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...

11. Chapter 11: Drama Queen

These Silver Eyes

Chapter 11: Drama Queen

Nicknames:

Zoroark - Loki

Bayleef - Gaia

Feebas - Freyja

Metang - Metang

Shelgon - Ares

Teddiursa - Oberon

---

I let out a tired sigh, as my Pokegear began ringing.

"Yes, aunt?" I asked without even looking at who was calling me.

Lorelei actually looked offended by my words... and my demeanor. "Don't you yes aunt me so casually! I heard of what happened at Fuchsia... You encountered another Executive?!"

She took her glasses off and wiped them clean, before placing them on... and removing them to wipe again. She was very clearly distressed because no amount of wiping was satisfying her right now.

"Yeah, I did," I muttered. "Green and I were exploring the Safari Zone when they suddenly attacked. Executive Petrel was there."

Lorelei let out a rattled breath at that, closing her eyes and taking deep breaths. "Are you fine? I've barely read through the reports before calling you..."

"My ribs were fractured but they're fine now. Green has a broken arm but she's recovering," I explained, watching as my companion perked up at that.

"Your ribs?! Should you truly be moving with fractured ribs? Are you really making Green move about with a broken arm?" she pressed immediately, nearly jumping out of her seat.

At this rate, I'm pretty sure she was going to teleport over. Christ she was overprotective.

"Aunt, relax," I said slowly, showing her my bandaged midsection. "We're fine."

"Silvy's actually not letting me do anything!" Green exclaimed, a distraught expression on her face, as she showcased her wrapped up arm.

"We got the clear from Nurse Joy. We just can't aggravate them and we're good to go," I assured, pushing Green's arm down and getting a protesting whine out of her.

My aunt held her head, massaging her temple slightly.

"My apologies... I'm just aware of how reckless you are and it makes me worry."

I rolled my eyes. "You're way too much of a worrywart. How often do you message Green about me?"

"3 times a day!" Green chimed helpfully.

Lorelei had the decency to look only mildly embarrassed. "I haven't felt so distressed since I've learned about you, Silver. Fury and stress... I feel myself filled to the brim with these emotions almost constantly."

"You and me both," I agreed easily. "But we're fine now. We're slowly headed to Saffron City and that'll take us a long time."

Lorelei sighed softly. "Right. Train well for Sabrina... at six badges, she is quite the formidable opponent."

"That's why we're battling her now instead of 5th or 4th," I replied easily, peering at my aunt.

Her eyes, like usual, rarely left me and there was always a worried tint to them. She was overprotective and I'm sure she was the type to panic if I got a papercut.

"You need to stop stressing yourself so much. I understand you're worried but you'll just slowly kill yourself with what ifs," I warned her.

The ice specialist actually breathed a cold breath of air at that, visible even through the screen.

"You give me good advice, while completely ignoring the fact that your character is the cause of my stress," Lorelei said flatly.

I shrugged. "You get updates from Green everyday, you call me everyday... and you're still this stressed out? You should consider therapy."

"...I'm going to hang up now. I can feel you attempting to raise my blood pressure and I believe that's counterproductive to what you just suggested."

I snorted in amusement. "Alright Aunt, see ya."

"Goodbye Silver."

I pocketed my gear and let out a small chuckle, before it devolved into coughing as my ribs disagreed slightly with the action.

"I'm gonna get breakfast started, Leaf," I informed my companion.

"Oh! Lemme help!" she beamed.

I glared at her. "No. I don't know if you remember, but you have a broken arm. You won't be helping with the cooking until we remove the sling."

As expected, her expression immediately turned distressed.

"But... but I wanna help!" she pleaded.

I scratched my head in confusion. "You know, most people would take this as the chance to laze around."

"I'd feel bad making you do all the work and you haven't let me do anything! C'mon let me do something!"

I rolled my eyes at her big puppy dog gaze. "You'll hand me stuff with your good arm. That's all."

I snorted as she actually began whooping in joy.

---

I jolted awake at feeling a presence outside of my tent, eyes narrowed in aggravation.

Was Janine finally trying to get rid of me? She sure did seem to be contemplating attacking me quite a lot so maybe she decided to pull the trigger.

This wasn't the first time she stood outside my tent... It had left me rather restless and grumpy because I detested when someone who I didn't trust, was close to me.

Luckily, I didn't have to have much sleep to operate well enough.

To my surprise, Janine actually entered this time. She was alone, breath quiet and footsteps impossible to hear...

But no amount of ninja skills could hide her presence from me.

Without any hesitation, I lunged forward and tackled the girl to the ground, staring down at her with an emotionless gaze.

Janine gasped at the unexpected action and I huffed quietly.

"You finally grew the balls to enter huh?" I whispered, clasping her hands above her head and watching as she struggled. She sure was strong, a testament to her upbringing, but I wasn't a slouch either.

"Don't get too loud. Wouldn't wanna wake Green now would we?" I muttered, inclining my head over to where my companion was happily sleeping. She was already rustling about due to losing my body but she was a deep sleeper so I was fine.

Janine glared at me and said nothing.

I stared back, unbothered by the anger.

"What do you want?" I asked sternly. "I'm trying to sleep and you're getting in the way of that. Could you stop being a pussy and make your attempt on my life already? I'm getting sick of this."

The girl stopped struggling at that and gazed at me with wide eyes.

"Kill... kill you?" she murmured in shock.

I raised a brow and leaned in, staring at her with cold eyes that were hard to miss, even in the dark of night.

"You've been standing outside my tent almost every other night and hampering my ability to sleep... and you're telling me it's not with intention to kill me? What the fuck are you doing then?" I asked with narrowed eyes.

How ridiculous.

"I've had too many attempts on my life to be intimidated by your silly little games. Look at you. You're upset with me for not killing Petrel but you can't even will the courage to do it yourself. You sure are a fucking hypocrite," I hissed, watching as she shuddered underneath me.

"Now either pull through with the attempt or let me go to sleep, ninja." I got off her and glared at the girl, daring her to make a move.

Janine dusted herself off and glared right back at me, balling her fist tightly.

"Well?" I pressed.

She grit her teeth and turned on her heel, walking out of the tent without another word.

I watched her go and scoffed.

"Coward," I muttered, before letting out a strangled hiss as I was strong-armed back down to the bed.

"..." As I opened my mouth to tear into Green for being a jackass, I heard the noise of snoring and stared dumbly at my unconscious companion, watching as a content and lazy smile made its way to her sleeping face.

"She's a freak," I thought to myself, scratching my head slightly and just letting it be.

With the presence of Janine gone now, I could actually sleep so I'd take that small victory.

---

Hatcher Boy: Sup guys! Crys and I got our fifth badge from Celadon! You wouldn't believe how hard that fight was! I thought it would have been a breeze!

Catcher Girl: It was so much more challenging than we were expecting! Erika found out that the two of you were our friends and prepared accordingly. You two must have traumatized her because she didn't show us any mercy at all!

Leaf: Oops! Sorry about that haha! Me and Silvy really caught her off guard with our battles!

Hatcher Boy: That's putting it lightly. That chick put Crys, Ash and I through the ringer!

Leaf: You guys ran into Ash?! How is he?! I haven't seen him since the boat ride!

Hatcher Boy: We battled and I won but his team is legit! He seems to really wanna get back at Silver too... and knowing how Silver is I can probably see why.

Catcher Girl: He's pretty good! We exchanged numbers with him. Erika was his fifth badge too and the match was really close! He had the craziest Primeape I've ever seen and that's saying something... but just when he was about to win with his Charmeleon, he got interrupted by some Rocket Goons!

Hatcher Boy: Seriously, those were the strangest rockets we ever met. They didn't seem all that malicious… just really damn stupid. We didn't even arrest em, they just… went blasting away.

Catcher Girl: Language, Gold.

Hatcher Boy: My bad.

Leaf: Wow, at least you guys ran into the stupid rockets. Silvy and I weren't so lucky here in Fuchsia.

Catcher Girl: ?! What happened in Fuchsia? Are you two okay?!

Leaf: We're fine... but they attacked the Safari Zone and there was an Executive leading the charge. He was so strong… one of our friends lost a pokemon to him before we could help her…

Hatcher Boy: Oh…

Catcher Girl: Oh...

Leaf: Yeah… it sucks b-but we got rid of his strongest pokemon at least! A Gengar of all things! It was captured by the league and it seemed a lot better than the rest of his team! Koga was so impressed that he gave us badges without having to battle him! Now, we're headed to Saffron to fight Sabrina for our sixth badge!

Hatcher Boy: What?! Weare too! Hell yeah, maybe we can meet up!

You: You two are coming to Saffron?

Catcher Girl: Silver! Have you been reading the chat the entire time?!

Hatcher Boy: Dude what the hell?! At least say sup!

Leaf: Yes he has… I'm sorry I tried to get him to say something but he refused.

You: I didn't ask to be put in another goddamn group chat. Now answer the question. Are you guys headed to Saffron?

Hatcher Boy: Say hi first.

You have left the chat.

Leaf has added you to the chat "Color Gang!"

Leaf: Silvy says hi. Just trust me on this.

Hatcher Boy: Drama queen.

Catcher Girl: I can see Silver typing and I've seen his colorful language first hand... so to answer your question, yes we're headed to Saffron.

You: Alright. You'll probably make it there first. I don't know when exactly, but Team Rocket might attack Saffron soon.

Catcher Girl: WHAT?!

Hatcher Boy: THE HELL DID YOU SAY?!

Leaf: Silvy thinks Team Rocket is gonna attack Saffron. I had doubts too but he's also the one who found out the Game Corner was a Rocket Hideout...

Catcher Girl: T-That was you? You're the anonymous person who exposed the Game Corner?

You: Yeah.

Hatcher Boy: Dude, what? Couldn't you have… idk, exposed them after I checked it out?

Catcher Girl: Gold!

Hatcher Boy: My bad. Good work guys...

Catcher Girl: I'm sorry you two. Gold has a gambling problem.

Hatcher Boy: How is winning a problem? If I win, I don't see the issue.

You: I actually agree with that.

Catcher Girl: Not you too, Silver... you're supposed to be the logical one.

Hatcher Boy: He understands logic, Crys. That's all there is to it.

Leaf: He's also extremely ignorant Goldy. You never know which side is agreeing with you.

Hatcher Boy: You have a point...

You: I'll explain everything once we meet up. Since we're going to Saffron… I guess I can include you guys. Watch what you say though, Green and I have company.

Hatcher Boy: Don't just blue ball us like this man! Spill the deets!

Leaf: He already put away his pokegear… I'm sorry.

Hatcher Boy: What a dick.

Catcher Girl: We'll wait at Saffron for you two. Four… or five heads are better than two as long as we coordinate properly. Thank you for trusting us Silver. Goodnight!

You: Go fuck yourself.

Hatcher Boy: YOU'RE STILL HERE?! HEY SHARE SOME INFO —

I sighed, pocketing my pokegear as I chewed my late night snack (it was jerky).

"You're so rude," Green sighed, taking one of the jerky I offered up and chewing it.

I grunted, taking another bite out of my snack. "I didn't even wanna tell them everything. We don't know how much they've improved since last we saw those two… but once I confirm that they did get stronger, we can talk more."

Green nodded, leaning over to take another jerky. "Just in case they aren't strong enough, you don't want to drag them too deep into it, huh?"

"Mhm. It would be like sending lambs to the slaughter," I nodded.

"That makes sense," she muttered quietly. "Okay, I agree with you. More help would be great but I don't wanna put them in danger."

"Great. Now it's getting late, let's go to sleep," I grunted.

"Kay!" she beamed, already giddily making her way to my tent.

She was so ridiculous. I don't even remember what her tent looked like.

I got up and stretched, glancing curiously at my final piece of jerky.

"Hey Janine, do you want the last one? I know you didn't prepare any food," I mentioned randomly, watching as Lapee helpfully doused the fire.

I rolled my eyes at not getting an answer and summarily ate the final jerky.

No chance was I willing to offer twice. I never even offered once. I was just being a tad insufferable right now.

"Silvyyy can I sleep in your tent?" Green asked, expression morphing into an expression I'm sure anyone else would find adorable.

It was fairly adorable.

"At this point, I don't even know why you own a tent," I sighed tiredly, beckoning her inside.

"It's for when other people wanna travel with us! They are never prepared for some reason!" Green exclaimed, placing a finger on her chin as a confused expression made its way on her face.

I snorted at that. "So I'm really not the only one who noticed that."

"I notice a lot more things now," Green said glumly, sighing as she entered. "It's like your super serious nature latched onto me."

"That's called common sense," I retorted, following after her.

She giggled at that, jumping onto the comfy bed of my tent with a happy sigh. She even began rolling around in her giddiness.

"Your audacity needs to be studied," I rolled my eyes, taking my side and shutting my eyes. "Try to stay on your side this time."

"You and I both know that's not happening. Just accept it, Silvy," Green said, turning so serious that it completely threw me for a loop.

I snorted abruptly, almost choking at how deadpan her voice was.

So there really was a scary side to Green… the one who forced her affections onto you. She said it with so much conviction, I really didn't doubt it.

What a monster.

"You're a freak," I grunted in amusement, shutting my eyes and preparing for sleep.

"Nuh uh," she mumbled, already half asleep.

I envied how fast she could fall asleep. Unless I was exceptionally tired, it took me a bit.

I'd also never admit it, but her body warmth helped me fall asleep faster as well.

Typically, I just spent the time thinking of plans for the future. I never realized when I fell asleep until I was waking up with my companion's hair all over my body.

This time though, my thoughts were focused on the ninja outside.

I didn't know what Janine's deal was at all. After the other night where I told her to kill me if she wanted me dead, I didn't even see a glimpse of her anymore.

She stopped showing up outside my tent too.

I didn't particularly care about her revenge towards Team Rocket and surprisingly, I really didn't care that she was "blackmailing" me because at the end of the day, beneath all that ninja training, Janine didn't have the resolve to do what I did for a living.

So I wasn't all that concerned about those former things.

No, what I was concerned about was the fact that she just lost someone important to her… and she was here following us instead of being tended to by her father.

That meant that she definitely had not properly grieved.

That meant that Janine was a ticking time bomb.

For me? No not at all. It was for Team Rocket and while directing a ticking time bomb in their direction was a good idea and all… normally when you planted a bomb, you didn't want to be in the vicinity for its explosion.

And I'd be in the vicinity of that explosion.

Janine had the potential to ruin a lot of things for me because she refused to think straight. All the planning in the world, didn't matter when emotions were at play and Janine was in the most disastrous form of emotional distress.

Did Koga even know she was traveling with us? He had to, the man was a ninja after all... but why the hell would he let his barely grieving daughter travel with us?

I sighed, feeling the familiar sensation of my clingy friend dragging me into a sleep induced hug.

Jackass… but yeah she was right. I should get some sleep instead of overthinking like I tended to do.

I'd figure the complicated stuff tomorrow during breakfast.

I sighed and let the warmth of Green wash over me in the cold, not even realizing when I fell into a dreamless sleep.

---

"You're getting pretty heavy," I mused, lifting Gaia up experimentally.

My starter's skin was also deepening in color too. It was clear she was close to evolution so I'd save an offensive move for afterwards.

She preened under my attention and rubber her cheek against my own, causing me to smile.

"I know you've been agonizing over it and it's been long enough... your Body Slam and Razor Leaf are looking pretty damn dangerous, you've strengthened Reflect and Light Screen a lot too. I'd like you to work on making Synthesis more effective but that's not your main priority..."

I hummed and stroked a hand against her as I fiddled with my Pokedex. "I want to get you started on Grass Whistle as your main priority and I'll give you the TM for Giga Drain too. Giga Drain will be easier to utilize when you evolve and you look pretty close to evolving," I noted.

I don't know if my mind was playing tricks with me, but Gaia couldn't learn Toxic. In fact, a majority of pokemon couldn't learn Toxic and I could have sworn it used to be more universal.

Only Loki could learn it. Hm...

Was that a unique thing to this world? Well, it put a damper on my plans for sure but oh well. I'd probably catch a poison type eventually.

Gaia puffed up at that, a gleam in her eyes as she immediately glared over at Loki.

I rolled my eyes as the Zoroark looked over and flashed her an eye smile, waving with his dark encased claws.

"Bay," Gaia mumbled under her breath.

Ever since evolution, Gaia and Loki had been sparring quite a bit more and my Bayleef had won a grand total of zero times.

It's not like she was the only one. No one could currently beat Loki because the style we had cultivated was finally bearing fruit.

Loki was too fast, too tricky and countered Gaia's entire fighting style with a good Taunt. Even as a Zorua these things were present...

But now he actually had more than enough power to put her down.

Hm...

I gained a pondering expression. My team members all had quite the rivalry with each other that I heavily encouraged. All of them wanted to be the reason I won a battle. All of them wanted to be the star of the show.

Right now, Gaia's most troublesome opponents on my team were of course, Loki, Metang and Ares.

Metang and Ares utilized brute force against her to an effective degree but Loki basically turned her tricks off completely, which was far more infuriating to deal with.

Alright... based on what I was having Loki learn next, Gaia was going to need a bit more countermeasures for sure.

"I'm only doing this because I trust you to balance them all properly," I muttered, scrolling through my Pokedex to find the move I was thinking of.

Gaia peeked curiously over my shoulder, leaning her head onto it as I hummed a tune.

"There we are. This isn't a move you'll get quickly at all but once you do get it down... Loki won't be able to Taunt and Torment you so freely," I informed her.

"BAY?!" she shouted loudly.

I watched in amusement as her face colored from the eyes on her person and laughed as she huffed and told them to carry on.

"Bay?" she repeated, much quieter this time.

"Yes, I'm serious. It's called Safeguard," I chuckled, keeping my voice low just to accommodate her secret streak.

"Not only will it protect you from Taunt and Torment, you'll be safe from all other forms of annoying status moves too."

Gaia looked like I had given her the world at that and I sighed fondly.

"Alright, Grass Whistle can wait. You're already annoying enough. Make sure Giga Drain is usable and Safeguard will be your priority right now. Take your time, it's not easy to learn," I smirked, returning her to the ball and slotting the TM for Giga Drain for her.

Thank you Erika. Of all the Gym Leaders I met so far, she was probably the one whose presence was most tolerable.

Excluding Jasmine of course. Should I even need to mention that?

Gaia nodded vigorously as I released her and licked my cheek, rubbing her own against it right after.

"Gross," I rolled my eyes, accepting it easily.

"Now go get practicing. I'll come guide you soon."

Gaia cheered and bounded off to an isolated area.

I watched her go with an amused expression, inclining my head slightly to regard the gray haired version of myself.

"What's she so excited about?" Loki asked curiously, balancing a tiny Shadow Ball in his hand.

"Secret. She'd probably kill me if I told you," I replied calmly, fishing out a TM from my bag. "Wanna learn Flamethrower?"

Loki tilted his head and nodded. "I've got a decent grasp on Shadow Ball. Night Slash wasn't hard to learn at all either..."

