is the second time you've been around me in public."

Lorelei's eyes flitted over to me and she adjusted her glasses slightly at the sudden movement.

I'm very sure I heard someone let out a gasp in the distance.

"Do you truly think I'd let something as trivial as my reputation stop me from bonding with you?" she asked simply, shaking her head in exasperation.

"The only reason I'd hide our relation to each other, is because that's something you would want. I'm not ashamed of you, Silver so I have no personal reason to hide our familial ties."

I jolted at that, gazing warily at my aunt, before I shook my head and just turned towards the battle about to begin.

"Do whatever you want," I said eventually, carefully keeping my gaze trained straight ahead. "Whether you choose parade it to the world or not… I don't care."

Lorelei gazed at me for a long while and I pretended like I didn't see it, until a hand almost imperceptibly touched me, just keeping constant contact.

"I'd rub your back or run my hand through your hair but I don't think you'd be receptive to that in a public environment," Lorelei said, a hint of amusement in her voice.

"You seem to be getting to know me well. It would be a shame if the whole world saw me assault you," I commented, still not looking at her.

"...Please don't do that. I still have to upkeep some of my image," she replied, not even willing to risk finding out if I was serious or not.

I snorted.

Lorelei was… complicated. I didn't really know how to explain my feelings towards her right now so I just wouldn't bother and I'd let her do whatever she wanted until I figured myself out and gained my freedom.

My aunt said nothing and just squeezed me reassuringly, absentmindedly signing a paper that an eager child brought her way.

…

I really couldn't explain any of this. I missed when I was just angry at everyone all the time.

A vine snaked around my other arm and I sighed at the gentle smile on Gaia's face, patting her and focusing on the match.

---

Green's battle with Erika was a 4 on 4 and it began with the Gym Leader sending out a Weepinbell.

In response, Green sent out Larvee and the battle was quickly underway.

It began with Weepinbell immediately brightening up the battlefield with Sunny Day and as Larvee spat out a String Shot, the grass type dodged with what had to have been increased speed because Weepinbell were not fast at all.

The grass type began running (? Don't ask me Weepinbell looked like it was using those leaves to move about) around the battlefield, avoiding Larvee's barrage of Embers with surprising deftness.

Green's eyes were focused, eyes never leaving the grass type as it darted closer and closer to the Larvesta.

"Flame Charge!" she shouted.

Larvee followed her advice quickly, shrouding herself in much harsher flames and rushing towards the Weepinbell with a purpose.

"Stun Spore!" Erika retorted immediately.

Green's eyes narrowed and she immediately ordered Larvee to halt her attack, before the bug could run into the yellow cloud.

Then, she ordered Larvee to ignite the cloud with Ember, causing a brief explosion that clouded both their visions.

Erika's eyes widened at the surprising move, right before Larvee burst out of the smoke, shrouded once more in the flame charge.

While Larvee didn't seem that fast, they weren't as slow as you'd expect.

But it was still surprising to see the moth larva crash into the stunned Weepinbell at surprising speeds, amped up by both the Sun and Flame Charge.

Weepinbell squealed in pain as the attack connected squarely with its body, burns appearing over due to contact with Larvee's increasingly hot body.

Larvee was relentless, she shrouded herself in much harsher flames this time around, utilizing Flame Wheel instead of Charge and rushed the Weepinbell...

Only for a sudden explosion to take place after she took a few steps.

I raised a brow in confusion at that.

What the hell did Weepinbell use to suddenly blow up...

"Clear Smog," Erika said with a calm smile. "It was quite ingenious of you to blow up the stun spore but it gave me ideas of my own."

Ah, so she filled the field with the invisible gas so that neither Green or Larvee could see it. Then, when Larvee's flames connected with it, it would cause an explosion.

Hm, Green took the strategy of blowing up those clouds from the battle Crystal and I had... and Erika swiftly adapted it to her own strategy.

Not bad at all.

My rival would not be deterred, her serious expression calculating.

"Morning Sun," she said bluntly.

Erika's eyes widened in horror. In the sun, Morning Sun would be extremely effective so if Larvee got that off... it would regenerate quite a bit of its health.

Naturally, any sane trainer would want to stop that.

"Sleep Powder! Don't let it!" Erika shouted.

Green's eyes glinted victoriously. "Flamethrower!"

"Flamethrower?!" Erika gasped.

I couldn't blame her for being surprised. Larvesta didn't have the necessary stores to belch out continuous flames. As a result, most of the fire attacks they used early on didn't emit too many flames. Up until they reached evolution or close to it, the fire they emitted would only be half effective if used at a range due to lack of sustain.

But Green had the TM for Flamethrower now and they were battling in the sun. Even if Larvee couldn't utilize Flamethrower to max effectiveness at her stage, it'd still pack quite the punch.

Not to mention the Sleep Powder Weepinbell was getting ready. The powder moves being combustible was quite a fun thing Green and I found out.

Weepinbell was a sitting duck, as the Flamethrower raced through the air and crashed into it without mercy, setting off the powder as well and causing an explosion of catastrophic proportion to take place.

I whistled in appreciation and ignored the concerned look Lorelei shot me.

"Weepinbell is unable to battle! The winner of this match, is Larvesta!" The referee announced.

The crowd roared happily at that.

"Amazing!" they cheered, clapping for my companion.

"Impressive. I did not expect Green to fake her out there," Lorelei muttered.

"She's a little copycat," I rolled my eyes. "She was a strait-laced girl before meeting me."

"So you truly did corrupt that poor girl," Lorelei sighed.

I chuckled at that.

Erika looked slightly surprised by the outcome, before nodding with a small smile on her face.

Then, she sent out a Lombre.

I raised a brow. Quite the odd and convenient choice to have.

Much like the Weepinbell from before, Lombre set the weather once more but this time, it began raining onto the battlefield.

Green's brows furrowed at that due to Larvee's Morning Sun being effectively halved in the rain but she remained mostly unfazed.

She tried to have Larvee tie up the Lombre in a String Shot but it seemed to have Swift Swim, reactions aiding it in weaving through the strings.

The grass and water type needed no instructions, rushing the Larvesta with an easygoing expression.

Larvee's hot body had caused a constant fog of steam to form around her due to the rain so she was having a hard time seeing, which allowed the Lombre to immediately close the gap.

Larvee attempted to clamp her teeth around the Lombre for a Bug Bite but the grass type clapped its hands together, making the Larvesta flinch in surprise.

The Fake Out effectively cut out her attack and before she could recover, Lombre opened its mouth and shot a barrage of bubbles that collided with Larvee.

The Larvesta squealed as she was launched back from the attack, collapsing onto the floor.

"Larvesta is unable to battle, the winner of this match is Lombre!" the referee announced.

Once again, the crowd began cheering.

"Go Erika go Erika go!" they roared.

"She evened it up without taking a hit," I mused. "Not bad."

"Effective and quick," Lorelei nodded along.

Green mulled over her choices and eventually grabbed a Pokeball.

Much to my surprise, she did not send out Saury. Instead, Lapee was released and she crooned as the rain splashed against her body.

I watched Lorelei straighten up immediately.

"Why don't you have a Lapras?" she asked.

I blinked at the question. "Didn't want one... and Lapras are rare as fuck. How the hell was I just going to find one?" I asked in amusement.

Lorelei hummed at that. "You know, it's a tradition of our family to be given Lapras," she informed me.

I snorted. "Yeah?"

She nodded. "I grew on the Sevii Islands, Floe Islands to be exact. I was always fascinated by Ice and Water types... likely due to the island I grew up on. Believe it or not, before I was even eligible to begin my journey I had already befriended and made up my mind on starting my journey with a Lapras, Slowpoke and Seel," she explained.

I raised a brow high. "Starting off with three?"

Lorelei sighed. "My family is rather well off. I could afford to do so and I really would have preferred to not leave them behind. Despite not being legally allowed to catch them, I did spend quite a bit of time with them so I had an advantage when the day of my journey arrived," she explained.

As she did so, I continued watching Green's battle.

Lapee had gotten hit by a Leech Seed from the Lombre, as the grass type steadily dwindled the sturdy girl with Mega Drains. She attempted to fire Ice Beams at it, but the nimble grass type was swiftly evading her.

"Seems to have worked out well for you," I pointed out.

"I have a strong affinity for the Water and Ice types," Lorelei said. "It is easier for me to train and utilize them to their full capabilities."

"Makes sense. Most type specialists have an easier time with specific types and delve into that," I mused, watching as Lapee used Life Dew to heal all the damage.

Life Dew did a fantastic job at depleting a Pokemon's stamina but with Lapee absorbing the water from the rain, it was not nearly as draining.

Judging by how frustrated the once relaxed Lombre was, it was doing its job.

"Do you not have a type you resonate with?" Lorelei asked curiously.

I shrugged and ran a hand against Oberon's hair, watching as my hyper focused bear melted at it.

He seemed to really enjoy the battle taking place.

"Not really. I don't feel anything in particular with a specific type," I shrugged.

I actually had anti synergy with ghosts, psychics and ground types for obvious reasons. I still didn't think I was ever getting a ground type at this rate. My damn dad put too much of a sour taste in my mouth when it came to them.

Lorelei nodded thoughtfully. "I think you are particularly good at training any type. Your team seems well balanced," she praised.

"Lapee, use Freeze-Dry!"

Erika's eyes widened in horror at the surprise move and before she could order Lombree to dodge it, the attack crashed into it and sent the pokemon howling in agony.

Freeze-Dry was a funny move that did bad things to an organ that every single water type carried. It was the only ice type move that was super effective against water types and considering Lombre was also a grass type...

Yeah, it was down for the count even through all the sustain it managed to do.

"We talked through that whole match," I scolded Lorelei.

She had the decency to look properly chastised and she coughed slightly. "My apologies. It's just... nice to speak to you," she said.

I rolled my eyes. "You are the second person who has ever said that about me," I said dryly, watching Erika send out a Bellossom next.

Lorelei surprised me by rolling her eyes as well. "I'm not surprised... but who was the first?" she asked curiously.

"Jasmine," I replied easily.

Lorelei sighed. "I don't even know how you could possibly have befriended someone as sweet as Jasmine.

"She likes that I don't coddle her," I replied easily. "Now focus on the match."

Lorelei blinked. "Who is the adult here?" she muttered under her breath.

I snorted at that and focused on the match.

Bellossom was a feisty little thing despite its stature. It swayed across the battlefield, immediately arresting control and summoning the dominating sun once more.

It dodged Ice Beams and Freeze-Dry alike, eyes filled with determination as it summoned Magical Leaves that it fired at Lapee.

The Lapras let out a cry of pain as the leaves cut into it with ruthless precision and Bellossom immediately summoned a long green blade.

It dashed forward, Leaf Blade in hand, and immediately began preying upon Lapee.

It cut relentlessly into her and Green's browed furrowed.

"Freeze-Dry! Blow it all around you!" she demanded.

Lapee fought through the pain and let loose the cold and freezing beam.

Predictably, Bellossom dashed backwards, blade still in hand as it patiently waited out the attack.

Green was not done however.

"Mist!" she shouted.

Lapee crooned and, utilizing the additional moisture from the Freeze-Dry, summoned a huge and hazy mist that covered her entire body and then some.

"She's attempting to heal. Don't let her," Erika ordered, quiet voice carrying.

As the Lapras vanished into the Mist, Bellossom, brave psycho that it was, dashed into it on Erika's orders, intent on finishing the match right then and there.

Only I could see the predatory gleam that entered Green's eyes. "Sing!" she demanded.

Erika's eyes widened in horror. "You sneaky!" she gasped.

"She's making me so proud," I said, smirking a rather infuriating manner.

Only a few notes of the sing escaped the dense mist and periodic flashes followed suit.

Everyone watched with tense breaths as the Mist finally vanished fully and they watched with wide eyes as Lapee panted tiredly in front of the frozen and unconscious Bellossom.

"Yes!" Green's cheery personality broke through, a wide grin on her face.

"Bellossom is unable to battle!"

Once the referee announced that, Lapee let out a tired sigh and collapsed, shutting her eyes as she fell unconscious.

"Lapras is unable to battle! Will both contestants send out their next pokemon!"

Erika chewed her lip in contemplation and I couldn't blame her.

She lost the Bellossom to a pokemon on its last legs. That victory by Lapee had almost completely swung the tides of the battle in Green's favor.

Now all she had to do was send out Saury and cash in on her victory—

"Leafeon, come forth!"

"Vee, let's finish this!"

Gasps of awe rang through the arena, as the Leafeon and Espeon both appeared on the field.

"Wow! Look mom!" a child shouted eagerly. "Two Eevee's!"

"They have a different name than Eevee, sweetheart. The green one is a Leafeon and the pink one is an Espeon," a woman explained patiently.

"She must be tired of me calling her a one trick pony," I mused.

This was a good opportunity to test out Vee's evolution as well. The Espeon had sparred lightly the day before but nothing built experience like a high stakes battle.

Leafeon started the battle off immediately, firing razor sharp leaves towards Vee.

Vee's eyes narrowed slightly and began glowing, shooting out a concussive blast of raw psychic energy that gave him enough time to move away from the remaining leaves.

His eyes began glowing once more and Leafeon let out a cry of agitation, as another concussive blast of psychic energy crashed into it.

"Focus, Leafeon!" Erika soothed. "Quick Attack. Close the distance."

"Quick Attack! Get away!" Green countered.

Vee and Leafeon both began glowing, before a chase ensued and the two raced across the battlefield.

While psychic type and not very physical... Espeon's actually boasted the second highest sprint speed of the Eeveelutions. It only got outpaced by Jolteon.

Comparatively, Leafeon was in third place and this one didn't have Chlorophyll by the looks of it.

It was a good thing Vee had gotten used to their body so quickly, else this game of cat and mouse would have ended far sooner. Neither of the evolutions of Eevee wanted to get hit by what the other specialized in.