"Night Daze?" I asked.

"Still taxing but much easier to use," he listed easily.

Speaking to Loki's human form really showed me that we had similar upbringings. He embodied the soldier aspect the most of my members.

I'm glad he was more at ease now. I was not glad I was subjected to more pranks as a result.

"Alright then. Keep practicing with Night Daze... I've got some ideas for it," I mused, returning him to the ball and applying the TM to it.

It glowed molten orange and I watched it curiously, releasing my first pokemon from his ball.

Loki had a thoughtful expression on his face, smoke pouring out of his mouth.

"Refine your moves. Perfect them and hone your craft," I instructed with a smirk. "You have a lead right now but the others are chomping at the bits to surpass you..."

Loki nodded fiercely.

"But don't overwork yourself. Slacking and relaxing are two different things. Don't slack and make sure you relax whenever you can," I encouraged, ruffling his long hair.

"Zor!" he barked, nuzzling my cheek appreciatively.

I watched him slink off to hone his moves with a small smile... that quickly turned to a sigh of exasperation at the argument taking place.

"Why are you two even training together?" I asked tiredly, walking over to... you guessed it, Freyja and Ares.

"The fish with growing confidence wished to train her draconic technique. The caged maniac agreed under the condition that she also be allowed to use hers at a moderate level... Naturally that broke down quickly," Metang explained.

I pinched my nose as they both guiltily looked away from me, smoke steaming from the both of their bodies.

"I imagine if Metang weren't here to regulate things, it would have gotten outta hand?" I questioned.

"A wise observation."

"And you say you don't care."

"You are truly the most aggravating human I've ever met."

"I'm the only one you've met that isn't Steven Stone and Green probably."

"A testament to your skills."

I shrugged, before focusing on my troublesome pokemon.

"Ares, you've seen the effort Freyja is putting in and you still have problems with her?" I mused curiously.

Ares grunted and I sighed at her tone.

"Alright alright I get it. On that note, I'm gonna punish you two now. You're both getting ridiculous," I decided, pulling out my Pokedex.

"Gon?!

"F-Fee?"

The two stared at me in horror at my decision. It was rare for me to punish them but it was about time for me to put a small hand into the situation.

"There we go. Dragon Pulse," I smiled.

Ares perked up at that.

"You'll both be learning it. It's a strong dragon type move."

Both Freyja and Ares nodded slowly, a look of confusion on their faces.

"Oh right, I forgot to mention. You're learning it together as a duo," I said bluntly.

There we go. There's the look of horror I was waiting for.

"Ares, you're going to help Freyja learn Dragon Pulse. You two are going to learn the move, you're going to bounce ideas back and forth on how to properly utilize it and you're going to both know this technique. You won't be learning anything else until I decide you both have it learnt to a good degree," I smiled.

"Shelgon!" Ares snarled incredulously, glaring at me.

I rolled my eyes and pat her shell. "You're a prodigy, Ares. Daughter of a probably master leveled Salamence... but you can still learn from Freyja. Don't be so arrogant... that's how we met after all and you saved my life."

Ares grumbled lowly.

"Yeah I know, it was fate that caused us to meet. I am your one true trainer. You will not accept anyone else but me. Totally missing the point still," I sighed.

"You two will learn from each other while getting Dragon Pulse down. Ares, help Freyja with power and Freyja, help Ares with control. Good luck!"

They both recoiled at my cheerful look and I pat them both.

"Oh and if you two get in another fight in the process of learning this move, there will be hell to pay. Gets in the way of learning you know? Keep your arguments to a minimum," I warned.

"...Gon," Ares muttered in defeat, properly chastised.

"Bas..." Freyja sighed.

"Good. You two can do it," I encouraged, walking off as Metang followed me.

"You are truly a monster. How you can so effortlessly cow the caged maniac? I will never understand."

"Ares understands that I'm as much of a maniac as she is. We understand each other well. Perhaps I was destined to be her trainer like she's convinced I am," I replied easily, watching as they plucked the Pokedex out of my hand with their powers.

"You've convinced me of the opposite. I refuse to believe I was meant to be captured by you. I find it difficult to believe any of my species could tolerate you," Metang droned.

"You sound like a tsundere," I informed them, patting his metallic shell.

"What on earth does that mean?" Metang asked, neutral voice tinted with confusion.

"I'll tell you when you're older," I soothed.

I grunted as my Pokedex was slapped against my face without any hesitation. I peeled it off and glared at him with a heinous glare, a red mark on me.

"These are the next moves I wish to learn... along with Shadow Ball," Metang informed me, unable to hide the amusement in their voice.

I sneered at them and glanced at my screen.

"Miracle Eye and Magnet Rise?" I mused. "What a coincidence, those are the moves I wanted you to learn too."

"There are no coincidences. Our wills are aligned."

That... was true.

"Your species doesn't have a hard time learning Magnet Rise at all. I don't expect that to take very long... but I don't know the specifics behind Miracle Eye so that may take longer," I mused, gazing at the move curiously.

"I am patient. A skill learned from having to deal with you."

"No you're patient because you had a dull ass life before me. If anything, I made you impatient."

"...I have no comment."

I chuckled and made my way to the final member, watching as Oberon, Togee and Dree sparred with each other.

The three were good friends with each other and I was thankful for that because outgoing Togee sure did force Oberon to get out of his shell.

Oberon noticed me approaching and cheered happily, only to let out a squeal as Togee crashed directly into him.

"Tog," Togee chastised, sitting his tiny body atop Oberon's much bigger, but still tiny, midsection.

"He's right Oberon. Don't get distracted in the middle of battle," I smiled, putting out a fist for Togee to bump.

"Is Togee getting bigger to you?" Green asked, watching as Dree flew behind her to avoid my gaze.

"He is," I agreed, pursing my lips as I lifted Oberon up. "You looked pretty comfortable fighting Togee before I distracted you. We'll have to put you in more battles for sure."

Oberon nodded happily.

"You've got Slash down... now I want to teach you a fun move that'll circumvent your only weakness," I smirked, watching as Metang floated the Pokedex over to me... already on the move.

"You're useful when you're not being annoying," I complimented.

"You took the words out of my mouth."

I showed Oberon the move. "Play Rough. It's a fairy type move and it's super effective against fighting types. You've got Baby-doll Eyes already so you should have a small grasp on how to utilize fairy energy... that still won't make this move very easy to learn but if you get it, you'll get to deal with pesky pokemon like that goddamn Machoke," I scowled.

Oberon gazed at me with wide eyes and nodded eagerly, gluing his eyes onto the screen.

"I'll have to train with you more on this one... Fairy energy is strange," I muttered, ruffling his fur and turning towards the Green instructing Dree.

"Hey Leaf," I called out, ruffling through my bag.

"Hm?" she turned towards me with curious eyes. "What's up?"

She yelped and hastily caught the object thrown at her, gazing at it with wide eyes.

"I-Is this a...?" Green muttered.

"Shiny Stone. I got it at Slateport when I thought Togepi was going to be mine... but I don't need it anymore so you can have it," I grunted.

"R-Really...?! These are so rare and a Shiny Stone isn't really easy to secure at all! Are you sure you want me to have it?" she asked.

I blinked in confusion. "What the fuck am I gonna do with it anyways? No one on my team evolves with stones. Besides, you're gonna struggle a lot against Sabrina with your current members."

Green's lips wobbled and she let out a cry of happiness, tackling me to the floor.

"You seriously are a great friend!" she cheered, hugging me in content.

"I know... but you should start hiding it. If Togee was a Togetic, you'd have a Togekiss on hand right now," I mused.

Green's eyes widened in horror and she turned in time to see Togee biting the Shiny Stone.

There was a greedy gleam in his eyes as he waved his prize and Green immediately snatched it out of his hand.

The Togepi cried out in protest, squealing as Green gripped his tiny cheek with her fingers.

"No Togee! You cannot touch this! You have to wait for me to give the go ahead!" she warned firmly.

He nodded hastily, sighing in relief as Green released the fingers from his cheek.

The Togepi pathetically crawled over to me and hid behind my back, peeking out to glare distrustfully at Green.

I let out a loud chuckle at that.

"You know how ruthless you gotta be, for someone to find protection in me?" I laughed, hoisting Togee up.

Green had a distinctive look of horror at the realization and she let out a wail of distress, collapsing onto her knees and clutching her heart.

"And you call me a drama queen."

I rolled my eyes, glancing in a direction and watching as the figure vanished before I could call them out.

"Alright drama queen, let's run some exercises. Your team really is going to get put through the ringer against Sabrina."

---

I fished out my Pokegear, never taking my eyes off the battle.

"Jasmine?" I asked. "Oberon, Payback."

"S-Silver! Were you not planning on telling me that you were attacked in Fuchsia?!" Jasmine shouted, a frantic look in her eyes.

I grunted. "Didn't wanna worry you. You overreact a lot and I'd hate to see you cry," I said honestly. "To the left, Oberon. Use Seismic Toss."

"That doesn't matter. I want to know everything going on about you from now on!" she demanded.

I rolled my eyes. "Yes maa—. Oberon, Baby-doll Eyes... great you got its guard down, now finish it off with Play Rough... okay that was too ambitious. Use Slash."

Jasmine blinked owlishly. "Are you in the middle of a battle?" she asked.

"Yeah. Oberon, the battle's over! You can stop," I barked.

The hackles on Oberon vanished and he settled down, turning towards me with an expectant expression.

I crouched and ran a hand against his fur. "Nice job Oberon. You're catching up quickly. Play Rough could use a bit... okay a lot, of work but you're making great progress."

Oberon beamed up at me, nothing like the aggressive bear he had just been against that Raticate.

I gazed at my opponent who, who was returning his Raticate and huffed.

The battle wasn't terribly difficult. I used Freyja and Oberon for this battle, allowing my two weakest to continue building up their experience against the trainers of Route 15.

As I opened my mouth, I paused and stared at the wide eyed Jasmine and shut it.

"Not... bad. You should train more," I said slowly, accepting the money from the teen and walking off.

"Uh... will do," the trainer stated, gazing at the Oberon hanging off my neck with a wary gaze.

I couldn't blame him. Oberon was becoming quite ferocious in battle.

"Silver, are you okay? You look ill," Jasmine pointed out, a concerned expression on her face.

"I'm fine... mostly. Just feel like I swallowed throw up," I muttered, angling my phone so that Green could wave to Jasmine.

"Hi Jasmine!" Green waved. "We really didn't want to worry you, honest!"

Jasmine sighed. "I understand... but I'm not a little kid! You two can tell me these things... aren't we friends?"

"The best of friends!" Green said urgently, watching Jasmine's crestfallen expression with horrified eyes.

"Alright Jasmine, stop looking so sad," I sighed. "We're sorry for not telling you."

Jasmine sniffed. "Oh darn... I told myself I wouldn't cry. I'm sorry too, I just get really worried for you guys and since I'm in Johto..."

"Don't apologize," I interjected. "I get it. My aunt is a worrywart too and you're tame compared to her."

Green nodded in agreement. "Yeah Jas, I get it! I worry too and I travel with Silvy!"

Jasmine sniffed again and nodded shakily. "I really do need to visit you two again... you're both close to 8 badges so maybe that will be the best time."

I nodded my head. "We're probably gonna relax a bit after 7 badges. Find a place to train for a while. Maybe you'll be able to visit in the meantime?"

Jasmine had a contemplative expression on her face. "Okay... I think I can do that."

"Good. We'll be sure to keep you updated on things... and I'll tell you more," I assured.

Jasmine smiled brightly and nodded. "Okay! Thank you Silv... Wait, aunt?"

I blinked, looking around to make sure no one was listening.

"Wait... did I actually never tell you?" I mused, cupping my chin.

No... I don't think I did.

"I didn't know you had family," Jasmine admitted with a small frown.

"No point," I said bluntly. "I'm surprised though... with how proud she is to parade it to the world, I would have expected Lorelei to have told every gym leader."

"Lorelei respects your privacy a lot. She's really considerate towards you too," Green mused.

"H-Hold on," Jasmine interrupted, face pale as she stared a hole into me. "Lorelei? As in... As in Elite 4 Lorelei?"

I nodded. "She is... my mother's little sister," I said blandly.

Green jolted at that, gazing at me with wide eyes. "She is?"

"She is?!"

"Yeah," I nodded truthfully. "I learned about her a bit after the S.S Anne. Never knew I had one," I admitted.

"Wow! That's crazy!" Jasmine awed, a wondrous look in her eyes.

"I never would have expected you and Ms. Lorelei to be related!"

"That's what everyone says... even me," I sighed. "She's insanely overbearing and stalks me any chance she gets."

"I think it's really cute! You should see how awkward those two always are, Jas!" Green gushed.

I grunted. "Shut the hell up, Leaf."

Jasmine giggled. "Ms. Lorelei is a little... cold so I can imagine that it must have been quite the interesting conversation! It was no wonder Lance was so interested in you! Maybe he had an inkling."

My best friend sobered up immediately as my expression soured.

"Silver, are you okay?" she asked in concern.

I grunted. "I'm fine, Jas."

She nodded, clearly not convinced. "Well alright then. I'll let you to continue traveling in the meantime... call you later?" she asked hopefully.

"We'll call tonight. I'll tell you more stuff," I assured, watching her light up again.

"See ya Jas!" Green waved happily.

"Bye Silver, Bye Green!" Jasmine beamed.

I watched her hang up with a fond smile.

"I miss Jasmine," Green sighed wistfully.

"You and me both. I don't know how much longer I can go not tasting my food," I sighed.

"...You and me both," Green agreed sagely.

---

"Wait… why does this smell so good?" Green asked with wide eyes, practically salivating as she stared at the assortment of food.

"I'm surprised too. It turned out even better than I expected," I raised a brow.

Experimentally, I snatched a sausage and bit into it, eyes widening.

"We actually made something beyond edible?" I wondered, offering the other half of the sausage up for the Loki curled up against me.

He popped open an eye and gulped it down in one bite, ridiculously sharp teeth making quick work of it.

My first pokemon mulled over the taste, before nodding in approval.

"It's good," an illusion of Jasmine said. "Best thing I've eaten from you two... not that I'm picky."

Green beamed at that and I smirked, both of us pleased at hearing the praise.

The two of us distributed a portion of the hefty breakfast after ensuring that our team was eating and the two of us sat down across from each other.

Green let out a noise of delight, eating her plate of eggs, sausage and biscuit at a slow pace to savor it all. "Wow! I wonder why it's so good?!"

"Spite," I replied calmly, forking a sausage and biting into it.

She blinked in confusion. "...Huh?" my companion mumbled.

Her confusion only lasted a split second, replaced by horrifying realization as Janine hesitantly walked into the clearing.

I didn't even look up from my plate, eating with one hand as I alternated pats between Loki, Gaia and Oberon.

At some point, it'd become all of my pokemon vying for my attention. It was nothing new. The only reason Freyja and Ares weren't here yet, was because they were begrudgingly discussing how they could learn Dragon Pulse.

"Hungry?" I asked knowingly.

"..." Janine said nothing. Then, her stomach rumbled loudly and a blush of mortification appeared on her face.

I glanced up at her, watching her with a neutral expression. "Sit. It's about time we talk."

I saw Green's disbelieving gaze and raised a brow.

"You created your best meal yet, all due to your pettiness and spite?" Metang asked, echoing Green's thoughts.

"Yeah."

"Due to the human who has some justifications in blaming you?"

"Sounds about right."

"You don't see the issue in what you're doing?"

"You make it sound like that's a problem. I'm trying to help her you know."

"My trainer may be one of the most twisted individuals on the planet. I cannot believe it."

I shrugged, watching with a cool gaze as Janine hesitantly took a seat.

I could tell she was hungry because there was no way she prepared for this trip in an efficient manner. I don't know what she had been eating before but if she was hellbent on suicide rushing Team Rocket, she may as well do it on a full stomach so she could focus on them.

"Could you fix her a plate Gaia? My hands are kinda full," I asked gently, running a hand against her head.

Without even looking up, Gaia's vines snaked out and she began setting up breakfast for the future gym leader.

"Eat," I demanded, making her jump in surprise. "I can't have you starving yourself before we get there. You need to be useful to us," I said bluntly.

Janine flinched in surprise at my blunt tone and mechanically accepted the plate thrust onto her hands.

Green gazed at me with wide eyes.

"Be nice!" she mouthed.

I sent her a nod of acknowledgment.

"As you are right now, I can't say with confidence that you are a reliable ally," I grunted. "You get what I mean right? In your emotional state, I'm worried you're going to get Green and I killed."

"B-Be nicer!" Green mouthed, unable to believe I was like this.

"I am stronger than the two of you," Janine grit out, a flash of anger crossing her face as she almost ravenously ate her meal.

"That's not really in doubt. But you're not in a state where you can be trusted to make sound decisions," I retorted calmly.

She glared at me, placing her food to the side. "You of all people, don't get to judge anything about me," she sneered.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Oh yeah? Why not tell me about it?" I asked boredly.

"Gladly, you egotistical maniac!" she growled, standing up and walking towards me. "You're too full of yourself. You have so much unwarranted arrogance and I can't fathom how anyone could put up with you!"

"You and me both," I agreed, waving my hand and having my team stand down.

Janine shook harshly at that. "And then you act as if nothing bothers you! You just come off as insufferable."

"Good. The more insufferable I am, the less people who'll talk to me," I shrugged, stabbing a sausage and biting into it.

"...Do you think this is funny?" Janine whispered, quivering as she met me eye to eye.

I stared at her boredly. "I'm just letting you get your temper tantrum out of the way. Once you're done, we can get back to discussing how I don't need you to be a detriment to Green and I."

...

My eyes widened as a fist crashed against my face.

"How about that for discussion?" Janine hissed, glancing at her fist and then me with raw satisfaction.

I grunted, placing a hand against my nose and coming back with blood.

Janine was barely able to react to my lunge, letting out a shout of pain as I tackled her to the floor and crashed a fist against her.

"You wanna be childish huh? Fine. Let's play your game," I hissed right back.

The purple haired girl recovered in record times, ignoring the bruise blooming. She bat one of my arms, causing me to lose my balance and flipped us over.

Clearly she was putting her training to good use.

"I hate you," she grit out, poised to punch me again.

I was not letting that happen. Without any hesitation, I slammed my head against her own.

As Janine recoiled from the headbutt, I used the slight freedom to kick her away.

"Attacking someone who made food for you? What would your dear daddy think if he saw how unprofessional you were acting?" I sneered at the girl.

"Don't you dare mention my father again! This all started because you can't keep quiet!" Janine snarled, poised to lunge at me again.

"Nah, it all started when you decided to stalk me," I retorted with a dark glare. "Your problem is you don't know how to let things go. If you let the conversation end when I wanted it to end, we wouldn't be here. You're the one who followed me around. Don't get mad at your actions."

"SHUT UP!" Janine shrieked.

I rolled my eyes.

"The sheltered little girl wants to throw down... sure whatever then," I sighed.