But still... Espeon's did not have as much stamina as Leafeon. Especially not a Leafeon under the sun.

It was evident that Green would crack first despite being in an advantageous position.

"Detect!" Green ordered.

With evolution, Espeon's perception had increased greatly to the point where it gained slight precognitive abilities.

Detect was practically overkill.

Vee's eyes glinted and he deftly weaved away from Leafeon's Quick Attack—

"Sand Attack!"

—And kicked up dirt directly into the Leafeon's eyes. It was as if he knew Green was going to say that.

Leafeon let out a shrieking cry as the dirt connected with its face.

"Return!" Green pressed her advantage.

Vee, in a decidedly not Espeon fashion, let out a battle cry and tackled his white glowing body into the Leafeon, sending the grass type skidding back.

Leafeon let out a cry.

"Magical Leaf!" Erika shouted.

The grass Eevee shook its head and flicked its tail, shooting out an array of leaves towards the psychic.

Vee didn't need any prompting to dash away from the leaves and the brief respite allowed Leafeon to get the dirt out of its eyes.

It glared at Vee and dashed off in a different direction, intercepting where the Espeon was going to go.

Vee's eyes widened at seeing the glaring Leafeon, only to let out a strangled cry as the grass type lunged, teeth marred with dark energy.

At the same time, the Magical Leaves crashed into them both, numerous cuts forming as a result.

I winced as Leafeon bit down fiercely, eliciting a pained shriek from Vee as the super effective attack did numbers to it.

"Vee! Swift! Get it off you!" Green shouted in concern, gazing at her first pokemon with wide eyes.

Vee fought through the dark type move, psychic abilities completely worthless at the moment, and fired the point blank stars.

They came out more numerous and far more damaging than when Vee was an Eevee and they launched the Leafeon back, getting a surprised yowl out of it.

Vee panted tiredly, glow returning to its gem as its psychic powers returned. It glared furiously at Leafeon, even as the grass type glared right back at him.

Leafeon glowed white and rocketed across the arena, ignoring how Vee's gem began glowing brighter and brighter in his fury.

Finally, as Leafeon lunged, fangs covered in dark energy again, a bright pink light erupted from Vee and a gigantic beam of pink energy smashed into the Leafeon point blank.

"L-Leaf?" Leafeon gagged, before it got sent soaring away.

Vee panted tiredly as the Leafeon thudded onto the floor, glaring at its grass counterpart even as the gem on its head darkened completely.

"Oh right," I said. "Espeon's build up their power from being under the sunlight."

It looked like Vee used a new move as well. Was that Psybeam?

"Leafeon is unable to battle! As a result, Gym Leader Erika has no remaining Pokemon! The winner of this match is Leaf Green!"

Green's serious expression vanished and she let out a squeal of happiness, rushing Vee and squeezing him with all her might.

"We did it!" she cheered happily. "Yes! Great job!"

She froze up as she finally heard the cheering of the crowd and I watched as my friend blushed a deep shade of red, gazing at the people with wide eyes.

We made eye contact and I snorted, clapping once for her and getting a grin to form on her face.

"She's good," Lorelei praised, clapping along with the crowd.

"Course. She's my rival after all," I nodded once.

---

"How was I?!" Green asked me happily.

"Good. I'm surprised you won without using Saury."

Green pouted. "Hey! I'm not a Saury merchant... whatever that really means," she muttered.

I snorted. Saury merchant was what I had taken to calling her lately. She had no clue what it actually meant but context clues.

"Good luck! It's your turn now!" Green exclaimed cheerfully, squeezing me as her reassurance.

I grunted and nodded. "Watch Oberon and Gaia for me. They're with aunt," I muttered.

"Kay!"

With that, I made my way to the battlefield.

"Magnificent! Green is quite the exceptional trainer!" Erika commented to me, looking thrilled at the battle that just took place.

"Of course she is," I said gruffly, cupping a pokeball and staring at her.

"I do look forward to seeing how she blooms in the future! I was thoroughly impressed!" she beamed.

I was glad that Erika seemed just as interested in Green as me. More people needed to give my companion her flowers.

"This is an official gym battle of the Celadon City Gym between the challenger, Silver of Viridian City and the Gym Leader, Erika! Each side is allowed 4 pokemon and only the challenger is allowed to swap. The match will be decided when all Pokemon of one side are unable to continue!"

A four on four, just like Green's match...

"Gloom, come forth!" Erika yelled, elegantly throwing her pokeball out.

"Metang," I said coolly.

Erika's eyes widened as my steel type revealed itself and she straightened up a bit.

"Both contestants are set! Gloom vs Metang! Begin!" The referee shouted.

"Sunny Day!" Erika began immediately, starting off with what was clearly her favorite move.

I grunted at that. "Goddamn weather merchant," I huffed.

The gym leader blinked. "What's a weather merchant?" she asked in confusion.

"You. Metang use Confusion," I said.

Erika didn't get the time to be outraged by my response, focused on getting Gloom away from the attack.

"Dodge Gloom! Use Stun Powder!"

Gloom dodged the concussive psychic energy with its increased speed, short legs carrying it across the battlefield as the plant atop its head began secreting that paralyzing yellow cloud.

"Don't get touched by that. Use Agility," I said, eyes roving over the field as I mulled over my course of action.

"How good did you get with ranged psychic attacks?"

"Do not patronize me."

"You're so fucking sassy all the time."

I rolled my eyes as Metang sped up, body floating across the field at much quicker speeds.

Erika chewed her lip in contemplation. "Giga Drain!" she ordered eventually.

Gloom focused and shot out beams of green energy that began tracking down Metang.

Metang utilized his rudimentary Agility and weaved away from the beams.

"Get close. Zen Headbutt."

Metang didn't even make it seem like it had acknowledged my order, merely adjusting his flight and rushing the Gloom.

"Gloom! Run away from it!" Erika said with wide eyes.

Gloom abruptly stopped trying to catch Metang with Giga Drain and instead began running for its life.

The harsh truth was that Gloom didn't really have a single attack that would work on Metang. It's best bet was trying to paralyze but I faced enough grass types to know that it was fishing for it.

As Gloom used its enhanced speed to run away from Metang, it was suddenly blasted with a wave of Confusion, stopping it right in its tracks and allowing my steel type to reach it, Zen Headbutt still formed.

Metang crashed ruthlessly into Gloom, head actually lifting the pokemon off the ground, and the momentum carried them both through the air before Metang abruptly halted.

The speed at which he halted, sent Gloom soaring off its body and the grass tumbled across the ground, unmoving from its spot.

"Gloom is unable to battle! The winner is Metang!"

The arena had been mostly silent. First it was in shock at me releasing my Metang, then it was getting stunlocked by how one-sided the first battle had been.

"Holy shit," I heard someone say.

I bore my silver gaze into Erika's gray eyes and I watched as she pursed her lips, returning Gloom to its ball.

"I see. The rumors about you certainly were not exaggerated... even the part where they called you a Weavile in human flesh," she said.

I grunted at the comparison. First people were comparing me to cats, now it was a predator?

Crystal said I reminded her of a Weavile too.

Silly idiots. I didn't travel in a pack!

Erika mulled over her options and eventually grabbed a Pokeball.

"Nuzleaf! Come forth!" Erika announced.

"Don't know much about us my ass," I grunted. "First a Lombre for Green and now a Nuzleaf for me?"

"The others were more awed by your team outside of the Bayleef and Ivysaur," she mentioned with a smile. "My personal favorite was Flint's account of a flying Feebas."

I rolled my eyes.

Sounded about right.

"Good to keep going?" I asked Metang coolly.

"I find it difficult to believe that you call me sassy, when you actively seek to annoy me like this."

"I annoy you because you're sassy."

"I am sassy because you annoy me."

"Both contestants are set! Metang vs Nuzleaf! Begin!"

I sighed, adjusting my hair slightly so as to stop blocking my eye.

"Iron Head," I tested.

"Fake out!" Erika immediately countered.

I grunted in some annoyance as Metang's attack was immediately cancelled by Fake Out and as my steel type recovered swiftly from their flinch —

"Astonish!"

They were hit by the super effective ghost move... that caused them to flinch again.

"I am sufficiently annoyed," Metang said tonelessly... or more tonelessly.

"Way ahead of you. Iron Defense."

Metang's steel body glowed harshly underneath the sun. I smiled as Nuzleaf, who was in close proximity, was practically flash banged by the sheen and as the grass type flinched back, Metang ruthlessly bashed their steel head against it.

"Nuz!" Nuzleaf gasped, body folding as Metang headbutt him with its entire body. He was sent skidding backwards, the force uprooting the grass type completely and sending it tumbling across the floor.

"Bullet Punch," I pressed ruthlessly.

Metang's eyes glowed menacingly, fists glowing as it blazed across the field.

"Hang in there Nuzleaf! Use Payback!" Erika cried out.

My eyes widened. "Shit, you're going way too fast. You're gonna get hit by this."

"My body is still protected. I will survive," Metang replied effortlessly.

I raised both brows at that. "Is Ares seeping into you? You sound like a psycho."

"It is not the dragon I inherited this from. It is you."

With that, Metang continued their course and I watched as both the pokemon punched each other with full force.

They both roared in their tongue and were sent away from each other, as Metang's temporary levitation nearly failed, before they uprighted themselves once more.

I really needed to get them Magnet Rise and Miracle Eye. They would be some of the next moves to learn.

Nuzleaf wiped a fist against its cheek, glaring at Metang tiredly. It looked barely conscious and I was honestly surprised it could still go.

Metang floated in place momentarily and rumbled.

The temporary lull was broken by both Erika and I.

"Mega Drain, get back some energy!"

"Bullet Punch, knock its lights out!"

Nuzleaf utilized the speed Chlorophyll gave it, ducking wildly underneath Metang's swift punches with a desperation befitting a Pokemon on its last legs.

It scrambled underneath Metang's floating body and lunged atop him, shooting a single green beam that attempted to drain what it could from Metang's metallic body.

"Pepper him Nuzleaf! Don't get off!" Erika encouraged.

Nuzleaf roared in affirmation, bombarding Metang with Payback after Payback.

I snarled in annoyance as my connection with Metang faltered and thought of a solution.

"Metang, fall upside down!" I barked, a feral look in my eyes.

Metang didn't outwardly acknowledge my order but I watched as their levitating body did a complete 180.

Without any hesitation, Metang crushed Nuzleaf under their full weight.

Then, they floated back up, Nuzleaf's broken body embedded into the ground. The grass type didn't even groan, just flattened onto the battlefield.

"Do not ever hold anyone accountable for my less than savory antics. You are the reason for it all."

"You might be right," I replied with a crooked and wild smirk.

"Nuzleaf is unable to battle. The winner of this match is Metang!"

...

"YEAHHHH!" The crowd roared in awe.

I ignored them scowling slightly at that battle. The Nuzleaf was way annoying and all her pokemon seemed to utilize Chlorophyll…

How could I have played that better?

I frowned as I contemplated it, gazing at the concerned Erika all the while.

It was just a matter of experience. I couldn't know every single move that a pokemon knew. As I battled more and more, I'd be able to account for more things.

Erika was gazing at Metang with furrowed brows, biting her lip in contemplation.

"Come forth, Victreebel!" She announced, releasing the final evolution of Bellsprout from its ball.

That's funny. She used Weepinbell and Bellossom against Green, then used Gloom and Victreebel against me.

Alright then.

"Both contestants are set! Victreebel vs Metang! Begin!"

"Weather Ball!" Erika said as soon as she could get the opportunity.

Victreebel didn't waste any time and fired an orange beam, not unlike the sun in appearance. It streaked through the air, leaving flames in its wake and smashed into Metang with crushing force.

My eyes widened at that and I gazed at Erika in shock.

"I can be quick and sneaky too," Erika puffed up proudly.

I scowled at that and returned Metang to their ball.

"Well done maniac," I praised, pocketing it.

Weather Ball… A move that changed types depending on the weather…

Weather Ball… That was an interesting technique.

"Ares," I decided eventually.

I heard even more gasps from all around as my gigantic Shelgon was revealed and Erika stared at her with wide eyes.

"W-Wow. That's quite the Shelgon you have," she muttered.

"She's glorious yeah?" I mused with a proud smirk.

Erika blinked. "Yes... I'd have to agree," she nodded.

"Ready to win, girl?" I asked.

Ares rumbled, turning those yellow eyes towards me.

Evolution had chilled her temperament (along with a lot of other things about her) quite a bit in preparation for her metamorphosis into a Salamence, but my violent dragon was still very much there.

And she'd become a lot worse when she evolved anyways. She'd make Bagon-Ares look like nothing when she became Salamence-Ares.

But for now, I'd enjoy my slight peace with Shelgon-Ares.

"Dragon Breath," I ordered.

"Leaf Tornado!" Erika commanded.

Ares opened her mouth and fired a giant torrent of dragonic flames. They eclipsed her previous evolutions flames and rushed towards the stormy leaves, burning them to cinders.

The weird thing about pokemon with abilities in their prevolution that evolved into something with different abilities was that they didn't completely lose their old abilities.

It was weird to explain. Ares still had the organ that upped her power but it was far less prominent and it would practically vanish as she became a Salamence...

But as a Salamence, she'd inherit some parts of Overcoat.

Not the entire thing but she'd be more resistant to weather and whatnot due to the thicker layering that a Shelgon with Overcoat had.

Weird stuff but I'm not a scientist so I wouldn't try to understand it.

"Fire some Embers," I tested with narrowed eyes.

Ares opened her mouth and began firing pellets of flames that Victreebel dashed away from.

"Acid!" Erika shouted.

Victreebel's mouth spat out a poisonous stream that connected squarely with Ares, getting a grunt annoyance out of her.

This sun speeding up every single one of her pokemon was getting really infuriating.