---

"Are you okay?" Green asked, wiping my face with a wet rag.

I grunted, feeling the stinging sensation as she wiped me down. "I'm fine."

"You have a black eye and some bruises," she murmured, placing a bandage on my nose.

She smiled and then turned towards to the Janine tending to herself.

"Janine come here. I'll clean you up too," Green said gently.

Janine glanced up, revealing a black eye that probably matched my own.

"I'm okay," she said stiffly.

Green's eyes narrowed. "Janine. Come here. I'll clean you up," she said firmly.

Janine flinched at that, gazing at Green with wide eyes before she slowly moved over and reluctantly sat next to me.

A plate floated onto her lap and she gazed at Vee, one eye shut as she was unable to keep it open.

"Calmed down?" I asked calmly.

Janine jolted at my words. "Did you... make me fight you on purpose?" she asked quietly.

"Nothing feels better than punching someone in the face. You were clearly pent up anyways. Besides, I wanted to punch you too for all the nights you kept me up," I replied easily.

"..." Janine said nothing at that, ignoring the pain she was in.

We had quite the slugfest. While she was a ninja, I did have some prior training in Kickboxing. Not enough to be notable at all but everything came easy in this body so I was far better at it here.

Besides, she stopped fighting like a ninja after I gave her that black eye.

Releasing all your stress was a good way to start thinking rationally. Seeped in exhaustion like this, had drained Janine of most of her energy and anger at me. It was effective and all it cast was a little pain.

This was probably the best time to speak reason into her.

I sighed. "You were the Rocket's target," I informed her quietly.

Janine froze completely at that. Her fork stopped moving, jammed into a sausage and she gazed at me in shock, her good eye wide.

Best to just be honest about the whole thing now. Clearly she was committed to coming with us.

"What… what?" she whispered in horror.

"You were their hit. That's why you got separated from Green and I. They wanted to take you hostage to hold leverage over your dad," I said truthfully.

Janine quivered. "B-But that's not... you can't be serious," she stammered.

I sighed, deciding to not be an asshole for once.

"Listen. I can't imagine how you must feel right now. You just lost your first pokemon so the way you're acting is fair. If I lost Loki... or anyone for that matter, I'd become a completely different person…"

I placed a hand on her shoulder. "...But you gotta understand what you plan on doing, could end with you losing more than just Venomoth. Think about the rest of your team… if you want revenge, get it in a way that gives you the most amount of satisfaction. A suicide rush isn't satisfying... getting vengeance is," I finished.

"I do believe that you are not meant to encourage revenge… but somehow, you chose the correct words."

I ignored Metang for the time being and watched as Janine shuddered.

"So they… truly were targeting me?" she asked softly. "I see. That's why I was attacked by the Executive alone…"

The girl began shaking at that. "And you two saved my life. If you weren't there then, I'd be…"

"Don't thank me for that. Thank Green. She's the real hero," I said firmly.

"You're the reason it went so well!" Green denied ferociously.

"You're the reason I went," I said bluntly.

"Why?" Janine eventually asked.

Green and I paused at that.

"Why?" I repeated in some confusion. "Why did we help you?"

"Why did you allow me to place the blame on you?!" Janine cracked, expression turning distraught. "You saved my life and you let me accuse you?!"

I blinked at that, watching as her expression trembled. Her lips wobbled, her eyes narrowed and tears sprung to her eyes.

"I was down to take the blame. It's not like I cared if you hated me… so I was gonna let it be and move on to the next city. Unfortunately you decided to follow after me and throw a wrench in my plans. Now I have to make sure you don't risk Green or I's life," I said bluntly.

Janine flinched horribly, trembling harshly as she curled into herself.

"I'm… sorry," she said, standing rigidly and bowing lowly. "I can't believe… I had no idea. I said such terrible things to you and you just weathered it all…"

I rolled my eyes. "You're grieving. People rarely say what they want to actually say when their emotions are high. I know you think this is me playing it up... but I seriously don't care what you, or most people, think about me."

Sometimes it was natural for your first response of something unexpected, to be completely irrational. You didn't give yourself time to think so you just responded impulsively.

It was like when Green stole my egg. I was pissed as hell and I absolutely would have beat the hell outta her… but I was naked in the water. Because of that, I was forced to rationalize and come to terms with it and that made me realize that I truly didn't care about owning the Togepi because I caught the three members I did want.

Due to that, my initial burst of anger quickly faded away and maybe that was for the best because if it hadn't, I doubted Green and I would be friends right now.

Janine was in a bit more of an extreme situation. This wasn't something that a person could rationalize immediately.

She lost someone very close to her and her initial reaction was to lash out on me because I was the second most antagonistic force involved in the situation. Without Petrel there, Janine found the next best thing and what was better than the boy who had been messing with you since arriving to the city, even if he couldn't have possibly expected things to turn out like this?

It was completely illogical and irrational on her end and everyone knew that. But there was a reason for that so I just let it be.

At the end of the day, she was the one that lost something. I was still the one who was going to leave her for dead if not for Green.

But now it was necessary to plug it. Before, it was just a minor inconvenience in my life and I had plenty of those already.

Now? If I let this go on, Janine would just antagonize me until her and Green were dead and I was back in Team Rocket's grasp.

This was a serious mission we were going to and it would already be hard. I refused to let it be even further jeopardized. There was already a big chance it could go wrong, I needed everything to work in my favor.

Janine was a stronger trainer than us and we'd be on the road for a long time. It'd be foolish for me to not utilize her so I'd use her capabilities for Green and I.

By the time we made it to Saffron, we'd be a lot stronger.

It was fairly scummy of me I guess, considering how I treated her before... but I couldn't expect to win by being the paragon of virtue here.

Janine, unlike other forces I could potentially use, already knew things about me that was detrimental. She wasn't in the dark so I had no qualms against using her over someone like... Lorelei.

"How can I make this up to you two? I'm so foolish," Janine frowned, clearly ashamed by her actions.

"I'm not mad or anything. Just follow my lead," I said lowly. "We have a lot of time before me make it to Saffron. Join us for training and what not."

Janine nodded hastily. "Very well. I will gladly join you two for training."

Green beamed. "Yay! Happy to have you!" she beamed.

I pursed my lips. "Actually. Teach us some of those ninja techniques of yours. They could come in handy."

The ninja blinked, eyes widening in shock. "I-I can't just teach you such things! Those are the teachings of my clan! It would take years for me to be qualified to have my own student to pass the teachings onto!"

I tilted my head. "...So? Just teach us," I said bluntly, bulldozing over her attempt to explain rationally to me why such a thing couldn't just be done.

Janine faltered at my tone. "But…" she mumbled.

I snorted. "I'm just kidding. I'm not that much of an asshole."

"Oh," Janine sighed in relief. "Well, I wouldn't mind teaching you basic things. I noticed that you fought in a way that I've not seen much before. So long as I don't delve into the secrets of my clan, I believe it would be fine."

I blinked. "I was just kidding you know," I said flatly.

"But I'm not," she said seriously.

"I still dislike you... I think you're insufferable but I've misjudged you. At the very least we can strategize together instead of getting in the others way... so please allow me to apologize properly."

I stared at her. "Alright then. If that's what you want. We work together to accomplish our goal, then you can go back to hating me."

She nodded in agreement.

"I've never been a teacher… this is imperative for my future as Gym Leader as well. It is beneficial to us both," Janine said, determination written all over her face as she held out her hand for me.

"Sure…" I said awkwardly, gazing at her hand like it were an anomaly before grasping it.

I wasn't expecting this much but I guess there were good things that came from being a child soldier. Janine was open to reason and capable of seeing the bigger picture.

"So we'll be ninjas?!" Green beamed excitedly. She jumped up and grabbed Janine's hand with both of hers, making the ninja squirm uncomfortably.

"Well… that's not what I —"

"I look forward to learning from you! I'll be a great student!" Green steamrolled whatever she was trying to say with a blinding grin and a proper bow.

On anyone not named Silver, my companion was pretty good at using her adorable abilities.

Janine was clearly no exception.

"I… look forward to having students as well," she mumbled, ducking her head in defeat.

I snorted in amusement and shrugged at the information that we'd probably be getting taught more than Janine intended.

Green was a good little soldier.

---

"So you're sure that they'll attack Silph Co?" Janine asked curiously, keeping pace with us.

"Not 100%," I answered truthfully. "But they might attack it in the near future. I'm going to get as strong as possible in the meantime and thwart them from doing that."

Janine nodded thoughtfully. "Does that mean it was you who sabotaged the Game Corner?" she asked.

I tilted my head at that and shrugged. "Yeah. It was me. I'd prefer if you kept that a secret."

"Why do you wish to remain in anonymity? You'd be regarded highly if anyone knew you exposed the Game Corner as a Team Rocket hideout. I'm sure you'd be greatly rewarded and recognized," Janine said, looking puzzled by my secrecy.

"I don't need that right now or ever really," I said bluntly. "All that does is put a target on my back and I don't need that yet. I want to be able to properly defend myself before attracting unwanted eyes."

Janine nodded once more, before a look of realization crossed her features. "Wait, does Team Rocket not know it was you who attacked them? How is that possible?"

"Intense desire to stay hidden," I muttered. "Though, maybe that's out of the window now since that Petrel got away."

"Why?" Janine asked curiously. "Why are you attacking Team Rocket so harshly? You stabbed that man without any hesitation in your bones despite the two of you recognizing each other."

I snorted. "We're not close enough for me to tell you the reason for that. I know you're thinking of something but keep your theories to yourself."

Janine frowned and nodded. "I understand. Regardless, you clearly have prior training. To be able to evade revealing your identity to an entire base is quite impressive. Training you will be enjoyable."

"Yeah!" Green beamed, a challenging glint in her eyes. "We've got this you guys!"

Janine looked at Green in wonder, properly taken aback by her charismatic cheer.

It was rare to find someone so optimistic all the time. I could understand her surprise.

"We've got another hour of walking to do. Once we do that, we can continue training," I said calmly.

"It would be ideal if we take the woods to Lavender instead of the routes. It will take longer but we will be bothered less, always have ideal camping space and good room for training," Janine added.

"You know the way there?" I asked.

She nodded. "Traversal by trees is how I typically prefer to move so I've made myself familiar with the words around Fuchsia."

"Alright," I nodded in agreement. "We won't encounter trainers but you should make up for that."

"I will. You will get stronger fighting me over any trainer. I'm slated to become gym leader soon after all," Janine said confidently.

"I like that confidence," I said truthfully.

"It's awesome! Makes me really believe in you," Green giggled. "Now let's move! We've got distance to burn!"

---

I idly stretched, groaning in satisfaction at the sound of cracking, and stood up straight. Then, I repeated the process with my legs, sighing as I downed a bottle of water.

Freyja was happily blowing a weak gust of cool air over me that felt really nice and I pat her in return, leaning against the dozing Loki and sinking into his mane of hair.

A vine brought a rag over and wiped me down, courtesy of Gaia who summarily plopped her head onto my lap.

Ah, my team was too good to me sometimes.

"Those cracking noises are so sick. They make me nauseous," Green muttered, doing her own stretches as Lapee and Larvee did a douse and dry combination for her.

"Pussy. Grow a pair," I muttered under my breath, making sure she could still hear me.

Judging by the way she twitched, she didn't appreciate that very much.

I was proven correct, as my companion immediately lunged, poised to tackle me to the floor.

I grunted, stepping back and grabbing her arm, before kicking the back of her feet and dropping her to the floor.

Then I lunged myself and our brawl ensued in kind.

"You know… While I'm quite glad that you two have proven to be fast learners, I didn't expect you two to take my training and use it on each other," Janine said tiredly.

"He was asking for it! Teach me more so that I can put him in his place!" Green barked, attempting to place pressure on a part of my shoulder.

"If you learned it, then I guarantee I already learned and figured out how to counter it!" I snarled.

I dodged it, but before I could properly retaliate, Janine spoke up.

"You two shouldn't fight so much. There's an egg about to hatch. If the first thing it sees is you two fighting, it may get overstimulated," Janine said, too used to us to be anything but tired and amused.

We both paused at that, hands wrapped around each others necks as we gazed at our third companion.

"The egg is hatching?" I asked in surprise.

"Quick Janine, let's get outta here! I already messed up once, no way am I gonna do it again after I tried to make amends by giving him the egg!" Green jumped up, fully recovered.

She rushed our temporary companion and pushed her out of the clearing.

Their respective teams followed behind the both of them, all used to Green's antics. "We'll be back in 10 minutes, Silvy!"

I scratched my head and nodded, removing the egg from the incubator as it began shaking harshly.

My team watched from a healthy distance, interest blatantly clear on their face, as I placed the egg right in front of me… on the off chance that it hatched into a pokemon that I shouldn't be holding.

As the black egg with red markings on it cracked through, I watched as a cylindrical hand popped out first, followed by another and a black head slowly appeared.

I thought this was going to be the first egg I actually hatched… but that wasn't quite the case since I hatched Loki.

Not to mention Togee was my egg… what was I? The egg whisperer? Gold was supposed to be the hatcher, not me.

Well, as a set of red and yellow pupils stared at me, innocent and wide eyes drinking in all my features, I decided it wasn't a terrible title to have.

The little fella inside, held out that cylindrical hand of it and I grasped the fiery red tipped appendage, pulling the pokemon out of the remains of the eggs.

I grabbed a towel and wiped the fluids of the egg off of it, all while it cuddled against me, eyes still drinking in every ounce of my features.

Almost as soon as I did that, the pokemon seemed to erupt in flames. Most notably, it's eyes gained wisps, its torso gained flames and the top of its head gained a plume of fire.

I tilted my head at the sight of its body activating with flame, stumped at what I was looking at.

"What the hell are you supposed to be?" I muttered to myself, peering at the pokemon curiously.

I didn't know what the hell this pokemon was. It had to have been from a region I never witnessed before.

Galar? Paldea? Those were the ones that I virtually knew nothing about so this was probably from that.

The pokemon let out a cry of happiness and spread its arms, making me roll my eyes.

I complied with its request and pulled it into a one armed hug, noting the much warmer than normal temperatures of its light body.

Well if the literal plume of fire didn't confirm it, this certainly did.

A fire type hm...

As the fire type cuddled me happily, I fished out my Pokedex and scanned it.

"Charcadet, the Fire Child Pokemon. Burnt charcoal came to life and became this pokemon. Possessing a fiery fighting spirit, Charcadet will battle even tough opponents."

Charcadet: Male

Ability: Flash Fire

Moves: Astonish, Ember, Leer

"A Charcadet? The fucks a Charcadet?" I mused in interest, watching as the flames licked at my resistant outfit.

"Char!" the tiny fella exclaimed happily, prompting me to smile slightly.

"Aren't you a friendly one?" I mused, looking at the evolution of Charcadet.

Or well, evolutions.

So this was why Lance greenlighted this pokemon to be given as a reward. Charcadet was a pokemon who predominantly resided in the Paldea region. It was a pure fire type and while not really notable, one thing stuck out.

Its evolutions.

Fascinating. Charcadet was a pokemon that had two different evolutions. It could either transform into something called an Armarogue, gaining the psychic type in the process or Ceruledge, gaining the ghost type in the process.

Wow. This poor thing, got quite possibly the worst trainer it could have asked for. I couldn't even emphasize how unfortunate it was for me to be this guy's trainer.

Psychics and Ghost types hated being in my presence and this Charcadet could only transform into one or the other?

If I knew Charcadet was going to be in this egg, I would have seriously given it back to Green. Better for her to have it than me in the.

Alas, it had fully imprinted onto me so I could do nothing about that.

"Hey Charcadet. I'm Silver," I introduced gently, watching as those fiery eyes locked onto me. "I'm the one who hatched you so if you want, I can become your trainer."

Charcadet nodded eagerly, looking adoringly up at me.

"I'm a battler so if you join me, you'll be expected to battle," I explained. "That's my primary designation. If you have any problems with that, you can let me know in the future."

"Charcadet!" the fire type beamed, accepting all I was saying. I wasn't even too sure it could fully understand what I was talking about but pokemon were quite intelligent creatures.

I smiled at him, before beckoning my team over. "This is your team. You'll grow with them, train with them, laugh with them… probably argue with them too. It'll be a long journey together," I informed him.

"Char…" Charcadet gazed at my little soldiers in awe. He stumbled about, not quite used to walking just yet and detached himself from my body, facing the entirety of my team.

Then, he began waving happily, radiating with joy. "Char charcadet!" it cheered.

"He's a big ball of energy already," I sighed fondly.

Charcadet reminded me of Green and I suppose that made sense since Togee had my personality. Green had grown quite fond of taking care of the egg after doing so while I was hospitalized and I didn't mind her doing it.

...Having a little Green might not have been what I wanted. Just one human Leaf was enough and now you're adding a fire type to it?

How tiring.

"Charcadet, c'mere," I said, watching as the little baby curiously prodded the giant Ares. She merely glanced at him, expression not showing much, and let it be.

Well look at that. Even Ares knew when to be nice.

Charcadet hastily rushed over to me, stumbling on his feet and letting out a laughing noise, as he tripped and I caught him.

"I'm gonna put you in a Pokeball now. Be careful, it's your first time so it might be a little jarring," I muttered to him, pulling out a Luxury Ball that I knew for sure I hadn't been using as a weapon.

He nodded as expected and without further prompting, tapped onto the button himself.

I watched the light engulf the newborn with an interested expression.

It shook heavily at first, probably due to Charcadet not expecting the sensation but eventually it settled down.

A wary expression made its way to my face, as the pokeball dinged a successful capture. I was waiting to see if it would get sent off to a place like Viridian… but it just remained there, stationary.

Charcadet huh? Can't say I ever expected to get one of these… mostly because I never knew it existed until just now.

His evolutions were pretty damn cool too and I guess judging on the one he wanted, I'd give him a different name.

Since both options were equally terrible in the long run, due to being in close proximity to me, I'd let the little guy decide which one he wanted and not cause a fuss about it.

Exposure therapy was definitely a thing so it'd suck at first, but I'm sure he'd eventually get used to me. Vee and Dree were doing much better around me now.

Dree especially seemed to actually prefer training his moves near me in recent time. Maybe my presence was helping in a way that I wasn't aware of.

I released Charcadet from his ball and rolled my eyes as he immediately latched onto me.

"You're a happy little guy aren't you?" I asked curiously, watching him rush the amused Loki next.

My Zoroark glanced down at the tiny Charcadet, lip curling in amusement as the fire type inspected him.

"Silvyyyy!" a voice called, rushing into the clearing with a giddiness only matched by the pokemon that just hatched. "How'd it go?! What was it?!"

Charcadet jumped at the voice and if possible, his good mood seemed to get better.

"Cadet!" he cheered loudly, running to the excited Green with a happy beam.

"Woah!" Green shouted in surprise, lifting up the Charcadet with obvious glee.

"What's this?! It's so cute! Who's a cute little one?! You are!" she gushed, eagerly hugging the creature that let out a giddy shout.