"Dragon Dance," I ordered with narrowed eyes.

Erika's eyes widened. "Try and stop it! Don't let her get it off!" she demanded.

Victreebel hissed in affirmation and launched its sun enhanced body towards the stationary Ares.

Right before it could fully close the gap, vines shot out of its body to wrap around the guarded dragon.

Ares grunted in annoyance as the vines stopped her already low movement, trapping her even further in place.

Then, the Victreebel conjured another Leaf Tornado and crashed it onto her.

As the leaves crashed onto Ares position, Erika said, "Slam!" and Victreebel continued its combo by hoisting up my massive Shelgon and slamming her onto the floor.

A huge dust formed that combined with the already hazardous Leaf Tornado, forming a clash of different elements that blocked both Erika and I's vision.

Victreebel appeared out of the dust, looking none the worse for wear—

A gigantic stream of flames crashed into its back, getting a gasp out of everyone there but me.

"TREEBEL?!" Victreebel shouted in both surprise and pain as the huge flames washed over it.

Erika's mouth was agape in genuine surprise, as the dust settled to reveal Ares.

My Shelgon, despite the combo she just took, didn't look close to fainting and I smiled at the scuff marks on her shell.

Her yellow eyes were narrowed in fury, both from the Rage and her genuine anger at being attacked so much.

Good thing she was a Shelgon now. Those shells of their were criminally annoying to deal with.

As Victreebel attempted to recover from the Rage enhanced Flamethrower, Ares eyes lit up with malevolence and she began swaying her huge body, the effects of Dragon Dance washing over her.

With matching malice, Ares and I honed in on the Victreebel with less than friendly intent.

Ares tensed up her little legs and rocketed over to the wide eyed Victreebel.

She was actually using more power than speed to close the distance. The sheer strength behind that push, made up for her lacking natural speed and she used the momentum from the initial start to carry her over.

"Sleep Powder!" Erika tried with wide eyes, knowing Victreebel wouldn't be able to move in time.

As Victreebel mustered up the power needed to spit out Sleep Powder, it gagged in disbelief as the full weight of, my much heavier than normal, Shelgon crashed into it.

Miraculously, the full body Headbutt did not knock it unconscious and it managed to get off the Sleep Powder...

To no effect. Ares shell completely protected her from the effects of Sleep Powder and it only made her angrily retort with another Flamethrower.

That certainly did the job. Ares rumbled and idly cleaned her feet with the Victreebel's body, before trotting off him back to my side.

It almost brought a tear to my eye. She was just like me.

"Victreebel is unable to battle. The winner of this match is Shelgon!"

"LOOK HOW HUGE THAT SHELGON IS!"

"DID YOU SEE IT CRASH INTO VICTREEBEL LIKE A CANNONBALL?!"

"SO COOL!"

Ares and I both grunted, unbothered by the adoring crowds as we gazed ahead.

"Sleep Powder failed?" Erika muttered to herself in confusion. "Oh I just knew I should have used Abomasnow for this," she lamented.

I raised a brow. She had access to a goddamn Abomasnow? What the hell?

Erika bit her lip (she did that a lot) as she returned Victreebel to the ball and gazed at the violent Shelgon.

I watched her dig into her kimono, contemplation on her face as she thought of who to send out last.

Finally, she clutched her pokeball and said, "Come forth, Tangrowth!"

A Tangrowth… I narrowed my eyes and watched as the final evolution of Tangela revealed itself.

"Let's wrap this up," I decided.

"Shel," Ares grunted. Despite being far more tame, despite looking even aloof and unexpressive…

Ares would never be able to hide that bloodlust from me. After all, it washed over me to the point where I became more bloodthirsty as well.

The mass of vines had two eyes underneath it, peering curiously at us. Unlike the Tangrowth I saw earlier, this one seemed far more active.

"Sun's still up girl. It'll be fast," I said warily.

Ares scoffed and I smirked.

"Yeah, you're right. The Victreebel was fast too," I nodded in agreement.

"Both contestants are set. Shelgon vs Tangrowth Begin!"

"Wrap it in your vines then use Poison Powder!" Erika began immediately.

"Burn em," I retorted instantly.

Ares opened her mouth and shot forth a hellish amount of flames. They were truly huge in nature for how little experience she had in Flamethrower but the sun and Rage helped out a lot.

Tangrowth's vines were numerous in nature. They lunged from every part of its body with purpose.

The grass type gurgled in distress as a majority were burned by Ares but a few stragglers managed to make it through, encasing the Shelgon.

"Physical attacks won't do anything! Use Giga Drain!" Erika shouted.

Tangrowth's vines began glowing green and Ares let out a snarl of rage, as her energy began getting funneled into the Tangrowth.

"Tangrowth use Ancient Power!"

Multiple glowing rocks were suddenly ripped out of the ground and Tangrowth hastily launched them towards Ares from every direction.

As the rocks converged on her location, Ares let out a cry of surprise as they began damaging her.

Ancient Power was a strange technique that had ties with a past far ago. The prehistoric technique carried some sort of mystic properties to it that could sometimes boost all of a pokemon's capabilities.

"Tangrowth! Use Growth then Ancient Power once more!" Erika said confidently.

"Flamethrower!" I barked urgently.

Ares snarled in rage and she opened her mouth, only to let out a shout of surprise as the vines covered it up. Instead of a stream of fire, a shotgun like flame erupted instead, blasting a hole through the vines but all that did was cause more vines to converge around her mouth.

I snarled in rage, eyes pulsing in fury as even more Rocks than before formed. They loomed dangerously as Tangrowth prepared to bombard Ares with a barrage of the prehistoric rocks.

I narrowed my eyes, mind running through multiple scenarios that could get me out of this situation.

Finally, one struck me and my eyes glowed maliciously.

"Ares, Crunch the vines! Don't let go and bring it to your location now!" I barked.

Ares eyes glinted in joy at the order and she opened her covered mouth. It began glowing with dark energy and she fully clamped onto Tangrowth without any hesitation.

Half the job was already done thanks to the grass type. Now it was time make sure the pesky little fighter got up close and personal

"You battle like a complete maniac!" Erika shouted in distress, watching as Ares clamped her jaw around as many of Tangrowth's vines as possible. "Tangrowth, don't let that Shelgon pull you close! Ingrain! Bury yourself into the ground!"

Tangrowth gurgled in affirmation and as Ares tried to yank it from its spots, she suddenly found great resistance.

She was not to be deterred however. Ares snarled and tugged even harder, getting an uncomfortable noise to erupt from the Tangrowth.

"Pluck it!" I barked. "Rip it out of the ground!"

Ares roared in agreement, eyes pulsing madly as her rage mounted.

Tangrowth let out a panicked yell and tried doing anything to halt Ares madness. Its vines began glowing green to drain Ares before she could muster up the energy to yank it but if anything, that only made her angrier.

Finally, with a muffled roar, Ares completely ripped Tangrowth from its spot. The force of her pull was so great, that Tangrowth's vines snapped off even as it began soaring towards her,.

But the best part about it, was that Ares hadn't even fully ripped it out of the Ingrain... no she just ripped the ground underneath Tangrowth as well.

It was like the reverse of earlier. Instead of becoming the cannonball, Ares had turned something else into one. Tangrowth's flailing body began getting closer and closer to the feral Shelgon and it let out a cry of fear.

"Fire the Ancient Power, Tangrowth!" Erika shouted over its panicked yells. "Use your vines to latch onto something! Anything!"

I smiled eagerly as Tangrowth tried to do so, only to realize a fast majority of its vines were either burned to cinders or chomped off.

Realizing it had no choice but to meet Ares head on, the grass type launched every single floating rock, even as its body closed the distance—

"Protect," I said coolly.

—And crashed right into a sickening green barrier.

The Ancient Power fared no better, slamming into the Protect and causing it to shudder. However, the barrier held strong.

I watched as Tangrowth's body slowly peeled off the Protect, eyes dizzy and swirling as its vines did its best to protect the grass type from such powerful impact.

Ares was not having it. She dropped the barrier and opened her mouth, firing off a gargantuan blaze of flame that consumed the Tangrowth.

Erika watched the entire thing with a slack jaw, disbelief on her face at the series of events that just took place.

"Tangrowth is unable to battle! As a result, Gym Leader Erika has no remaining Pokemon! The winner of this match is Silver!"

That snapped her out of her daze and she met my gaze with wide eyes.

I flashed her a crooked and satisfied smirk.

"...You are so rotten," she mouthed to me.

I let loose a barking laugh.

---

I grinned in satisfaction, running a hand on the exhausted Ares' shell.

"Well damn girl. Two fully evolved pokemon?" I asked.

"Shel," Ares rumbled tiredly, leaning into my touch with half lidded eyes.

"Thoughts on Protect now? I know you thought it was lame that you learned such a defensive move," I pointed out.

"...Gon," she admitted reluctantly.

"Hah," I chuckled. "I knew I'd win you over with it. You gotta keep your body safe so that you're a perfectly healthy Salamence," I said wisely.

That got a burst of energy out of her.

"Shel!" she rumbled, before remembering just how tired she was. She abruptly collapsed and I smiled with a shake of my head.

"Hungry?" I asked her, enjoying the cool and sturdy shell that I was leaning on.

"Gon." she shook her head in denial.

"Fucking liar," I rolled my eyes, digging into my bag and pulling out a snack for her to eat. "I know you're big and bad and don't wanna eat much since you're a Shelgon now, but you'll have to convert even more energy in that shell of yours," I murmured.

While not eating as a Shelgon made the Salamence come out tougher and hardier, that was completely unnecessary if they were under a trainer.

Ares was already tougher than her wild brethren. Shelgons stored energy inside their shells, while their cells worked overtime in preparation for evolution.

As a result, they didn't battle anyone, normally hiding themselves away in an isolated area as they patiently awaited evolution.

In the wild, it took forever for Shelgons to evolve. They rarely moved and never ate so the energy being stored away was scarce for them. As a result, they refused to do battle because it would divert that energy to something else. They wanted every ounce of what little energy they had, focused onto evolution.

Ares on the other hand, was battling nonstop and refused to stop doing so. The rate at which her cells worked were accelerated to a far faster degree than if she had holed herself up and she was burning twice as much energy as wild Shelgons in the process.

As such, she'd need to continue to sustain herself up so that she could have the necessary energy to focus onto evolving.

Due to this, when she evolved… she'd be stronger (and more bloodthirsty) than any wild Salamence. She was getting the best of both worlds. She did not stagnate at all like wild Shelgons. Ares would continue to battle and so long as I kept her diet right, at the same time she'd be accelerating her evolution at an even quicker and more optimal way than her brethren.

Ares listened to my words and latched onto the part where she heard that eating would help her more than harm… and wolfed down the snack I offered to her with gusto.

"Good," I said, pleased by her reason. "You'll need all the nutrients you can get. There will be no complications with your evolution."

"Shel!" she announced, showing a glimpse of that excitable Bagon.

"...Phenomenal performance, Silver. Truly. Your style of battle is so unique," Erika said, walking over to me at a steady pace. The look of shock was gone, replaced by a small and proud smile.

I gazed at the short woman and accepted the badge out of her hand.

"Here you are. As Gym Leader of Celadon, I hereby declare you worthy of the Rainbow Badge," Erika smiled. "Oh! And here you are, the TM for Giga Drain," she said, handing it over to me.

My eyes glinted and I accepted it, pocketing both items away.

"That was a fun battle. Almost made up for the fact that your gym smells like complete shit in the front," I mentioned, nodding in respect at that battle.

Erika's expression immediately turned offended. "Excuse me, please don't speak of my gym in such a manner!" she scolded me.

It was hard to take her serious. She was plenty of years older than me but she was really short and her personality didn't help.

I snorted. "The smells clash way too much. Smells like a Muk's ass. You gotta learn how to filter them out."

Erika glared at me. "You rude brat! I will take note of your complaint, but didn't anyone ever tell you that if you have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all?!"

"Hard to take you calling me a brat serious when you're shorter than me… and I do know that saying, I just ignore it most of the time," I replied with a helpless shrug.

"You…" Erika fumed, crossing her arms. "How does such a rude boy have such a sweet Bayleef? The rumors truly were right about you!"

I shrugged again. "Dunno. Why does such an elegant, and short, lady use such poisonous perfume?" I returned curiously.

"Stop mentioning my height!" Erika shouted, poking me on the chest indignantly.

She even puffed out her cheeks! How adorable of her.

I smirked cruelly and pat her head mockingly. "Aw it's okay. Not everyone can be blessed… some are just more cursed than others and you're really cursed."

I deftly dodged the swatting hands and made my way over to the beaming Green and proud Lorelei.

It was a gift of mine to irritate people. I couldn't let that talent go to waste now could I?

"The things you say and do are downright terrible. I can't believe you would say such things!" Erika complained, following after me despite her words.

"If you knew me for longer than an hour you'd believe it."

"Nice job Silvy!" Green beamed, high fiving me with a grin.

"You lost the bet by the way," I said with a smug smirk, watching as the gym was quickly emptied out.

Green's smile vanished immediately and a distraught look crossed her face instead.

"Ah damn I forgot about that," she muttered. "Alright dishes for a week. I can do that. I'll still help with breakfast, lunch and dinner too."

I whistled. "You sure are a trooper."

"You two bet on our battles?" Erika asked incredulously, gazing at us with wide and innocent eyes. The amount of naivety in them almost made me feel bad.

How was this girl the gym leader of the city with a casino in it?

"I wasn't really ever intending on losing this battle so yeah," I nodded in amusement.

"Yeah no offense Erika! We're a bit better than 4 badges right now!" Green said apologetically.

Erika gazed at the two of us.

"I was aware of that... do you truly think I'd use that team against trainers with four badges?" Erika asked slowly.

We both blinked.

"Now that you mention it..." Green muttered.