"Charcadet. He's a happy little guy," I explained easily. "Reminds me of you."

She laughed. "He's so warm too! It's nice to meet you Charcadet, I'm Green!"

"Char char!" Charcadet greeted her happily.

Seems like he recognized both of the people who took care of his egg. Maybe Green talked to him while he was in there?

It would make sense that he instinctively loved her then. I didn't really talk to Togee at all when he was just an egg.

Huh… maybe I should treat any future eggs I get better... or maybe I should stop getting eggs.

"A Charcadet…" Janine mused in clear interest. "Quite a rare find. Was this the egg that was given to the winner of the tournament aboard the S.S Anne?"

I nodded, accepting Charcadet back as he held his hands out for me to grab.

"Green won the tournament but she gave it to me," I informed her.

"If we actually battled, I think you had a higher chance at winning than me! Besides it was payback after I hatched Togee! So?! Is it good payback?! Do you forgive me completely?!" Green beamed.

I chuckled and pat her head. "Sure thing. I wasn't expecting this out of the egg at all but I'm damn impressed."

Charcadet and Green beamed with equal energy. The sight made me let out an exasperated sigh.

A rare egg to commemorate the grand sailing of the S.S Anne. A massive event deserved a good prize and this Charcadet was a damn good prize.

I guess I did get something good out of that nightmare of a boat ride.

---

"Hello!" Charcadet waved at his new team excitedly.

"Hi Charcadet! I'm Gaia! I was Silver's second pokemon!" Gaia beamed happily, bounding up curiously to him.

Charcadet looked up at Gaia in wonder. "Hi Gaia! You were second?" he asked curiously.

"Yep!" Gaia nodded, tentatively tapping the little fire types body with a vine.

"This is Loki, Freyja, Metang, Ares and Oberon in order of who joined!" she introduced.

"Wow..." Charcadet whispered. He gazed at all of them with wide eyes.

"So all of you battle right?!" he asked curiously, practically buzzing in place. "That's so cool! I wanna battle too! When can I battle?!"

"He just hatched and he's already thinking about battles?" Loki asked in amusement.

Ares huffed. "The hatchling already grasps the glory of battles. They showcase far more promise than others," she stated, nodding in approval.

"And who exactly is others?" Freyja asked with a scowl on her face. "Is little miss Ares still upset that she needed me to figure out the first part of Dragon Pulse?"

"Watch your tone. You have managed to accomplish such a little thing and you feel proud of yourself? Ridiculous," Ares rumbled lowly.

Freyja scoffed. "Says the one who keeps using Dragon Breath instead! I could give you control tips on that move too!"

The Shelgon's eye twitched and Ares turned towards her temporary partner with a heavy glare.

"I hope you are fully aware of the consequences of daring to belittle my draconic heritage," Ares said lowly.

"Don't make it so easy next time!"

"Oh! Are they about to fight!?" Charcadet gasped in awe, jumping up and down as an unhinged gleam entered his eyes. "Yeah! Kick each other's asses! Lemme fight too! I wanna beat the hell outta something!"

Gaia spluttered immediately at his words. "W-What?! Who taught you how to say such things already?!" she asked.

"I dunno. I just said what would make me feel happiest," Charcadet shrugged happily, yawning tiredly.

Metang suddenly let out an audible groan.

"I would have preferred if the newborn had inherited everything from the female companion and not our trainer," was all they said.

"Yeah that's definitely from Silver," Loki chuckled in amusement.

Gaia sighed and hoisted the warm body up with her vines, watching as Charcadet let out another tired yawn. "I guess that makes sense."

"He's got a lot of energy..." Oberon said quietly. "But I kinda get where he's coming from. Battles are really fun."

"I'm surprised you like them so much, Oberon," Loki noted, gazing at the tiny bear.

Oberon was the polar opposite of Charcadet already. He was a gentle little bear but lately, the Teddiursa had become more and more aggressive in battles. It was almost like a switch was flipped.

"They're fun! I've never battled before Silver but it's been awesome!" Oberon explained with wide eyes.

"You don't think anything is a bit weird?" Loki mused, watching Gaia place the dozing Charcadet in the confused Silver's hand.

"Weird?" Oberon mused. He placed a paw to his mouth and pondered the question. "Now that you mention it... my head does get a little hazy. It makes it a little harder to hear Silver."

Loki had a frown at that, muzzle curled into a small frown.

From what Silver had told him, Nurse Joy had confirmed that Oberon here had been experimented on but the specifics weren't known. His trainer had nearly become violent when they recommended running further tests on the Teddiursa.

"If you feel anything weird, let me know alright?" Loki asked.

"Okay!" Oberon nodded eagerly.

The Zoroark smiled at him.

It was his job to make sure nothing amiss was going on with his team. He could understand them perfectly unlike Silver so he'd help their trainer out.

"Ares and Freyja... you two should stop arguing soon," Loki suggested.

The two glanced over at him, annoyance deep on their feature before they froze at the sight of two chilly orbs of silver glaring at them.

"Y-You have a point," Freyja stammered nervously.

"...I will listen this time," Ares muttered.

Loki smiled. "Smart."

---

You: "Why did you pick such a weird pokemon to give out? This seems too specific and odd."

It took around 20 minutes for me to get a response but I didn't really care, just continuing north through the forest with my group.

Charcadet eagerly drank in the world around him on my left shoulder... and Oberon sat happily on my right.

It looked like he could choose when to ignite his body and after explaining to him, that I in fact did not like getting burned by him, he glumly apologized and remained mostly deactivated.

I fished out my Pokegear and checked the message with a frown.

I didn't wanna be messaging this guy but he was the only one with answers about Charcadet so I kinda had no choice.

Flying Master: "Considering you're texting me of your own volition… I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you're still upset but need answers on the egg?"

You: "I didn't ask you to try and pry into how I'm feeling. You're the one who greenlighted the egg so I need info on why. I have no reason to message you otherwise."

Flying Master: "Ouch."

You: "Why did you select this pokemon? Not only is it from a far off region, it evolves with weird methods. How exactly am I ever supposed to evolve this thing into either of its forms?"

Lance replied much faster this time. Seems whatever business he had been dealing with, was wrapped up for now.

Flying Master: "The original prize for the lower level was an Eevee so that they could have multiple choices. Not every trainer will be happy with what hatches out of the egg so we wanted a choice that most people would be satisfied with."

You: "So basically you wanted a popular and cool pokemon."

Flying Master: "Yeah exactly. We do not condone treating pokemon poorly but at the same time, we aren't going to give a... less than popular pokemon and invite that misuse onto it. It would be incompetent of us to give out an unpopular pokemon. It's better for the trainers who truly want those pokemon, to go out and catch them."

That made sense. It would be stupid to give a pokemon out like Trubbish. Not a large niche of people liked it and more power to the people who did, but it wouldn't be fair for the egg to hatch to a trainer that didn't really want it at all.

Naturally, I'm not like most of the other scrubs who would do something like mistreat a hatched pokemon but it's not like I was destined to win this tournament. No one was like me so no one would act like I did.

But I wouldn't deny that it was a surprisingly intelligent move to give out a popular pokemon. I guess in Paldea, Charcadet was quite popular.

But for what reason did he pick Paldea? There were a lot of other regions too.

As I was replying to Lance's message, I paused as he sent another one.

Flying Master: "The S.S Anne was supposed to be a momentous event and I wanted the eggs to represent that. Giving out an Eevee seemed a little… expected but I just so happened to be speaking to a friend of mine from the Paldea region and she agreed with my sentiments. So, she gave me two eggs and I decided to throw in one of my own too."

A girl from Paldea? I wouldn't even have thought Lance had communicated with anyone from that region. It was very far from Kanto.

Flying Master: "Not many lower level trainers have a ghost or psychic so I figured a Charcadet would be great for filling in that slot. I gave the middle group a pokemon called Jangmo-o and finally the highest group got the other egg of a pokemon called Frigibax. The last two are formidable dragons and I didn't think any lower levelled trainer should be given a dragon to raise."

I suppose that made sense.

I knew what a Jangmo-o was vaguely. It was the pseudo legend of the Alola region. Considering it was only the middle group prize, Frigibax must have been quite the prize to get in comparison.

As I searched up the final pokemon, Lance sent me a message... but I ignored it for the time being.

Frigibax was a dragon and ice type pokemon that evolved twice. It's evolutions were called Arctibax and Baxcalibur respectively.

Considering it's final evolution, Baxcalibur, looked like a beast of a pokemon, I'd go out on a limb and say this was a pseudo legendary. It would make sense if it were the 8 badge prize. Pseudo legendaries wasn't an official term coined in this world so I was really the only one to use it, but that didn't change the fact that they were spoken about more than other pokemon.

They might not have had the title "Pseudo Legend" but they certainly still had the reputation of ones. Every pseudo was an apex predator of its region. Even the adorable and friendly Goodra, was viewed as an unstoppable threat.

Done inspecting the pokemon, I went back to my messages and read what Lance sent.

Flying Master: "Charcadet evolves with an item called the Auspicious Armor or the Malicious Armor. You were going to get it shipped but due to the sinking of the S.S Anne… things happened and it was lost in the wreckage. Don't worry though, I'll secure a new set soon… I know you hate my guts right now but I'll probably have to give them to you."

You: "Nah no thanks. I don't wanna see you. Let Lorelei deal with it since she'll probably take any excuse to visit me anyways."

I didn't care if I was being petty. He got me once, so I'd make sure he never got me again.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice? Well then I'd have to turn homicidal.

I'd cut Lorelei off too if she told him anything about me and she understood well.

My aunt hadn't been at all confused when I told her that... almost like she expected it.

Flying Master: "Alright. Whatever you say. I'm sure Lorelei would love that."

I could practically feel Lance's sigh through the message but ignored it, pocketing my gear with a scowl.

"You okay?" Green whispered, gazing at Janine's back. She was further ahead, guiding us through the forest as usual, while her Ariados skittered through the trees next to her.

"I'm fine," I grunted. "Just figuring out more about Charcadet from the Champion."

She looked surprised by that. "Lance? You're talking to him? I thought you were mad at him?"

I frowned. She could tell?

"Of course I could! You're my friend Silvy," Green said in hushed disbelief. "You get upset whenever he's mentioned."

I twitched at that and glared at her.

Green held her hand up in surrender. "I didn't mean anything by it. The sadness is hidden by all the anger but you're always angry so it was easier to spot."

I scoffed. "Whatever. Let's keep going."

Sadness? Me?

Ridiculous… is what I'd say if I wanted to lie to myself, but Green's words bugged me something fierce.

Sadness.

"Why do you think I was sad?" I asked her with a frown.

Green put a finger to her chin and contemplated the question.

"Well… maybe sad isn't the right word to use here because I've never actually seen you sad. I think you're just disappointed that Lance had ulterior motives... which by the way I'm pissed about too! No one gets to mess with you like that," she explained.

...That sounded pretty accurate. Knowing that the reason he chose to travel with us, was to fulfill whatever agenda he had… it sucked.

Ah I get it now.

I sighed. "He disappointed me like every other adult in my life," I muttered bitterly.

Everyone was interested in me for their own agenda. That's all there was to it. Finding out that someone I thought was cool, was the exact same, was shitty.

How rotten. Just another reminder that I was so unnatural, even the champion of the region wanted something from me.

…

"Thanks for not using me for your own motives, Leaf," I said quietly.

I should thank Jasmine as well. Those two were just my friends. There was nothing else behind it. Just two friends that wanted to help me out.

Green frowned sadly and abruptly pulled me into a deep hug.

"It's okay, Silvy. I won't ever use you like that," she said firmly. "To me, you're just my violent friend who needs a little help."

What a bright personality my companion was. It was easy to see why most people we met were taken by Green's sunny personality.

"Are you two okay? What's the matter?" Janine asked, turning towards us with a look of slight concern.

"Nothing!" Green beamed, squeezing me tightly. "I just got hug happy again and Silvy is my favorite person to squeeze because he hates it!"

I scoffed, shaking my head at how easily she came up with that response.

"She is the bane of my existence," I said flatly, dragging her forward and snorting as Charcadet cheered and also hugged me. "She even haunts me in pokemon form."

"Double the fun!" Green cheered.

"Charcadet!" Charcadet cheered.

I rolled my eyes.

Ridiculous.

---

Janine's training with us was doing wonders for our members.

Much like their trainer, Janine's team didn't like me all that much but they were also capable of keeping things professional.

The same could not be said for Green. They, much like Janine, adored my companion.

Funnily enough, they also liked my team more than they liked me.

With the loss of Venomoth, you could tell that Janine and her team were a lot more disjointed. Nidoqueen seemed to be stepping up as the group leader in place of the bug type.

Janine's Nidoqueen had the most disdain for me. Considering how motherly she acted with our third companion, she probably didn't appreciate the fact I slugged her in the face and gave her a black eye.

Not like I cared. While not as strong as my disdain for Nidoking, I still didn't like Nidoqueen as a pokemon at all. Ground type and all that jazz.

So long as they didn't have a problem with my team, I truly didn't care how they felt about me.

My eyes flitted over to the poison type trainer who just took a seat next to me.

"Do you not mind being alone?" Janine asked curiously.

I grunted, watching as Charcadet was gently instructed by the Salazzle.

"I don't care."

She continued to stare at me. "I don't understand you," Janine said eventually.

"Should you really be trying to understand someone you don't like?" I drawled. I idly smiled, as Charcadet conjured a small flame and excitedly looked over at me.

Janine pursed her lips. "I just don't see how you can travel with someone like Green and still end up with such a depressing personality."

"You sound like you have a crush on Green," I pointed out boredly. "Do you want my seal of approval? You aren't getting it. She could do better than you."

The girl blinked, a mortified expression making its way to her face.

"I don't even know why I tried speaking to you," she hissed with a deep glare.

"I'm wondering the same thing," I scoffed.

Janine let out a growl of frustration. "I don't get you! You have such a kind companion. You have an incredible team... but you're still such a bitter creature!"

My eyes locked onto her and I sighed.

Janine jumped as I suddenly closed the distance and stared into her soul.

She shuddered underneath my piercing gaze, eyes wide in shock.

"What do you want from me, Janine?" I asked calmly, staring a hole into her.

"I..." she trailed off.

"You don't like me. We've come to an agreement to work professionally to stop Team Rocket. You've even made friends with Green. So what do I offer that you want?" I mused, watching as she finally broke eye contact.

"...I don't understand. Nothing about you makes sense," she admitted finally.

I raised a brow.

"You are antagonistic and cruel, yet you care deeply for your team and Green. I've never seen you have a positive conversation with strangers, yet you were considerate enough to willingly become my target. You have such a deep anger hidden behind your eyes, but not even the words you say, truly reflect that."

What was this? A case study on Silver?

"You're an enigma. Who are you really, Silver?" Janine muttered.

"..."

I stared at Janine with a neutral expression.

"I don't hate you Janine and it's clear you don't hate me the way you think you do, but we aren't friends by any stretch of the imagination. I'm not inclined to share information about myself so freely. You already know too much," I replied frostily.

Janine flinched back at my words and nodded slowly.

"You are... correct. My apologies. I'm the one who set such a boundary between us, it's unbefitting to be the one to break it."

I stared at her and snorted. "You're the confusing one. Nothing you're doing makes sense to me."

Janine frowned at that. "It appears we are destined to never see eye to eye. How fitting."

"Some people are just like that. You'll meet people you can't stand but you gotta put a smile on and work with them regardless," I said truthfully.

"Oh like father with Gym Leader Surge or Giovanni," Janine said without really thinking about it.

I snorted abruptly at that, before a chuckle erupted from my body.

Janine looked taken aback by my laughter, before a smile made its way to her face and she began giggling.

She had no idea that I thought her dad not liking my dad, was just a funny and poetic thought but good for her for finding the situation funny regardless.

"It's probably a bit soon to ask but do you plan on ever filling your last slot?" I asked as my chuckles died down.

Janine sobered slightly at that. "I've thought of it... but at the moment, I think I am fine with my current team. It is... difficult to think of what could replace Venomoth."

"That's the problem. You're thinking of a replacement. Doing that will set your next member up for failure," I chided, leaning against the large tree.

"If you go in with the thought that your next pokemon has to replace your first, you'll never be satisfied. Maybe raising a new one will fill the void."

"That's..." Janine muttered, gazing at me in surprise.

"Do you... have any suggestions? A poison type would be preferable," she asked tentatively.

I raised a brow and gazed at her team with a curious expression.

"You should catch a Mareanie or Skorupi," I suggested bluntly. "I think they would be good for your team."

Janine nodded thoughtfully. "Perhaps I will get both. I think they are equally good options."

"Not a bad idea," I shrugged, shutting my eyes.

"...Thank you Silver. You aren't nearly as terrible as you try to make yourself out to be," Janine said suddenly.

"I'm worse," I said gruffly.

There was a comfortable silence that took place and I noted that Janine still hadn't left.

"Silver..."

Ah. She still needed something from me.

"What?" I sighed.

I opened my eyes and stared at Janine, who was gazing at the floor with an embarrassed expression.

"Since I'm teaching you and Green what I can, could you um... help me act less like a "drone"?"

...

Janine's eyes were glued to the ground, not even daring to stare at my incredulous expression.

"I realized that you were correct in your assessment... I have a difficult time speaking normally to others around our age."

I said nothing for a long while, before a tiny snicker left my mouth.

"D-Don't laugh at me!" Janine exclaimed.

"Alright alright, quiet down," I sighed in mild amusement. "I'll help you be less of a drone. I've already helped Jasmine out so it'll be easy."

Janine blinked, taken aback by my quick agreement.

"We're in mutual agreement already. I don't mind assisting," I added with a shrug.

"I... okay thank you." She smiled at me, before a confused frown made its way to her face.

"Jasmine? Do you mean Gym Leader Jasmine?" Janine asked warily.

"Yeah, she's one of my best friends," I shrugged.

Janine blinked owlishly, mouth opening in shock.

"H-Huh? You and Jasmine? How is that even possible?!"

"Dunno. She's a gumball though so we put up with each other. Hard to be mean to such a pure person."

"This is what I mean. You don't make any sense at all."

---

"Silvy! Saury is evolving!"

I jolted at the loud scream and gazed up.

"He is?" I asked. Without any hesitation, I pushed myself up and made sure the sleeping Charcadet wasn't too bothered by the jostling.

I jogged over where the light was shining and met the excited gaze of the buzzing Green.

"What's the occasion?" I asked curiously, watching as Saury's body began morphing.

"He was training with Vee! I guess Vee was taunting him a bit too much and this is the result," Green explained with a happy grin.

Vee had the decency to look sheepish. The Espeon had clearly been taunting Saury a little too much. With evolution, he could have a much easier time defeating his friend.

Clearly that pushed the Ivysaur over. Not only did I have an easier time beating him, now he wasn't even the strongest on his own team?

Saury was Green's most competitive member. He hated anyone taking a lead over him so this evolution was a long time coming...

But goddamn was he huge.

The average Venusaur was about 6 feet tall and Saury looked like a solid 8. The bud on its back bloomed into a large pink, white-spotted flower that was supported by a thick, brown trunk surrounded by green fronds.

"Venusaur," Saury rumbled, deep voice carrying through the field.

His mouth opened in surprise, showcasing two pointed teeth in the upper jaw and four in the lower, and he turned towards Green.

Green let out a shout of joy at the recognition in his eyes and leapt onto Saury.

"Saury! Look at you! You're so big!" she gushed happily, squeezing the tree of the Venusaur.

Saury grunted, eyes seeping out of his body to properly adjust Green atop his newly evolved body.

"We need to get to a center," I said immediately, walking up and inspecting Saury with a calculating gaze.

Saury caught my gaze and nodded in respect, allowing Green to fuss over his new form with his custom boredom.

"He's huge. Gotta make sure he can handle his new body weight and whatnot. I need to get Charcadet properly checked up on anyways," I mused, slightly adjusting the fire type in my arms.

"Yeah! Good idea! We skipped a couple towns since we had enough supplies but we should be pretty close to Saffron now!" Green laughed. She was practically latched onto the Venusaur and the sight of the girl atop the giant frog, was way too funny.

It really gave a good idea how big Saury had become by just comparing him to his trainer... or me.

Saury nodded in agreement, allowing Green to return him to his pokeball without further prompting.

"Alright! Let's move out!" Green cheered, marching forward without any hesitation.

I rolled my eyes and followed after her, patting a dissatisfied Gaia on the head.

"Don't worry girl. You're going to evolve soon too. Then we can focus on crushing that giant ass Venusaur," I assured.

She gazed at me with a surprising amount of fierceness, eyes all fired up.

We both smiled in unison and I returned Gaia to her ball.

"Slow down Leaf. We still have a bit before we can make it there," I sighed.

"I can't help it, I'm so excited!"

"We haven't even eaten yet."

"...I'm not that excited! Let's eat!"

"Moron."

"What did you say?!"

Janine sighed miserably from her perch in the tree. "Here we go again."

---

"Shower," Green moaned tiredly, practically dragging herself into Saffron City.

I ran a hand through my hair, scowling in annoyance at the feeling of it.

Being out in the wild for that long was not something I expected. Even with the periodic baths the three of us took in the pools of water we found, my hair still felt way too grimy.

It was matted to my head and I had long since gotten used to that feeling...

Doesn't mean I still didn't have to hate it.

"Almost a month in those forests… I almost forgot what civilization looked like," Janine sighed.

The band in her hair had been gone for the last week or so, spiky hair running free and making her look actually fairly normal for once.

I nodded in agreement with her sentiment, watching Green fish out her Pokegear to probably message Gold and Crystal.

They had arrived to the city much earlier than us, by virtue of Celadon being much closer to Saffron than Fuchsia, and were preparing for the next steps… in case I was right of course.

"Let's go to the center," Green decided, already dragging her feet there.

I snorted and nodded, making my way there.

It was the middle of the day so Saffron was packed. People and pokemon were everywhere, filling the streets with endless and noisy chatter.

I already hated this place.

Without much effort, I grabbed Janine and Green's arm before beginning the familiar process of pushing through as many people as possible.

My two companions yelped, faces going red in embarrassment as I bulldozed people much taller than me in the process.

"S-Silver, wait! Don't just do this!" Janine exclaimed with wide eyes.

I ignored her of course, continuing my course with a single-minded focus.

"Hey! Watch where you're going—"

The person saying that choked on their words as I focused a steely glare onto them, craning my head just enough to appear the maximum amount of creepy.

As expected, the middle aged guy, who looked like he had an office job, shut his mouth quick and briskly looked ahead.

"Damn freaky trainers," he muttered rushing off and adjusting his suit.

I snorted in amusement.

The differences between trainers and normal people, were pretty apparent if you focused on trainers.

Spending all that time in the wilderness, around monsters wielding such volatile energy, had a long term effect on people.

This world was practically saturated in the energies of pokemon and as its inhabitants, every human was bound to get affected by it... Trainers just got affected more than others.

They tended to appear more wild and feral as a result of practically living in the wild with all their pokemon. It wasn't something anyone could deny either.

This was just a natural side effect of being a pokemon trainer.

It was even more apparent in specialists. Specialists were practically half whatever type they trained… especially depending on the type they trained.

It's why Lorelei was always so damn cold or Lance felt like an apex predator. It was just a cause of being around creatures with such dominating abilities.

Generalists at the very top, didn't have one defining trait that specialists tended to have but as a result, they were far more unpredictable.

You could have the seemingly normal Cynthia, who I was absolutely sure had some issue once you actually met her, or the completely off the rails Alder, who you didn't have to meet to see that there were a few screws loose.

It was natural. Different pokemon had different influences. Not every specialist was the same. Not every generalist was the same.

For instance, Lance was renowned for his Dragonite so even as a dragon master, he came off as much more gentle than someone like say, Elite 4 Drake, who was renowned for his monster of a Salamence, was.

No one trainer acted the same as the other. Some trainers could get completely overwhelmed by their pokemon's traits, others could not be affected by it at all.

It varied with everyone. For me, my personality was most influenced by whichever member I was battling with.

In comparison to trainers, the civilians in this world were far more ordinary. Most tended to be crept out by the unrefined trainers. After all, trainers were both the protectors and enemies of this place.

A formidable trainer was just as much a sword as they were a shield. It only took one rogue Master to cause untold amounts of damage in a short span.

Trainers always had the most eyes on them in the world, whether that be because of fame or infamy.

They truly ran how the world worked. No amount of politics could stop a Hydreigon from leveling a city.

I was honestly pretty thankful that Team Rocket seemed to have no Masters in their midst. Getting wayward masters under control was an almost impossible task. Those who didn't work for the league, preferred to be left alone in isolation.

Well, it wasn't like they needed a Master. I'm fairly sure Giovanni probably didn't want Master levelled trainers for the same reason I listed. Too out of control and unpredictable.

It was fascinating learning about how this world was ran. I wouldn't want a wayward Master working under me either. The potential fallout would be too messy.

I finally released my group as we made it to the Pokemon Center, looking none the bothered as I walked through the door.

"A-Are you going to do that every time we enter a crowded city?" Green mumbled, face burning as she hid it in my hair.

"H-He's done this before?" Janine gaped in disbelief, blushing in embarrassment as she repeatedly glanced through the double doors we just walked through. "I thought you said my social skills were atrocious?!"

"I never said mine weren't. Pretty sure I even told you I have no social skills back at Fuchsia. I just understand that about myself while you didn't," I replied easily, walking up to the Nurse Joy there and ignoring Green clutching the back of my long sleeved black shirt.

"We're here to book a room," I said bluntly, adding just a dash of patience to it because Nurse Joys were typically chill and I only reserved my rudeness for one Joy in particular.

I needed to see how Joy was doing. It's been a while since I gave her a status report on my life… about two weeks?

"Of course!" Nurse Joy smiled gently.

"Our teams would like a checkup as well," I added. "I hatched an egg while traveling in the wilderness and never got him checked on. He seems healthy but I'd like you to verify it."

"My Venusaur evolved too!" Green's muffled voice added.

Joy nodded easily at my request, cooing at the sight of the Charcadet curiously staring at her.

"Of course!" she smiled, accepting my 5 pokeballs without prompting.

"Go on," I nudged Charcadet, keeping Gaia's ball with me. She was the most healthy of my team at most times, needing the pokemon center the least, so I kept her ball with me to avoid suspicion.

Charcadet blinked at my words, before horror filled the little guys eyes.

"Char!" he cried out, wrapping his arms around my neck desperately.

Huh?

I blinked in confusion and gazed at the little guy with a tilted head.

"What? You don't like hospitals?" I mused. "It's fine. It'll be quick. Just go."

If anything, that made him react even worse and I grunted, alarm swiftly filling me, as his body began warming up in his distress.

"Woah woah," I said placatingly, holding him away from my body in both hands.

The distraught in his eyes were very real. The little man was absolutely terrified of something.

Did he hate hospitals like me?

"What's your deal? Why don't you wanna go?" I asked in confusion.

"Char!" Charcadet cried, actual tears welling up in his eyes that instantly steamed.

...Huh? I didn't form a bond with Charcadet long enough to understand his grievances.

"He doesn't want you to leave him," Green interjected, letting out a sigh of exasperation as she placed a soothing hand on Charcadet.

"It'd be the first time he does something without you there. He's terrified of not seeing you."

Nurse Joy nodded with a small smile. "It's normal for a hatched pokemon to be especially attached to their trainer. Would you mind coming to the back with me while I perform a checkup?" she asked politely.

I blinked and nodded slowly.

I had no idea Charcadet would have attachment issues but then again I even slept with him.

He really was Green alright. At least my tent was fireproof.

"Alright alright, I'm not going anywhere," I sighed, allowing Charcadet to clutch me once more. "See? I'm still here so let's go."

Charcadet nodded strongly, looking relieved by that detail.

Just great. Guess I needed to postpone that shower.

I followed the Nurse Joy to the back after she handed my companions their cards and ensured that Gaia's ball stealthily ended up in Green's hand just in case.

"Char!" Charcadet beamed up at me, leaving his bad mood like it were never even there.

I rolled my eyes and absentmindedly pat his head.

Joy giggled at that and tentatively accepted the Charcadet, making sure I was in his sight the entire time.

As the Chansey handled my team, Nurse Joy personally tended to Charcadet. She ran him through various tests, checked his status and made sure nothing was amiss.

All the while, I watched with half an eye.

Seeing as I had nothing better to do, it seemed appropriate to speed up the messaging Joy thing I was planning on doing.

You: Sup. Here to give you a report on my status. Alive for now but grumpy and tired.

Bundle of Joy: Nice to see you're still a beacon of happiness. I watched your gym battle against that Erika girl recently. Not bad at all kid. I think I'm gonna tune into all your battles now.

You: Wow, you really are a fan of me. I should be flattered that a Nurse Joy, especially one as unappealing as you, is rooting for me.

Bundle of Joy: It's impossible to compliment a person like you. You're so damn annoying.

You: Can't help it. Your cousins are too nice. Makes it all the sweeter when I can finally harass you.

Bundle of Joy: Are you telling me that you spare my cousins from your annoying tendencies just to unleash them on me? Am I some type of stress doll?

You: Not at all. Seeing people with your face all the time and having to resist saying what I'd say to you is a tall task. When I finally get to speak to you, it's like the floodgates open.

Bundle of Joy: Genuinely, you are the most sickening 12 year old I've had the pleasure of meeting. I didn't think a human being like you could exist.

You: Pleasure? That means you enjoy my stellar personality. Doesn't that make you sicker than me?

Bundle of Joy: It adds spice that others don't is all. Other people don't have the entertainment value that you do. I condemn everything about you but you're still interesting.

You: You sound like an addict. "I know its bad but I can't stop". Stop using me as your drugs, you maniac. Go get a life besides being confined in the hospital.

Bundle of Joy: How do you think of this shit?

I chuckled at that and we continued our banter, even as the Nurse Joy here wrapped up her inspection.

Almost as soon as she finished, I grunted as a tiny figure immediately leapt atop me.

"You have a perfectly healthy Charcadet!" Nurse Joy giggled, watching as my baby pokemon happily snuggled me. "No mishaps at all with him except for homesickness from not being in your grasp."

I rolled my eyes. "Very funny," I said dryly, standing and stretching idly as Charcadet sat happily on my shoulder.

Nurse Joy had a bright smile. "You've already figured his diet out and are taking the right steps to nurture him… but do keep in mind that you should refrain from putting him in serious matches for a while. Keep them friendly with your allies, okay?"

"Char!" Charcadet shouted in distress, crossing his arms.

Nurse Joy put a hand to her hips and a stern look replaced her kind smile. "No, Charcadet. You're too young to fight! In around another month you should be fine to push yourself further but for now, friendly training!"

"Sure thing mom," I said sarcastically.

"Char char," Charcadet mimicked, eyes drooping to match my half lidded gaze.

Despite the obvious sarcasm, nothing could get a Nurse Joy's spirit down and she just laughed again, running a gentle hand against both Charcadet and I and getting a dirty glare from the both of us in return.

Unreasonable. They had to be clones.

"Would you mind bringing your teams back up to your friends?" Joy asked kindly. "You all look exhausted so I'd hate to have them moving again. Please tell Ms. Green that her Venusaur is perfectly healthy and just needs to get adjusted to his size."

"Yeah yeah," I sighed, accepting the trays with dividers on them for our team. "I'll handle it."

"Thank you Silver. Have a good day!" she waved.

I nodded in acknowledgement, walking off to the room while balancing the tray in one hand.

You: You ever stop to think that Nurse Joys are all clones and you're an error in the system with how shitty your personality is?

Bundle of Joy: I hope you understand that either you're visiting me when you come to Hoenn, or I'm visiting you. The amount of Nurse Joy jokes you've made, have landed you firmly on the properly reprimand list. You're too much of a rotten kid so don't dodge what's coming to you.

You: Looking forward to it. I fight back. Don't think being a dainty little nurse, is going to save you.

Bundle of Joy: Freak.

You: Defect.

---

"Thank you, Silver," Janine said with a small smile, accepting her team once more as I tiredly handed it to her.

"Thanks Silvy!" Green beamed.

"Bay!" Gaia beamed, crashing into me happily.

I smiled tiredly at her, even as Charcadet cheered and leapt, landing atop my Bayleef and getting them both to laugh. "Hey girl, how are you feeling?" I asked quietly.

Gaia puffed up, flashing me a confident grin. "Bay!" she assured.

I chuckled. "Right right."

"So now that we're in the city, I believe now is the right time to ask why you're willingly carrying a team of 7?" Janine said in a hushed whisper, sitting on Green's bed.

"Can't part with my team now. They aren't developed enough for me to box them," I said easily. "I was not going to catch Charcadet until the time came… but I didn't want to risk anything happening. He's pretty rare after all."

Janine nodded thoughtfully. "Some trainers are allowed to hold onto a newly hatched pokemon if they already have a team of 6 and it won't count. Perhaps you should consider speaking to someone about it?"

"I've been illegally carrying for about a month now. I don't think that's much of an option right now," I replied.

Janine frowned at that and nodded slowly. "A valid point… very well, I'll not speak about it. I'm willing to vouch for you however if you ever choose to. As Gym Leader Koga's daughter, my word can carry some weight."

I perked a brow. "You're willing to keep my secrets... and help?" I asked in confusion.

We had been traveling with the ninja for so long that I was sure she had picked up on more than a couple of things. Considering her designation as a ninja, she likely had heightened perception as well so it wouldn't be as difficult for her.

"I am," Janine nodded. "You were planning on protecting me in your own way, by letting me place the blame on you… so to make up for it, you may truly consider me an ally. I'll protect you as well. You must have good reasons for harboring the things you do."

I paused at that. "...Thanks," I said lamely.

Janine looked more stunned than I did.

"You're thanking me?!" she asked in surprise.

"Yeah," I said truthfully. "This is important to me and you can tell. I appreciate you not ratting me out, even when you blackmailed me earlier."

Janine blushed in embarrassment. "I'm sorry about that. Despite my less than stellar attitude towards you, you still treated me rather nicely… well as nicely as I'd expect you to act after getting to know you."

I snorted. "We traveled together for a month. No point staying enemies when we could both potentially kill each other."

Janine nodded sagely. "It would be most lethal. That's why I never slept near you."

"After our interaction that one night, I made sure Green was close to me. No way would you be able to kill my adorable rival and feel good about it," I replied, ruffling her hair.

Green let out a gasp of horror at that. "Y-You piece of shit! You used me as collateral?!"

"I have a far more killable personality. No sane person would consider killing you," I said truthfully.

"As evil as he is… I am inclined to agree with him. I could never kill him with you in the tent. You are far too innocent," Janine replied with a small smile.

"See?" I replied.

Green puffed her cheeks out, glaring at the two of us with a red face. "D-Don't compliment me after what I just heard! Ugh, I can't believe this! I'm no longer sleeping in your tent!" she declared.

I raised a brow. "Why are you making it sound like its a punishment for anyone but you? This is the happiest news I've heard in awhile."

She opened her mouth and then shut it, a look of realization crossing her features.

"I-I'm sleeping in your tent from now on! Prepare to be smothered to death by my hair!" she said instead.

My smirk vanished in favor of wariness. "Wait, I actually think your hair can kill me."

"That's the point!"

"Please bathe before you two fight," Janine interjected with a roll of her eyes.

---

I hummed in contemplation, watching as my team trained from the comfort of a nice bench.

Janine's pokemon were going through the motions once more, drilling my team as usual.

Throughout our trip here, Janine's pokemon had beat our own into quite the shape. She was definitely above us by a fair bit so Green and I took great advantage of that.

The two of us took turns sparring with her team over and over again. Despite still not liking me very much, watching me teach Janine how to be more normal, had warmed them up to me.

Not Nidoqueen though.

Salazzle was the one who liked me the most out of her team and she had a special fond spot for Charcadet. Considering he was permanently attached to me, that meant the salamander was around me as well.

She was cool. Bit of a haughty personality but generally chill around me.

We were in an isolated training area. It was far off from where people would come but still in decent range of Saffron.

Janine and Green were conversing with each other, while I fiddled with a Pokeball.

"Green! Silver!" A voice greeted.

I craned my neck, meeting blue eyes with an almost unnatural hues and eyes colored too deeply to be considered yellow.

"Gold! Crystal!" Green beamed happily, jumping up and rushing them.

She pulled them both into a crushing hug, getting a happy flush out of Crystal and a large grin out of Gold.

They all exchanged pleasantries and I smirked in amusement as the chatter duo of Gold and Green got into it.

"Your friends?" Janine asked quietly, scooting next to me as our teams briefly looked over and focused back on their training.

"Something like that," I replied dryly, watching the three converse. "If you ask them, they'll say yes."

"But you're too cool for that, right?" Janine asked in amusement, ignoring my scalding look.

"You sure did get comfier acting human. Does wonders I bet," I grunted, rolling my eyes and ignoring her glare next.

"No thanks to you. Motivating me to change as a person, while you yourself are this ignorant, is ridiculous," she bit out.

I smirked. "Once again a victim to having no independent thought. You still have much to learn," I shrugged helplessly.

"Yo Silver!" Gold grinned.

"Gold," I nodded, noting that he didn't have the Aipom on his shoulder anymore.

"How's it going? Who's your friend? Girlfriend?" Gold asked curiously, looking Janine up and down before shooting me a thumbs up. "She's cute! Not bad dude!"

"Gold!" Crystal chastised with a look of exasperation, holding her head at his antics.

"How'd you know? We were put in an arranged marriage by her clan. High compatibility. We love each other a lot," I replied effortlessly.

Janine nodded in agreement and scooted closer to me, smiling slightly. "We must be of age before we solidify our relationship. But it's ideal to get to know each other better so we're traveling together."