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah that battle was pretty hard," I mused.

Erika gazed at us helplessly. "You two are surprisingly rotten," she said finally.

I chuckled at that mostly because of the horrified look on Green's face.

"W-Wait! I'm not as bad as Silvy, promise!" she pleaded her case. "H-He's the reason I'm like this!"

"That just means you were never as innocent as you thought," I interjected with a smug smirk.

Green spluttered. "That has nothing to do with this! You are a literal demon!" she exclaimed.

I raised a brow and shrugged. "You wouldn't have been drawn to this demon if you didn't have qualities either," I pointed out.

Her mouth flapped uselessly, trying to muster up something to say.

"I hate you," she finished flatly.

"I know," I soothed with a smug smile.

"An excellent display from the both of you," Lorelei praised us with a small smile, shaking her head at our interactions.

"Any pointers?" Green asked excitedly.

Lorelei nodded. "There are a few things I could tell the both of you if your receptive. But that can wait for later when I can properly write down my thoughts."

I nodded. "Sure thing aunt," I said.

Both Lorelei and Erika's eyes widened at that.

"Pardon?! Did I just hear that correctly?" Erika hissed in confusion, glancing rapidly between Lorelei and I.

As she began noting the similarities between the two of us, Erika went pale.

"You two are…?" she asked dumbly.

Lorelei was gazing at me in shock at what I just said. She must have been genuinely surprised that I was willing to disclose this type of information.

Eventually, a smile formed (I imagine this would be a grin on anyone else) on her face and she nodded without hesitation.

"Yes… he is my nephew," she said proudly.

No seriously, she looked too proud to be claiming me.

"You're such a dork," I sighed with a small smile. "Yeah, she's my aunt."

"But that's not why he was able to win. I've had no influence on Silver's talents or growth whatsoever," Lorelei assured, looking even more proud.

"Wow," Erika awed. "Lorelei... how is it possible for someone as dignified as you, to be related to a brute like him? You two are complete opposites."

"You can't walk in crowds," I said boredly.

"You see!" Erika cried out. "He made fun of my figure! Who does that?!"

"Someone who owns eyes and has good vision."

Lorelei sighed. "It's a work in progress. He's very stubborn. I can still feel the bite mark."

Erika gasped at that. "You bit Lorelei?!"

I shrugged. "She was asking for it."

"It was super fun to watch! Lorelei is really strong… I would have never guessed!" Green laughed.

Lorelei coughed lightly at that. "Let's not speak about that. Silver is the only one I've done that with."

"Get used to it. You'll have to do that every time you try to get me in one of those lessons of yours," I replied.

Lorelei sighed. "It appears in a way, you're also attempting to turn me into a more vulgar person," she muttered.

"Let's see who cracks first," I said cheerfully.

Lorelei shuddered. "Don't speak like that. It doesn't suit you."

"I say the same thing," Green nodded sagely.

I snorted. "Alright, Leaf. Let's get ready to leave the city. Fuchsia is far so it may take us a while to get there."

"Yeah! Since we're not in a rush it's gonna take us a long time to get there," Green pointed out.

"Fine by me. We need to slow down a bit anyways," I nodded in agreement.

We had been traveling too quickly due to the urgency of catching the S.S Anne. Now we could slow down and pace ourselves, train properly, battle trainers etc.

"I listened at camp, but you two truly have well thought out plans. It eases my worry by quite a bit," Lorelei praised.

"More plans means better time allocation. It's efficient," I muttered. "Let's go to the Center first then we can head out."

"Kay!" Green nodded.

"I also have to heal my members. 8 pokemon defeated…" Erika mused. "Let's make haste. I'd like to talk to both Gaia and Saury more."

"Bayleef," Gaia beamed, nuzzling me in satisfaction.

I rolled my eyes and allowed Oberon to loop his arms around my neck, giving the tiny bear a piggyback. "I don't like attention and you two attract a lot of attention," I said dryly.

"You've already attracted attention. Both our battles were quite splendid after all," Erika smiled mysteriously.

I furrowed my brows. "What?"

I didn't really get what she meant, up until I made it back to the entrance and saw my arch nemesis of a receptionist.

We made eye contact and I smirked smugly at her.

"Dinners on you," was all I said, sneering at her mockingly.

Green sighed in exasperation and prepared to drag me away from the ensuing argument but both our shock, she fucking fluttered her eyes at me.

...Huh?

"Sure!" she chirped, not at all putout by the fact that I comfortably won my battle against her boss that she vowed was going to crush me.

I blinked in confusion.

"What the fuck? Why don't you hate me?" I asked aloud.

Erika raised a brow in confusion and turned towards the just as confused (and outraged) Lorelei. "Hate?" I saw her mouth.

Lorelei shook her head. "I do not know."

The receptionist tilted her head. "Hate you? Why would I ever hate you?"

…

Huh? Was I imagining it all in my head? Was I actually flirting with this girl without even realizing?

No… there's no fucking way. There was real venom in our words. Why the hell were things suddenly different with her —

Oh fuck off.

"Did you watch the battle?" I asked.

"Yep! You and Green did an amazing job!" she beamed.

I scowled and stomped out of the gym without waiting for the receptionist to say anything else.

If possible, my outrage only grew higher.

As soon as I stepped out, I saw a swarm of people waiting, who lit up at the sight of me and Green appearing in their line of sight.

No way.

"It's Silver! Can we battle?!"

"That battle was so awesome! What are you feeding that Shelgon?!"

"How do you know Elite 4 Lorelei?! Is she your mom?!"

"Are you and Green dating?! I'm asking for a friend!"

"I think you're really pretty Green!"

I blinked, looking utterly bewildered by the attention.

"Oh wow, I think we're getting popular now. It's around 6 badges when this happens but we attracted them before that," Green muttered, shooting an excited wave that made the crowd cheer for her.

"I've already reprimanded the receptionist but I can't do much with these people," Erika giggled, stepping out and getting the crowd to practically roar in excitement.

Lorelei was nowhere to be seen, likely not wanting the attention to grow. Knowing her, she was already in the Center waiting for us...

Good to know Erika and Green were enjoying this…

"Move out of my way now or I promise someone's getting sent to the hospital."

...But I was not.

The crowd went somewhat silent, as my dark glare washed over them all and I effortlessly cut a path that allowed me to walk right through.

Oberon was clutching me tightly, nervously glancing at all the people making such loud noises.

If anything that made my glare deepen.

"Oh dear. Quite the scary presence you have," Erika commented, waving and smiling at the crowd.

She pat a small child on the head and cooed at their cute little Oddish, getting a beam out of the kid.

"He's super scary!" Green agreed.

"Shut the hell up," I replied gruffly.

So I was getting popular. That meant more people would be paying attention to me.

I frowned as I mulled that over.

It sucked as much as I expected it to but at the same time, I was expecting it to a degree.

My team was rare after all. Like really rare. Oberon was the most common pokemon on my team and he was my latest capture.

So yeah. I knew popularity as I grew stronger, was inevitable because being strong was the pinnacle of recognition in this world and my goal was to become very strong.