Gold and Crystal's jaws dropped at that, taking in our utterly serious expressions with wide eyes.

"Oh… uh. Congrats? I meant it when I said she's cute," Gold said awkwardly, shooting Crystal a helpless look.

"You both look good together! We're sorry for making fun of you!" Crystal said supportively, a blush of embarrassment on her face.

Green erupted in giggles. "You two are so funny! Were you thinking of that for a while?"

My serious expression melted. "Nah. I just thought of it after Gold asked if she was my girlfriend."

Janine nodded. "It felt apt to follow his lead so that's what I did. I admit, it was rather funny. One of the more enjoyable things you've taught me, is the thing you call "trolling". It explains many of your actions," she smiled.

"You did good. I'm surprised," I nodded in approval.

"I'm more surprised you know of arranged marriages," Janine retorted.

"Do you think I'm stupid?"

"You think I'm stupid, yes?"

"Dumb question to ask."

"Likewise."

"That… was a trick?" Crystal asked in confusion.

"Seriously?! You two sold that way too well," Gold complained.

"Silvy's been teaching Janine! She's a pretty good student! I've also been sorta learning trolling but Silvy says I'm too nice for it!" Green beamed happily.

"Trolling eh? Never heard of it," Gold mused.

Green nodded eagerly. "I actually think you'd be great at it Gold! You have that personality to you!"

Gold grinned, before it vanished. His eyes squinted and he peered at Green. "That doesn't sound like a compliment if Silver's really good at it."

A snort left me at their actions, before grunting in dissatisfaction as Gold looped an arm around my shoulder.

"How's it been going, Silver?" Gold asked with a grin.

I shrugged his arm off. "Well enough. Lot on my mind as always."

Crystal smiled. "Well you've got the two of us now so we can split up the hard work!"

Green cheered. "Yeah! The color squad is here!"

Gold opened his mouth to agree and then shut it. "Hold on... are we actually all named after colors?"

"That would explain why our group chat is called the Color Gang..." Crystal said, a disturbed expression making its way to her face.

Janine looked surprised at that. "That's... truly strange. I've never met another with your names either so its double strange that you happen to all know each other," she noted.

Gold scratched his head. "My mom and Crys' are best friends, that's why we're both named after colors..."

"My family name is Green," Green mentioned, midlife crisis look appearing once again. "Did you guys notice we all have the same eye color as our names as well?!"

They gaped in realization. Gold looked at Crystal, Green and I, before fishing out a mirror and gazing into it.

"What... the fuck?" Gold said slowly, face morphing into one startlingly similar to Green's.

The idiot duo of Gold and Green began panicking at the same time and I sighed tiredly.

"Wait... do you two only live with your moms as well?" Gold asked curiously.

Green nodded with wide eyes. "Yeah! For as long as I could remember!"

"Same with Crys and I!" Gold explained.

I'd input my two cents here and say I had both my parents, but I wasn't a main character like these three were and my parents were shitty.

Besides... the closest thing I had to a mom currently, was Lorelei and I guess she was single too.

"Wow this is crazy! I wonder if there's more people with the color and eye combination like us," Gold mused.

"We should find them all and form the color army!" Green gushed.

Crystal sighed. "I think it's just a coincidence you two. I'm sure there are people out there with a name that matches their eye colors... and our chances of meeting them are extraordinarily low too."

"So explain the four of us!" Gold puffed up, a glint in his eyes.

"Uh huh! It's fate! The color army must rise!" Green laughed happily.

Crystal gazed at them in some disbelief. "There's no way you two think we're actually going to find them. That's so specific! Silver, tell them they're being ridiculous!"

Three eyes looked expectantly at me and I scratched my head.

"Never say never," I said lamely, knowing damn well I'd probably be meeting more of this so called "Color Army".

There were none active right now besides us but I imagine that'd change soon.

Crystal looked dumbfounded by my words, eye twitching at the smug look in Green and Gold's eyes.

"What an interesting group you all are," Janine mused with a small smile.

I rolled my eyes and watched as Gaia happily yanked Crystal and Gold into a hug. "Alright enough of that. Now that we're all met up… let's see your teams. It's been a while since we've seen each other."

"It would be ideal if you joined us in training as well. We're sure to make great leaps with the 5 of us," Janine added.

"Yeah! I wanna battle you two. I love battling Silvy but some variety is definitely fun!" Green grinned challengingly.

Gold grinned right back. "You and me both! It's really been a while since we've seen each other! You aren't the only ones getting stronger here!"

Crystal nodded eagerly. "We got new members too you know!" she exclaimed, revealing a set of 6 Pokeballs.

Gold did the same and I raised a brow in surprise.

Gold and Crystal were like Green and I. They were both skilled trainers around each others levels that had probably even better synergy than me and my friend.

Considering we tended to exchange ideas, I wouldn't be surprised if their rate of growth was just as fast as ours. They had each other to improve with after all.

"Teams of 6?" I mused. "You had three last time and you seemed to time your captures pretty well."

"I caught two pokemon in the Safari Zone and I recently finished off my sixth in Celadon," Crystal explained with a small smile.

"I caught one on the way to Fuchsia, one in the Safari Zone and I got my most recent while we were checking out the areas around Saffron waiting for you two!" Gold grinned.

I looked on in visible interest as they subsequently released their teams and my brows shot as high as possible.

Why the hell did I have to nearly die to get what the hell I wanted and these idiots managed to capture their teams by sheer happenstance!

Crystal's team caught me almost completely by surprise. She still had Misdreavus, Growlithe and that surly Croconaw… but her final three members were the ones that caught me by surprise because what the hell was this?

Crystal's final three pokemon were an Eevee… a Kangaskhan and a goddamn Dragonair.

"Eevee was in Celadon," Crystal explained. "She was… from the Game Corner," she explained quietly.

I sobered at that.

Ah, Eevee was one of the captive pokemon. That would explain why the little thing looked afraid of its own shadow.

It's eyes darted to and fro, before eventually stopping on Vee with a look of blatant curiosity.

"How'd you end up getting her?" Green asked in worry.

"She chose me," Crystal said, gently lifting the little thing up and tucking the fox into her frame. "I was just exploring Celadon before I encountered her, hiding near a tall building. Officer Jenny said she runs from everyone but she didn't take off from me… so that must have been a good sign. We bonded during my stay there so I adopted her."

Eevee stared at me, tilting her head as some recognition entered her gaze.

I caught her eyes and we had a stare off, before the Eevee let out a cute bark.

"I think she likes you!" Crystal awed.

"She hates me," Gold complained.

I smiled and ran a hand against her head. Maybe she recognized me from the raid on the Game Corner by scent. I hadn't seen any Eevee but I wouldn't keep an Eevee out in the open either.

"What about your other two?" I asked, watching as Dragonair glided over to Ares with a curious expression.

"Crystal has an innate gift at attracting pokemon who want to join her," Gold rolled his eyes. "We went to the Safari Zone and those two were stalking her practically the whole time."

"I didn't even know Dragonair was watching me until I made it to a body of water and he popped out!" Crystal exclaimed, face red. "Gave me the scare of my life! Kangaskhan at least didn't jump me like that!"

Green giggled at that. "That's insane! Your team is so cool, Crys!"

She beamed with a rosy blush and I took the time to gauge Gold's team.

Ambipom, Quilava, Pupitar… Looks like that Aipom and Larvitar of his had evolved during their travels...

Good. They would be quite helpful.

I took my eyes off the familiar faces and focused on the new encounters which were a Seadra, Scyther and a Rufflet of all things.

"I caught Seadra on the way to Fuchsia. She attacked me with no hesitation so I caught her because I respected her grit!" Gold exclaimed.

Seadra puffed up at that and glared fiercely at us. It was clearly a feisty little thing but I was beginning to realize most of Gold's pokemon were feisty.

Like this Scyther glaring over at me.

"Scyther was my Safari Zone encounter! She's a tough girl that was eager to get outta there so she joined me!" Gold grinned.

Scyther gazed at the assortment of pokemon battling with a hungry look in her eyes. It was obvious she wanted to get into battle as quickly as possible.

I grunted as a weight landed on my head and glared up at the excited Rufflet.

"Rufflet approached me while we were exploring the area! We found him near a place called Silver Town and he just landed on my hat and refused to get off," Gold grinned, rubbing the back of his head.

Rufflet chirped at that, flying over to Gold and landing directly on his head.

I hummed as I assessed them.

"You guys have improved... but you can improve a bit more," I nodded in approval, ruffling in my bag for a bit. I finally pulled out what I was looking for and tossed it over.

Crystal caught it with wide eyes, nearly stumbling at the unexpected move.

"W-Wha…?!" she gaped, looking at the Fire and Dusk stone with disbelieving eyes. "How did you get these?!"

"Fire Stone was from the Game Corner," I grunted.

"A-And the Dusk Stone? These are really rare!" she exclaimed.

That… was at Slateport. Along with a Shiny Stone, Sun Stone, Dawn Stone, Moon Stone, Leaf Stone and something called an Ice Stone.

It was a bundle. Not sure why anyone would ever want a bundle of every single stone but you never knew I guess…

Besides, the bundle was so easy to steal. They were begging me to do it by placing it out in the open there.

"It was a bundle," I said calmly.

"But why are you giving these to me…?" Crystal asked in confusion. I saw her Misdreavus pop out, eyes shining as it locked onto the Dusk Stone.

"You need those for your members don't you? I don't need any evolution stone at all and I doubt I will for the foreseeable future," I said bluntly.

I took a glance at the Eevee tentatively talking to Vee and ruffled in my bag more.

Then, I pulled out the Leaf Stone, Thunder Stone and Ice Stone.

"Here," I said bluntly, dropping them in her hand without prompting. "For your Eevee. I have a hunch it'll pick one of those 3. Picking the right Eevee evolution is important."

Crystal had wide eyes. "T-This is insane, Silver! You're really just giving these to me?" she asked, gazing at the stones with wobbling lips.

"That's what I said didn't I?" I grunted. "You'll need to get strong. Use those when you feel like it but now you always have the option."

Misdreavus and Growlithe stared at the respective stones with a reverent gaze and I absentmindedly caught the eyes of Crystal's very hateful Croconaw.

It looked bigger now, much like Gold's Quilava… and Gaia too. If I had to guess, all three were going to evolve soon.

Good. With Saury's evolution, Green's power had leapt ridiculously but if the rest of our starters evolved as well, it'd be great in the long run.

I didn't know about Crystal's Growlithe, but I'm sure her Misdreavus was probably ready for evolution anytime now. It was her first pokemon after all.

Crystal said nothing, before pulling me in a crushing hug.

I grunted, body twitching violently at the sudden contact but it wasn't nearly as bad as when Green first hugged me so I was able to resist body flipping her.

"Thank you so much, Silver! You just saved me so much money and time! We were in Celadon earlier but they were really expensive and I couldn't buy them without putting a dent in my wallet! I had to spend a lot of money getting Eevee good to go!" Crystal exclaimed happily, grinning ear to ear

"Don't just suddenly hug me like that," I chastised. "You should thank Green for hugging me so much. The first time she touched me, I flipped her on her back."

"First 10 times!" Green beamed, not even slightly putout by that detail.

"Huh, you too?" Gold asked with a raised brow. "First thing he did when I grabbed his shoulder, was flip me over it."

"I'd do it again," I replied bluntly. I was about to remove Crystal from my grasp, up until I saw that damned Croconaw giving me the evil eye for daring to make contact with his trainer.

Oh yeah?

I flashed a villainous smirk at the little bastard, before wrapping a single arm around Crystal.

"You're welcome for the help," I said easily.

"H-Huh?" Everyone, barring Green, said. Crystal's eyes were wide and I couldn't blame her because I had to stamp down a lot of disgust to do this.

But anything to win.

My longest human companion immediately began searching for something and it didn't take her long to see Crystal's Croconaw getting ready to chew me in half.

"Oh my Mew," Green sighed tiredly, holding her head in exasperation and dragging me away from Crystal. "I'm sorry about him, Crystal."

"W-What?" Crystal stuttered, confusion pouring off of her. "You're sorry that Silver… hugged me?"

"You'll understand the longer you hang out with him," Green said sagely. "Silver is at his best, when he's terrorizing someone."

"Guilty as charged," I said, smiling as Croconaw took a single step, before a vine wrapped around both him and Quilava, pulling them over to the excited Gaia.

"Alright, you guys got stronger so you can join us for training," I praised, nodding in approval.

"We got our Saffron Badge too!" Gold grinned cockily. "That's 6 for us!"

I grunted. "Right, we still have to get ours, Green. That should be fun," I sighed in misery.

Another meeting with Sabrina? I was looking so forward to it. No really. Just thinking about it left me excited.

How fun.

"It's gonna be so fun!" Green cheered.

"We should apply later today—"

"There is no need. I've already applied for the both of you to challenge me. Your battle will commence in 3 days time."

I stiffened at that, watching as a figure walked into the clearing.

A very familiar, very annoying figure.

Great. She must have sensed my joy at wanting to see her and visited instead.

Woo. Fantastic.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I scowled at Sabrina, immediately locking eyes with her.

It was impossible not to. She honed in on me like a missile, gaze just as unnerving as mine.

"It is not as if I'm willing to put myself in such uncomfortable situations. You merely hamper me to a degree that is worth investigating," Sabrina intoned, expression neutral.

"Hamper you… That's what we're calling it. That's why you practically slammed your palm onto the hot stove last time right?" I retorted with a raised brow.

"...What the hell is going on?" Gold whispered to Green.

"It's a long story that Silvy will kill me for if I tell. Sabrina might kill me too," Green replied sagely.

I effortlessly ignored them, glaring at Sabrina. "You've verified that it's me. You can fuck off now," I sneered.

Sabrina didn't even blink at my harsh language. "Last time was merely curiosity. I merely acted out of turn, due to it being my first time experiencing such a sensation," she explained.

"But you were actively hurting yourself in the process. Don't be a suicidal dumbass," I chastised.

Sabrina blinked this time, surprised by my reprimanding tone. "Is it not natural for one to wish to learn more about that which confuses you?" she asked

"Yeah, when it's not actively harming you," I fired back, sighing in exasperation.

"Look, it's happening again. Get outta here. I do not want a repeat of last time."

True to my words, her face was already steadily getting flushed. Sweat was forming on her features and she straightened up, eyes flickering repeatedly as her legs shook slightly.

This was the effect I had on the strongest human psychic alive. I couldn't even imagine what I'd do to a lesser one.

"Your concern is unnecessary," Sabrina denied, staring at me with narrowed eyes.

"It's not concern for you. It's concern for me," I bit out, glaring at her.

"I am no barbarian. Attacking you is an unnecessary and unlikely option," she stated calmly, eyes narrowing even further at the slight inflection in her tone.

"You're embarrassing yourself. What point are you trying to prove?" I raised a brow.

Sabrina attempted to speak but stumbled instead.

I watched her catch herself with a bemused expression. "You barely know how to walk. It's actually like dealing with a newborn."

Ridiculous. What did she gain from this?

"Sabrina, are you okay?" Janine asked in concern, stepping up to her with surprising familiarity.

Right, gym leaders and all that jazz.

Sabrina focused on the voice and pursed her lips. "Gym Trainer Janine… I was not expecting your arrival."

Janine's eyes widened. "Y-You didn't? But how is that possible?!"

Sabrina didn't say but it didn't take a genius to figure out what was affecting her so much.

All eyes focused on me and I grunted.

"You need to get out of here. For both our sakes, let's hope I don't stay here for too long," I repeated blandly.

Sabrina's eyes focused onto me once more.

"Your presence is a hamper to my abilities. I cannot safeguard Saffron like this," she frowned.

I sighed. "Gotta get this gym badge somehow. Take this time to learn how to be human," I retorted.

Sabrina said nothing, pondering my words. "Perhaps, this is a challenge in its own right. Seeing as I am completely unable to avoid your presence, I will take the time to grow used to this sensation and improve my limitations."

Yeah, I can't even say I'm surprised about that.

"I will see you in 3 days, Trainer Silver and Trainer Green. These may be the first battles I experience… blind," she mused, turning on a dime and beginning to walk away.

"You look like you barely know how to walk," I said snarkily.

Sabrina didn't deign to reply to my insult, just walking slowly out of the clearing, until an Alakazam appeared next to her and teleported away with the Gym Leader.

The psychic pokemon only spared me a single glance, knowing full well that inspecting me, was only going to be harmful to it in the long run.

Smart. Much smarter than its spoiled brat of a trainer.

I huffed as she vanished, watching as all eyes locked onto me again.

"Do you and Sabrina have hate boners for each other?" Gold asked bluntly.

"Gold!" Crystal shouted, shoving him to the side.

"Something like that. I just want her to leave me alone because she's annoying. She is fascinated by things that she doesn't understand, even if that thing is harmful to her," I grunted, nursing my head with my fingers.

What an annoying conversation I just had. Unfortunately, I needed to make sure Sabrina didn't end up hospitalized by my presence since her help against Team Rocket would be valuable.

...

"Alright. Fuck. I'll tell you," I sighed tiredly. "We're already potentially going to die. So yeah whatever."

Green sat next to me. "Are you sure?" she asked in concern.

I shrugged. "It's not like I know all the details myself. I could always be wrong but at this point… this is the least of my concerns about what you guys already know," I sighed.

The three who had no idea, gazed at me in concern.

"Silver…?" Crystal asked quietly. "Is everything alright?"

"Never has been." I rolled my eyes.

"I was experimented on by Team Rocket. They did things to me. I don't remember what, I don't really know what, but I know that I'm a bother to psychics and ghosts and I know they want me back. Am I mandatory? Don't think so but they will look to get me back eventually."

There was a terribly loud silence at that.

No one said anything.

I didn't say anything either because I didn't wanna.

I didn't even wanna tell them this but at the end of the day, did it matter whether they knew this information or not?

No. It didn't. There were many more incriminating things about me that they knew.

Gold and Crystal already knew I was the criminal who assaulted Elm and stole Gaia. That was literally the single biggest detail that would ruin my life and they were safeguarding it for no reason other than the goodness in their hearts.

What would them knowing about me being tampered with by Team Rocket do? Nothing. It didn't matter. It wasn't a significant detail in the grand scheme of things. It was near the bottom of my list of issues and was only higher up because Team Rocket were active.

As for Janine… well whatever. She was jumping to her own conclusions so now she could just stick to the right one.

The silence was eventually broken up by probably the most expected person.

"That's… shit man," Gold scowled, taking a seat from the shock of what I said.

His expression was pinched, anger bright and visible in his eyes. "No wonder you hate being touched," he muttered.

I grunted at the observation, running a hand through Loki's fur as he sat next to me.

That made sense. I didn't make that connection about why I hated being touched.

I just thought I hated everyone... which was probably still true.

"That's… so sad. I can't believe that," Crystal frowned, expression turning distraught.

She put a hand over her heart and took a deep breath. "We're sorry Silver. We had no idea you had gone through such a thing… it's no wonder."