Naturally that came with the consequences of picking such a path.

Didn't think it'd be this early though.

Time to put my charms to good use.

"Touch me and you'll lose that arm for a few weeks," I warned harshly.

I was satisfied to see the sneaky arm disappearing back into the small crowd.

"You really are a terrible person, Silvy," Green nodded sagely.

"I agree wholeheartedly. Please do not assault my citizens," Erika muttered.

I was about to reply, up until someone placed a hand on my shoulder and I body flipped them over me, getting ready to place a foot directly onto their ribcage.

Alas, I was unable to do so.

"Bay," Gaia sighed, soaking up the attention as she wrapped vines around me and carried me away from the body.

"You should have let me," I snarked, letting my Bayleef escort me away from my attempted crime.

"Leef," she said patiently.

Next time. That's what she told me.

"Fine," I conceded, letting her usher me to the center.

"He conceded to her so easily," I heard Erika whisper.

"No one can tell Silvy what to do except for Gaia and the rest of his team. He consistently listens to her the most."

I mulled that over.

"Bayleef," Gaia snickered slightly.

I rolled my eyes. "Shut up. You're lucky I like you."

She beamed and snuggled up against me as we made our way to the Center.

"Yeah yeah, love you too girl."

---

"So you chose Bulbasaur as your starter and Silver here found Chikorita in the wild?" Erika asked curiously.

Green and I nodded.

Currently, we were waiting for our team to be healed so Erika escorted us to a nice area that the Gym Leader was allowed to relax in while waiting for their members.

It was nice. Like a spectators booth.

"Incredible! You two haven't been trainer for that long but you're both bursting with potential!"

The Gym Leader gazed at both Gaia and Saury in awe. "Truly, for how young you two are, your pokemon are all in such good condition."

Erika pointed at them. "You see based on their pigmentation, I can tell that the two of you are actively going out of your way to nurture them properly. Such methods are normally reserved for more experienced trainers, coordinators or breeders," she explained.

I nodded. That was basically what Joy had been saying.

"Wow," Green muttered, drinking in the information.

Erika nodded with a smile. "Yes, it's incredibly rare for new trainers to do such a thing. I'm impressed."

"You should be impressed with Silvy!" Green beamed. "He's the one who helped me really understand all these things. Without him, I'd be a lot weaker and unaware!"

I blinked. "You'd be fine," I said boredly.

"Nuh uh! No way! You need to stop downplaying yourself Silvy," Green pouted childishly. "You're pretty awesome you know?"

I grunted. "Stop that. I know I'm awesome," I muttered.

Green glared suspiciously at me.

"So how have you been since the fiasco with the Celadon?" I asked, changing the subject.

Erika sighed tiredly. "Tired. It quite literally came out of nowhere. I had no idea the Casino was being used for such a thing..."

"I'll have to properly thank Lorelei for her timely intervention. I found myself getting quickly overwhelmed with the events as well. That battle was quite phenomenal! Your method of battling is so unorthodox," Erika beamed, looking a lot less tired.

I snorted. "I just use what I can to my advantage. That's all."

"The surprise certainly rejuvenated me!" Erika giggled. "You and Green both lived up to the rumors I heard."

Green blushed and rubbed the back of her hair. "Thanks! Next time I want to battle your real team!"

The grass specialist nodded happily. "It'd be my pleasure! I love forward to seeing how the both of you progress!"

I wouldn't be opposed to battling her again. It would be fun.

A beeping noise interrupted our conversation and Erika got up with a smile.

"That would be for us! I have some paperwork to finish up back at the gym and then I'm going to take a well deserved nap."

I snorted. "You do that."

"It was nice talking to you Erika!" Green waved.

"You two as well! Be sure to visit when you evolve Gaia and Saury, I'll be glad to teach you something," she waved, gliding off.

I tilted my head at that. "Alright. I'll hold you to that."

With that, we watched as the gym leader placed all the Pokeballs in a tiny little purse (she kept it in her kimono), wave at us again and head out of the center.

"Time for us to head out too," I mused.

"Kay!" Green beamed. "What do you think she wants to teach us?"

"She probably wants to teach you how to properly take care of your hair, beast."

"B-BE SERIOUS FOR ONE SECOND SILVY!"

---

After getting our pokemon healed, double checking our supplies and ensuring we had everything ready and began heading to Route 16 to continue our journey.

Right before we stepped into the route though, we were surprised to see my aunt herself waiting there. I had no idea where she went so I just assumed she had business to take care of.

Lorelei had a soft expression as she regarded the both of us.

"Will you still refuse to come back to Indigo with me?" she asked softly.

I nodded. "Yeah. I don't like being chained to one place. It's too stifling," I told her.

Lorelei nodded in return. "Do you remember our deal?"

"Yes, aunt. If something urgent happens, I'll call you. Honest," I told her with an exasperated sigh.

She let out a small sigh at that, relief filling her stance and I frowned.

She really did care for me huh?

"Be careful. You and Green are exceptional trainers. I refuse to let your growth be stunted by the likes of Team Rocket," Lorelei stated passionately.

My aunt place a hand on my shoulders, before pulling me into a tight embrace.

"Thank you, Silver. I know you don't… trust many people but I'm glad that you were able to let me in, if even a little," Lorelei whispered to me.

...

"…No problem aunt," I said eventually, letting my hackles drop. "You're not all bad."

She only squeezed me tighter at that before releasing me.

"And you are not bad at all, Silver," Lorelai said, standing straight. "Don't hesitate to call me. No matter how big or small the issue, I will be more than willing to hear you out. I don't even mind just small talk."

"If you want to talk to me more, just say you want to talk to me more," I said dryly.

Lorelei said nothing for a long while.

"That would be preferable," she said honestly.

I rolled my eyes. "Sure. I already check on Jas and… I don't hate you so I guess I can send you a message here and there."

Lorelei nodded, looking pleased by my reply. "Understood. Now, I have matters to attend to back at Indigo… namely, ensuring that Karen has not caused mayhem."

My aunt turned towards Green and smiled at my companion. "Thank you for watching over my nephew, Green. I do appreciate it."

Green blushed bashfully at that. "Of course! Silvy and I are friends so we'll always have each others backs!"

Lorelei looked thankful at that and simply smiled at the two of us, before she summoned Jynx and they vanished.

"Silvy," Green said idly.

"Yeah?"

"Elite 4 Lorelei is a bit of a dork."

The abrupt statement caught me so off guard that I wasn't able to tone down the bark of laughter that left me.

"I'm telling her you said that."

"W-What?! Don't tell her I said that! I think it's endearing! Silvy I'm serious! Hey, get back here! PUT YOUR POKEGEAR AWAY!"

---

Hello! Welcome welcome! Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Writing all those battles is not easy work so I hope it was enjoyable to read!

As always, if you have any questions, I'll try to answer em and if you want faster replies, feel free to join my server! The code is discord. gg/ BFFtXAXFU7

That's all from me! See ya next chapter!