Janine frowned deeply. "I see... that is why you and that Executive recognized each other. It's no wonder you weren't wary of my attempt at blackmailing."

"It's whatever you guys. Now you know some of my motive. What you do with that information is up to you but I'd like it if you didn't tell anyone," I sighed, lying against Loki's curled up body.

His hair was very comfy. I found myself dozing off against him more often than not.

"We won't tell anyone," Crystal assured, a determined look in her eyes.

"We'll handle this. Trust us a bit, Silver, that's all you need," Gold said, grinning cockily.

They really were heroes alright.

I scoffed. "What I'm doing right now is trying to trust… this is as much as I can give out," I said bluntly, getting up and dusting myself off. "Now enough trying to be sappy. Let's get to it. We got work to do."

They all nodded in unison, grins on their faces as a challenging look entered their eyes.

"Wait... did you just say blackmail?" Crystal asked in confusion.

Janine and I sighed at the same time.

"It's a long story."

---

"We've never actually watched you two battle," Crystal pointed out.

I raised a brow at that. "We've never watched yours either."

Now that I think about it, I only really saw them battle against me on the boat. I had no clue how they had evolved their styles further.

"This is a good opportunity! Watch us win!" Green beamed happily.

I snorted at that.

"Let's get this over with. Just being in here gives me the creeps," I said with a sigh.

There was no one at the front desk and I tilted my head in confusion.

"There's a note here," Green mused, grabbing it.

"Please enter when you arrive, Trainer Silver and Green." It read.

I shrugged. "Guess I incapacitated the receptionist. Shame... no terrorizing today," I sighed.

"You terrorize the receptionist?" Janine asked, pinching her nose as I nodded.

"You should have seen the one in Celadon! Her and Silver hated each other but then she ended up liking him!" Green exclaimed with wide eyes.

I groaned. "Don't remind me."

Crystal giggled at that. "I do find it funny how despite your terrible personality, you somehow make friends."

"Friends? What the hell are you talking about? I have two friends only," I said blandly.

Green grinned brightly. "Who are they?! Come on! Name them!"

"Jasmine and Jasmine," I said bluntly.

Green balked and rounded on me. "S-Stop! You can't just say Jasmine. You already admitted I was your friend!"

"I don't remember that. Could you show me?"

"You're so shameless!"

Janine abruptly stepped in between the two of us with a tired sigh.

"You two are in the midst of entering a gym battle and you still have time to fight?" she asked in exasperation.

Green puffed out her cheeks. "He knows we're friends. I dunno why he acts like we aren't. He's a tsundere."

I blinked, before glaring at her. "How the hell do you know that word?"

"Context clues from whenever you chat with Metang!"

Gold whistled. "And I thought we were bad," he whispered to Crystal.

"That's because you realized who the brains of the operation is," Crystal whispered back with a small smile.

From the corner of my eye, I saw Gold's eye twitch.

Huh, this group was really chaotic.

Our group of 5 entered the back of the gym, all while sorta bickering with each other.

The dubbed "Color Gang" was quite dysfunctional. At some point, I put Gold in a headlock.

Don't ask me why. He probably irritated me with his voice.

Sabrina's gym was simple in nature. It had a purplish-pink theme but other than that, it didn't stand out too much unlike Erika's gym.

Elegant and simple, it was a nice reflection of the leader, even despite Sabrina's issues these past few days.

The Gym Leader stood in the center of the room, eyes closed as she took deep breaths.

"So you've finally arrived," Sabrina said, opening her eyes and boring them into our group.

To my slight surprise, she seemed to be faring much better than before. There was still a permanent flush on her cheeks but it wasn't remotely as prominent as before.

"Are you feeling better, Ms. Sabrina?" Janine asked politely.

Sabrina idly glanced over at Janine, expression as neutral as ever.

"Thank you for your concerns, Gym Trainer Janine… I'm recovering quite well. In fact, I find myself welcoming such trials. Improvement is a core part of every human being…" she explained, gazing at her hands with a curious expression.

"And you've been learning how to be human, huh?" I mused with a sardonic grin.

Sabrina turned her gaze towards me, disgust barely visible. "When you have something for as long as you can remember, losing it causes one to act in a matter reminiscent to blindness. Since the moment I carelessly bent a spoon as a child, I have never known a life without my psychic abilities."

Her eyes glowed faintly. "This vulnerability has been enlightening. It's both humbled and taught me the weakness of humans… but there is beauty in even weak things and I look forward to exploring that further," she smiled somewhat.

I rolled my eyes. "You sound like a psychopath. You must have been suffering quite a bit these past few days to be referring to humans like this. I wish I would have seen you attempt to open your door with your psychic abilities… and then crash face first into it," I sighed forlornly.

Gold snickered at that, putting his hands up in mock surrender as Crystal shot him a glare.

Sabrina pushed a hand against her hair, placing it behind her shoulder as she stared at me, practically confirming my sentence by not saying a word.

"Trainer Silver… I look forward to our battle," she said shortly.

"You're a little too excited don't you think? But I'll accommodate you and go first," I decided, smirking cockily at her.

Sabrina huffed of all things. "I grow tired of you. As much as I'd prefer to use my most exceptional members in our battle… I must reluctantly adhere to the guidelines set. I'd also like you out of my city at the earliest convenience."

I scoffed. So she wanted to crush me with her strongest team huh? Good to know she still hated me.

Jokes on her. I had no intention of leaving this city until I was finished with my business here.

"Let's get started then, freak," I sneered.

Sabrina's eyes narrowed. "Very well, abomination."

---

I fiddled with my gloves out of habit, as Sabrina slowly made her way to her side of the battlefield.

Finally, she arrived. The Gym Leader stood ramrod straight and gazed at me with disturbing focus.

I stared right back, tightening my gloves once more before I palmed a pokeball.

The stands were quickly being filled with speeds I found surprising. Excited chatter accompanied the surge of people and I grunted in mild annoyance.

To my immense displeasure, Sabrina seemed to echo the same sentiments as me.

Neither Sabrina or I noticed the referee staring at us strangely and I absentmindedly realized he had been speaking.

"...an official gym battle of the Saffron City Gym between the challenger, Silver of Viridian City and the Gym Leader, Sabrina! Each side is allowed 5 pokemon and only the challenger is allowed to swap. The match will be decided, when all Pokemon of one side are unable to continue!"

...

The referee coughed awkwardly at the tense silence between the two of us.

"Um... you may release your teams now," he said lamely.

Nothing. We were completely ignoring him.

The two of us just continued to stare at each other, before both our eyes narrowed.

In a disgusting amount of unison (no really I felt nauseous), the two of us grabbed a pokeball and launched it.

"Kadabra, I am in need of your assistance," Sabrina called, clumsily throwing her pokeball.

"Oberon," I said, smoothly tossing mine.

At once, a Teddiursa and Kadabra coalesced onto the field, gazing at each other as Sabrina and I caught our pokeballs.

Oberon jumped at the loud noises and looked around, terror filling his features at all the eyes on him.

"Focus on me Oberon," I greeted, tearing my gaze off of Sabrina.

He nervously glanced back and I smiled at him.

"This is a gym battle. Remember the one I had back in Celadon?" I asked him.

Oberon nodded tentatively, eyes not leaving me for a second.

"I've decided to use you so I'm trusting you to try your best, alright?" I smirked.

Oberon had been filling out. His malnourished frame, from neglect and team rockets administrations, looked plenty robust now and he was growing to the size I imagine he was supposed to be. His fur was healthy and thick and he was growing bigger everyday.

I was confident he could pull his weight.

"Ignore the crowd. Focus on my voice. The only thing that matters right now is winning," I said confidently.

"Ursa," Oberon mumbled, eyes narrowed as the air shifted around him.

I smiled.

Oberon didn't realize it yet, but he became incredibly aggressive in battles. It was like a flip was switched as soon as his adrenaline got pumping and while I was concerned about such a detail, the Nurse Joy who had checked on him hadn't noticed anything amiss.

She suggested more research but I reacted violently to that... For his sake though, I'd probably have to find someone trustworthy to verify if he was fine.

But that was for later. For now, we had a battle to win.

"Kadabra, Psybeam," Sabrina said aloud.

The crowd gasped at the vocal order, balking at Sabrina like she had grown a second head.

Considering she wasn't a vocal trainer, opting to use her psychic prowess, I guess their shock wasn't unwarranted.

"Payback," I ordered coolly.

Kadabra's spoon gleamed and it aimed it forward, firing a beam forward.

Oberon hastily covered itself in the dark type energy and let out a battle cry, bulldozing the psychic attack and rushing after the Kadabra.

"Teleport," Sabrina said coolly, unfazed by Oberon's attempt.

I was nonplussed. "Sweet Scent, fill the air."

Oberon immediately stopped his charge, glaring at Kadabra as his blood began pumping. He filled the air with a honey like scent, aroma quickly taking over the battlefield and I watched as Kadabra's shoulders sagged slightly.

"Slash," I pressed, eyes narrowed.

Oberon growled in affirmation and charged the distracted psychic type, barely scraping the Kadabra with elongated claws before it hastily teleported away.

"That's going to be annoying," I mused.

Oberon grunted in agreement, glaring at the Kadabra. The Teddiursa took a single step forward—

"Disable it."

—Before being stopped where he stood.

I sucked my teeth, as Kadabra held out their special spoon and captured Oberon in a blue sheen, halting his attack in its track.

Luckily Disable didn't actually fully stop Oberon from using the move for a set amount of time but it was an effective attack to get away from opposition.

And that's what this Kadabra wanted to do. Play keep away...

What a bugger. This was quite the terrible matchup for us.

Sabrina blinked, surprised as I held out a pokeball and returned Oberon to his ball.

"Stay ready," I murmured to the ball, grabbing another one and tossing it. "Loki."

Gasps of awe rang through the arena as my Zoroark burst from the ball.

"Pursuit," I said calmly.

Loki lunged forward with a predatory gleam in his eyes, the only one completely unsurprised by my sudden tactic.

Despite that though, Sabrina showed her mettle as a Gym Leader.

"Teleport," she ordered quickly, recovering fast from the situation.

At the sound of its trainer, voice measured as always, Kadabra instinctively activated Teleport and vanished from its spot, appearing 20 feet away from where its spot used to be...

And watching with wide eyes as Loki turned on a dime and immediately lunged to its position, blood in his eyes as a leer made its way to his face.

Sabrina pursed her lips as Loki's dark claws slashed ruthlessly against the Kadabra, getting the psychic to cry in pain.

Another Night Slash silenced it and I watched with a smile as Sabrina returned the Kadabra to its ball.

"Kadabra is unable to battle! The winner is Zoroark!" The Referee shouted.

No sooner was that announced, did I return Loki to his ball.

"Good assassination. That was going to be annoying," I smiled pleasantly, tucking him back onto my waist.

"How bothersome. It is rare to see a trainer truly utilize the fact that they may swap out their members while we cannot," Sabrina noted.

"I'm not a fan of it myself, especially considering the League doesn't allow such things. But hate makes a person do a lot of things... like sending out a teleporting and evasive Kadabra," I droned, staring a hole into her.

Sabrina scoffed slightly. "Do not flatter yourself, Trainer Silver."

"If I don't, who will?" I said mockingly, sending out my pokemon since I returned Loki. Even though Sabrina's fainted, I still needed to have a pokemon on the field per the rules.

Oberon made his way back onto the field, only slightly disgruntled by being returned...

Okay slightly was pushing it if the way he was gazing back at me meant anything.

"Fine fine. No returning this time," I grunted.

Dramatic. That's what he was.

"...Mr. Mime, I am in need of your assistance," Sabrina decided, throwing out her next pokeball.

The Mr. Mime had a creepy grin on its face, which was probably supposed to be friendly. It waved at Sabrina before turning and doing the same with both Oberon and I.

I tilted my head, giving it a single wave back.

"Sweet Scent," I said as soon as I finished waving.

Oberon hadn't even bothered waving. The air was quickly filled with the aroma of honey and Mr. Mime let out a sigh of delight.

The Teddiursa didn't bother waiting for an order, rushing towards the Mr. Mime with blood in his eyes.

"Oberon, slow down!" I barked to deaf ears.

As Oberon closed the distance, shrouded in dark energy, he suddenly crashed into a Protect.

Oberon let out a cry of pain, that transformed into a squeal as Mr. Mime slapped his small body multiple times with those big hands of it.

I sucked my teeth as Oberon was batted away over to my side.

"Get your head out of your ass, Oberon," I said firmly, watching him shakily pull himself up. "I didn't put you in this battle to embarrass yourself."

He flinched at that, gazing at me with wide eyes.

"Focus up. We're fighting an uphill battle here."

Oberon nodded at my words, determination seeping off his frame.

"Confusion," Sabrina ordered.

"Cloak yourself. Rush forward," I retorted immediately.

Mr. Mime let out a sigh of disappointment as its confusion failed to encase Oberon, before conjuring up a Reflect to stop the charging bear.

The psychic let out a confused noise, as Oberon immediately skidded to a stop, and it cooed as my Teddiursa's eyes went wide and innocent.

Oberon's gaze immediately turned ferocious and he darted around the Reflect, before lunging on top of the vulnerable Mr. Mime.

"Lick. Don't stop!" I demanded.

Mr. Mime seized up as Oberon licked it right on the cheek over and over again.

"Launch it away! Use Confusion!" Sabrina interjected.

It was not to be, Oberon almost immediately cloaked himself in the dark shroud of Payback and continued clawing, scratching and licking the distressed Mr. Mime.

Finally, it's eyes flashed and a green dome erupted from its body, pushing Oberon away.

As Oberon soared through the air, he was unable to catch himself in time before a brilliant array of light smashed into him.

I grunted, returning him to the ball before he could skid across the floor.

Mr. Mime slowly got up, twitching as parts of its body refused to move.

"Teddiursa is unable to battle! The winner is Mr. Mime!"

Dazzling Gleam... a powerful move from the strange Fairy Type.

Oberon had done his job well. He had been punching way above his weight so securing a victory right now was not what I completely envisioned.

Still sucked though.

"Metang," I muttered.

Sabrina's brows furrowed in confusion as Metang appeared from the ball.

"How is it possible for you two to function around each other?" she asked.

"Metang's complete and utter devotion to me," I replied.

"You will wake up tomorrow and find that you're missing a pokemon. Continue to lie at your own risk."

"We're the best of bros," I finished, completely ignoring them. "Bullet Punch."

Sabrina twitched as Metang blazed across the field.

"She's going to say Reflect. Prepare for it."

"Understood."

"Reflect," she said swiftly.

Mr. Mime conjured another Reflect, panting as exhaustion seeped into it.

For its efforts, Metang closed the distance and dashed around, appearing behind its fellow psychic with the enhanced speed of Bullet Punch.

The mime panicked at that, attempting to turn around before its body seized up once more from the aftereffects of getting licked by Oberon.

Metang showed no mercy at all, landing the Bullet Punch directly on its cheek.

Mr. Mime soared through air from the moment of impact. It skidded onto the ground before a beam captured and returned it.

"Mr. Mime is unable to battle! The winner is Metang!"

Sabrina turned her gaze back to me. "It would appear the rumors surrounding you had some merit to them," she noted.

"You should never listen to rumors. It's better to verify things yourself," I retorted.

Much to my surprise, Sabrina smiled.

"I could not agree more. Verifying is exactly what I've done so I believe it's time to truly challenge you."

My eyes narrowed at that.

Sabrina didn't bother saying anything else. She grabbed a pokeball and launched it.

What greeted me was a bipedal fox covered in a cot of long fur that sorta looked like a robe. It smiled coyishly at me, before pulling a stick out of its sleeve-like fur.

A Delphox.

I pursed my lips at that and held out a pokeball, returning Metang immediately.

Delphox was the final evolution of Fennekin, the fire starter of the Kalos region. It was a troublesome pokemon who relied more on its pyrokinesis, over raw firepower like the other fire starters.

Perfect for a person like Sabrina.

"Ares," I decided eventually.

Ares burst from the pokeball with a deep growl, testing her little feet for a bit before gazing heinously at the Delphox.

"Dragon Breath."

"Mystical Fire."

Ares opened her mouth and let loose a turquoise beam of raw draconic energy at the same time Delphox pointed their wand forward.

A ring formed, before Delphox fired a surge of flames through it. The orange flames, with tints of purple, collided with the Dragon Breath, causing a small explosion to take place.

Delphox let out haughty laugh, flames never waning from their wand. She waved it and summoned three fireballs this time, firing the modified Mystical Fire towards Ares.

This was the annoying thing about Delphox. Their psychic powers gave them the ability to better manipulate their flames.

Mystical Flame enhanced that greatly. It was practically fire manipulation.

"Protect," I ordered with narrowed eyes.

Ares rumbled, conjuring the green barrier and protecting herself from the balls of fire.

They exploded uselessly against the Protect before Ares let it drop.

"Dragon Dance."

Ares began swaying her body from side to side, eyes gaining a violent glint to them.

"I don't think so. Fire Spin," Sabrina retorted immediately, a glint in her eyes.

I sucked my teeth as Delphox pointed that wand once more and conjured of cage of fire that trapped Ares in it.

The flames constantly licked her, dealing constant damage and getting a snarl of irritation out of her.

"Dragon Breath," I barked, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"Light Screen." Sabrina smiled at me, glint in her eyes turning into a gleam.

This stupid bit—

Ares' frustration matched mine, as her Dragon Breath collided with the Light Screen conjured by Delphox.

"March through the flames," I tried, eyes narrowed.

Ares tried to do just that, but Delphox's eyes began glowing and I watched with a clenched jaw as the Fire Spin moved from its spot to keep Ares trapped.

What an annoying fire type.

"Don't stop running! Make it to that Delphox!" I barked.

Ares rumbled in agreement, charging the Delphox.

"No," Sabrina said calmly.

A psychic blast smashed against Ares and launched her backwards, right into the Fire Spin.

I snarled in aggravation as the flames continued licking Ares.

By now, Ares' eyes were bulging in fury and she was fully incensed, ignoring the flames licking at her repeatedly.

"Dragon Breath," I hissed, eyes boiling.

"Behind the Light Screen," Sabrina ordered.

Delphox didn't even need to be told such a thing, already standing behind the Light Screen. She had a smug smile on her face that I personally wanted to wipe off.

I felt an immense swell of satisfaction at the smug smile being wiped away from the sight of Ares shooting out a gargantuan Dragon Breath, size eclipsing what she shot out earlier.

Ah the beauty of Rage. If there was a move that was significantly better than its video game counterpart, that one was at the top of the list.

Delphox had no time to react to the Dragon Breath shooting through the air like a bullet, smashing directly through the Light Screen. She let out a squeal as the fury filled Dragon Rage, practically punched her in the gut and sent her skidding back.

"Catch her," I snarled.

With Delphox distracted, the Fire Spin lost much of its power and annoyance, allowing the Rage fueled Ares to dash out of it.

Utilizing the effects of Dragon Dance, my lumbering Shelgon actually made quite the distance and Delphox hastily summoned a wall of mystical flames to ward off Ares' advance...

To no success at all. Ares burst through those flames like a woman possessed, tackling Delphox to the ground with her heavy as hell body.

Ares snarled and clamped her fangs around Delphox's neck, the Crunch ripping out a screech from the fox.

The aloof nature was gone, Ares was burned and fuming and utterly furious at the Delphox beneath her.

So she ragdolled that damn fox like her life depended on it.

"Delphox. Attempt to free yourself! Ignite yourself in flames!" Sabrina shouted, eyes wide.

Delphox was in far too much distress to hear Sabrina. She struggled wildly underneath Ares, wand firing flames in every direction.

Ares never let go, even when some connected with her.

The, quite frankly, savage act was finally put to rest as Delphox erupted in a great bout of flames, launching Ares backwards with the surge.

The fox huffed, eyes boiling in fury as an orange and red aura surrounded her.

Blaze... just great.

"Compose yourself, Delphox," Sabrina said measuredly, watching her pokemon practically spit flames at Ares.

Delphox attempted to take a deep breath...

"Dragon Breath."

...Before the anger came roaring back at the sight of Ares firing a Dragon Breath. She held out her wand and fired an enormous gout of flames.

The amped Mystical Fire, collided with the amped Dragon Breath and an enormous explosion erupted over the field.

Delphox snarled, waving her wand and summoning three fireballs. She launched it through the air with expert precision towards Ares, who opened her mouth and mowed them down with another Dragon Breath.

A psychic sheen surrounded Ares as soon as she destroyed the last fireball and with a heave, Delphox launched her into the air, visibly straining to do so in her state.

Ares roared as she fought against the Psychic and she glared over at Delphox, who was aiming the wand at her.

"You won't break out in time! Dragon Breath Ares!" I shouted.

"Mystical Fire!" Sabrina shouted in turn, eyes glowing with emotion at our battle.

Delphox howled in exertion, placing every bit of fire into the tip of her wand before firing a Mystical Fire that looked more like a Flamethrower.

Ares roared in pure fury, mouth opening wide as turquoise energy formed in her mouth.

My eyes widened as instead of a beam, Ares fired a shoddy turquoise ball instead.

The Dragon Pulse collided with the Mystical Fire and I had to cover my face as the biggest explosion yet took place.

My coat billowed, as a rush of wind crashed into me.

I coughed as the smoke was carried over to me, waving it away as I waited for the dust to settle.

As the smoke wafted away, I was greeted to the sight of Ares... unconscious on the floor as Delphox sagged on her side of the battlefield.

"Shelgon is unable to battle! The winner is Delphox!" The referee shouted.

My eyes were slightly wide at that. After all, it was exceedingly rare for Ares to lose in a straight one on one.

She risked it on a technique that she didn't finish and it backfired.

I returned her to the ball and pursed my lips, watching as Delphox collapsed moments after.

"Delphox is unable to battle! Will Trainer Silver release his next pokemon?!"

At least she managed to take the Delphox down with her. That fox was really annoying.

"Metang," I grunted, tossing my next ball.

"Splendid, Trainer Silver. This battle... I do not normally enjoy them but this one fills me with a strange excitement," Sabrina stated, the gleam in her eyes still there as a ghost of a smile formed on her face.

"I hope you keep that energy by the end of our match," I snorted, watching her every move.

"...I believe winning would fill me with the most amount of this feeling," Sabrina mused, grabbing her next pokeball. "Therefore that is what I shall strive to do. Most trainers I merely test, but for you, Trainer Silver I will make an earnest effort to win... within reason of course."

"Look at that. The spoiled drama queen is being brought out of her shell by someone she hates. I'm so touched," I snarked, eyes glinting as well as she tossed her next pokemon out.

It was a white, bipedal pokemon with a green torso with sharp, red horns sticking out of its chest and back. The most notable thing about this pokemon, were the two blade like elbows it had.

Red eyes gazed at me respectively and the Gallade bowed properly.

Metang rumbled in acknowledgment and I simply stared at it, nodding my head once.

Delphox into Gallade... Sabrina sure wasn't making it easy for me.

"Come Trainer Silver, let us continue this!" Sabrina announced, eyes glowing with her faint psychic abilities.

My eyes flashed dangerously. "Metang, Iron Defense!" I barked right as Gallade teleported from its spot.

Remember how I said Rage was at the top of the list for significantly better than its counterpart? Teleport might have been number one.

Gallade Teleported right in Metang's guard, blade shrouded in dark energies as it slashed into my steel types back.

Metang looked only slightly uncomfortable from the super effective attack, body shining with the effects of Iron Defense as they pivoted immediately and raked metallic claws against Gallade's chest.

The evolution of Ralts barely grunted as the sharp claws connected with him, merely teleporting a safe distance away. He was stalking Metang carefully, poised to either shorten the gap or widen it at a whim.

Fucking annoying.

"Agility," I grunted, eyes locked onto the Gallade as I began thinking of plans to catch it.

"Double Team," Sabrina said immediately after.

An army of Gallade's began filling the fields and I hissed as the real one teleported in, Night Slashed Metang, then teleported back into the mass of bodies.

"Keep that Iron Defense steady, Metang. Start running."

Metang listened to my order easily, dashing off with their head tucked and crashing into every body of Gallade they could see.

They flew through all of them, none being real and I watched as the real Gallade teleported directly behind Metang, lunging forward with a dark blade—

And getting a Shadow Ball smashed into his face for his efforts.

The super effective attack made the Gallade immediately shout in surprise.

"Shadow Ball...?" Sabrina mused, surprise on her features.

Metang actually had a fairly easy time learning Shadow Ball from the TM. The reason I greenlighted it, was for this battle. It would give Metang a good advantage against other psychics.

Gallade hastily teleported away, just in time to avoid another Shadow Ball smashing into his chest.

"Don't give it time to think. Bullet Punch."

Metang's eyes roved over the battlefield at incredible speeds, finding the real Gallade from the Teleport in record time. They glowed and blazed through the field, rushing down the fighting type a purpose.

Gallade parried Metang, pushing away those sharp claws and taking a step back.

Metang was relentless, claws gleaming with the effects of Bullet Punch. They dove right back into Gallade's guard and Metang just began swinging at intense speeds with Bullet Punch after Bullet Punch.

Gallade's eyes glowed and both his blades began glowing with the dark energy of Night Slash. Then the two began striking each other nonstop.

They parried each other, beat each other... Sabrina and I just watched Metang and Gallade wail each other.

Gallade leaned back from a swipe and leaned in, crashing a blade against Metang's hard body, taking a fist to the face for his efforts and grunting as the claws raked against his face as a side effect.

Metang's eyes flashed for just a moment, using its shoddy psychic abilities to make Gallade jolt forward slightly, right into a sickening Iron Head to the dome.

Gallade let out a shout at that. No doubt there were stars in its eyes at the concussive blow and Metang took full advantage of that.

If possible, its fists began firing off even faster. Metang was taking full effect of the speed that Bullet Punch granted it, landing blow after blow onto any part that it could reach.

"Gallade!" Sabrina shouted, watching as her dazed pokemon was slowly but surely pushed back from Metang's assault.

Gallade's eyes narrowed and clarity entered its eyes.

It caught one of Metang's claws and jammed a Night Slash directly on the spot above its spike.

Metang groaned at that, immediately pausing at the weak spot being struck and Gallade took full advantage of it.

The Male evolution of Ralts tensed up, crossed its arms together and slashed through Metang, Night Slash devouring both its blades as an X of darkness appeared on my pokemon.

I clenched my jaw at that, watching as Metang collapsed onto the floor.

"Fucking hell," I cursed to myself.

"Metang is unable to battle! The winner is Gallade!"

This Gallade was metal as fuck. I never expected Sabrina of all people to use one.

"Impressive aren't they? My original team also has a Gallade. What better way to show the fighting dojo a superior fighting type, than to use my own?" Sabrina asked, smiling slightly.

"Oh so you're actually a sadist," I pointed out, returning Metang to the ball.

"Sadist... I would not quite use that word. But, I am learning new things about myself," she mentioned.

"Now come at me with all you have. It is a two on two. What will you do now?"

I huffed at that and grabbed my next ball.

"Gaia," I decided, deciding on Bayleef here.

Sabrina's eyes narrowed, suspicion in her eyes.

Gaia stared at the Gallade with narrowed eyes, taking in its numerous injuries and nodding to herself.

"Gallade, use Fury Cutter," she began, suspicion never leaving her eyes.

Ah, she thought this was Loki huh?

"Catch it, Gaia. It's going to teleport behind you," I sneered.

Gaia's vines snaked out and immediately lashed behind her, catching the Gallade the moment he got out of his teleport.

It let out a grunt of surprise at being wrapped up immediately in Gaia's vines. His eyes widened as seeds began planting themselves on him and he let out a gagging noise, due to the fact that Gaia's vines were seeped in poison.

While not even remotely as resistant to it, Gaia did have a level of resistance to poison from practicing Poison Powder so much.

"Slam it," I grunted, eyes narrowed as she hoisted him up and began brutally slamming him onto the ground.

Gallade cried out in pain, eyes glowing as it vanished out of Gaia's clutches and appeared closer to Sabrina's side.

"Life Dew," she murmured to it.

My eyes sharpened. "Don't let it heal! Razor Leaf!"

Gaia growled in annoyance and fired a flurry of ultra sharp leaves.

Gallade barely managed the process of healing as he was forced to cancel his technique.

"Fury Cutter!"

Gallade's eyes glowed with psychic energy and I huffed in annoyance.

Two moves that hampered psychics? And it could use them to this degree? Sabrina must have really loved Gallade to be teaching just a gym version of it this stuff.

Gallade's eyes glowed with the perception of being both a psychic and martial artist and it weaved, ducked, and cut through every leaf with a sickly green scythe.

"Close the gap! Fury Cutter!" Sabrina ordered.

"Reflect!" I retorted.

Gallade vanished from its spot, blade poised to cut through Gaia's midsection, only for it to hiss as one of its blades crashed against the shining wall of Reflect.

"Grab it!" I shouted.

"Brick Break!" Sabrina retorted.

My eyes widened at that, watching as Gallade used its other arm, glowing white this time, to crash it against the Reflect, smashing through the reflect like it were made of glass.

The unexpected move caught Gaia off guard and she spluttered, before wailing as Gallade's Fury Cutter struck true.

Gallade had foregone honor, lunging forward to continue delivering Fury Cutter after Fury Cutter.

I grit my teeth. Fury Cutter was a move that started off weak but got stronger as you connected it. On a pokemon like this Gallade, who could utilize it in both of its blades, it was dangerously effective.

Gallade was trying to finish this off because it understood that it was on a timer now. Gaia was steadily healing from the effects of Leech Seed and Gallade was getting drained by both poison and that same Leech Seed.

"Gaia! Wrap your vines around its face!" I shouted urgently.

My Bayleef whined in pain but listened to my orders, vines swiftly lashing out and wrapping around the relentless Gallade's head.

It let out a shout of surprise at that and continued hammering away at Gaia, only to miss wildly as she spun him around.

"Giga Drain and Brain Bash," I hissed violently.

Gaia hissed at the same time, vines wrapped tightly around Gallade.

"Gallade! Teleport out of there!"

The psychic attempted to follow its order but the moment it even attempted, Gaia yanked it backwards and slammed its head brutally against a new Reflect.

Gallade wheezed, spit flying out of its mouth as Gaia scrambled his brain. It's struggles intensified and it reached up to grasp at the vines only for Gaia to yank it backwards again, bashing its head against the Reflect with ruthless force.

I didn't miss how everyone in the crowd winced. This was pretty barbaric to witness. Gaia was not only asphyxiating the Gallade, who was poisoned by the way, she was also scrambling its brain and sapping it of energy. It would certainly need a trip to the Pokemon Center after this because I'm fairly sure this would probably put me on the top of Team Plasma's shit list.

Oh well. No mercy.

Everytime Gallade so much as twitched, Gaia would bash it against the Reflect. Sabrina's orders were falling on deaf ears because the Gallade was not even remotely coherent to listen to her.

Finally, the Gallade's hand went limp, falling to its side as Gaia released him.

It fell forward and thudded to the ground, Gaia leering down at it with a victorious and exhausted glint.

"G-Gallade is unable to battle! The winner is B-Bayleef!" The referee shouted, gazing at Gaia with horrified eyes.

"Holy shit," I heard someone mutter in the silence of the crowd.

"I thought his massive Shelgon was scary..." someone said.

"Never thought I'd be calling a Bayleef terrifying."

I didn't say anything, watching as Gaia tiredly dragged herself over to my side again.

"Good job girl," I said, smiling slightly at her.

"Bay," she smiled tiredly.

Sabrina returned Gallade to her ball with an unreadable expression.

"My desire to defeat you... you've only made that urge stronger," she said bluntly, grabbing a final ball.

"I've never felt the pressure of my back being against the wall... and now I see that it is a sensation born from the thrill of battle," Sabrina stated, eyes glowing brighter and brighter.

"With only one pokemon left, I can't help but feel now is the time for me to perform my best."

I smirked wildly at that. "Spoken like a true trainer. I guess even you're capable of feeling that heat."

That competitive gleam, the one that had been growing in her eyes as the battle progressed, finally settled into a calm roar as Sabrina launched her final pokeball.

Short, humanoid, with a yellow skeletal body covered in brown armor like sections, I wasn't even surprised to see the Alakazam in all its glory.

No one alive may have been a bigger fan of Alakazam than Gym Leader Sabrina after all.

The psychic polished its spoons, mustache twitching as it gazed at Sabrina, then it looked at us, locking eyes with me and twitching slightly.

I didn't realize but the psychics Sabrina used didn't seem overly affected by my presence. Maybe they had been getting used to it as well for the upcoming battle.

Good, I wouldn't want a free win after all.

"Calm Mind," Sabrina instructed immediately.

"Synthesis," I replied, eyes narrowed.

Gaia was almost completely spent from that barrage of Fury Cutters and there was no sun out to draw energy from for Synthesis, so this wouldn't be too effective but anything to keep the battle going.

Much like the Gallade previously, Alakazam teleported from its spot and appeared to the left of Gaia.

Gaia whirled immediately, turning to face it. She lashed out with her vines, only to whine in confusion as her attack soared past the Alakazam.

"Light Screen!" I shouted.

"Psycho Cut." Sabrina said at the exact same time, smiling at me.

Gaia conjured a Light Screen, that did absolutely nothing to block the sharp blade of energy hanging off of Alakazam's spoon.

It cut into Gaia and she let out a cry of pain, stumbling backwards.

"Grab it while it's this close!" I snarled, eyes narrowed in confusion at Gaia actually missing the first time.

Gaia's accuracy was impeccable. She had been trying to hit the speedy Loki since she was a little Chikorita.

My confusion only grew as she missed the next swing as well and then I noticed Alakazam's eyes glowing.

Son of a...

"Careful Gaia! He's using Kinesis on you! It'll make your moves harder to hit!" I warned, watching as Alakazam teleported slightly to the right.

"Magnificent. To think you'd be able to tell... but it is too late," Sabrina assured. "Psychic, Alakazam."

Gaia squealed as she was launched backwards from concussive force. She rolled against the floor and remained still, before struggling to pull herself up.

I was already fishing out a pokeball to return her but she glared back at me, a green aura beginning to surround her.

As Overgrowth began taking effect, I huffed and nodded, placing the pokeball away for now.

"Alright then. Razor Leaf."

Gaia let out a mighty yell and turned into a turret, firing off sharp leaves one after the other.

Alakazam attempted to teleport, but the moment he appeared, he was forced to conjure a wall that was almost instantly shattered by the amount of Razor Leaves that just crashed into it.

The final forms of Abra were frail pokemon. They weren't built to take many hits, trading endurance for some of the best firepower of psychics.

I just needed to land meaningful hits on them.

Alakazam attempted to Teleport once more but I wasn't having it.

"Magical Leaf!" I barked, eyes gleaming violently.

Gaia's eyes matched my violence and I watched Sabrina's widen slightly.

The Bayleef bellowed and launched two giant leaves that immediately honed in on Alakazam's position.

"Disable!" Sabrina shouted.

Alakazam's spoon glowed blue and it captured the two giant leaves in a blue sheen, capturing and suspending them in midair.

The slight focus on stopping the Magical Leaves, gave Gaia a chance to wrap her vines around its midsection and she hoisted the Alakazam and slammed it onto the floor before it could preemptively teleport.

Before she could repeat, the Alakazam freed itself with Psycho Cut, severing the vines completely and vanishing from its spot.

"Magical Leaf again!" I barked.

Gaia snarled, conjuring even more leaves this time and Sabrina's eyes narrowed.

"Telekinesis, Alakazam."

Gaia was suddenly wrapped in a sheen of psychic power, before she was abruptly lifted into the air and suspended there.

She let out a shout and struggled as much as she could, growling and snarling as she prepared to fire off the Magical Leaf.

"And finally, the finale has arrived," Sabrina announced, gleam roaring confidently. "Alakazam, use Recover."

My eyes narrowed. "Gaia! Just fire the Magical Leaf! Hit that bastard!"

She attempted to fire it but Gaia let out a wail, as she was suddenly struck by an unknown attack...

All while Alakazam continued to heal.

What...?

My eyes widened. Was that Future Sight?

Gaia writhed about as she was bombarded with the attack and she cried, as the green aura faded from her body.

"Bayleef is unable to battle, the winner is Alakazam!"

Sabrina's smile widened, as Alakazam teleported back to Sabrina's side, healthy again.

"Splendid, Trainer Silver. Both brought to our final members... Do you feel this?" Sabrina wondered, watching as I palmed my final ball.

I sneered. "Finding your love for battle this late in your life... and turning into a drama queen because of it, sure does fit every image i have of you."

Sabrina scoffed, that fire never leaving her eyes. "Nothing will satisfy this fire more than defeating you. Come Trainer Silver, send out your final pokemon!"

"Be careful what you wish for," I sneered, tossing out my final pokeball.

Loki burst onto the scene again, staring at the Alakazam with a predatory gleam in his eyes.

"Let's wrap this up Loki."

"A one on one. Let us achieve victory, Alakazam."

I tightened my gloves, eyes boiling with the desire for victory.

I didn't give a damn about the gym badge. All I wanted was to crush Sabrina the same way she wanted to crush me.

This went beyond testing my skills. The two of us just wanted to win against the other.

"Calm Mind!" Sabrina shouted immediately.

"Taunt," I snarled.

Before Alakazam could enter a state of tranquility, greatly boosting its mental capabilities, Loki snarled at him, shrouded in dark energy.

The move successfully worked, cancelling the Calm Mind in its tracks and make the Alakazam gain a vein of annoyance.

"No more of your silly little tricks," I sneered at her.

Sabrina scoffed. "It would appear so..."

"Pursuit. Close the distance and wrap this up swift," I ordered.

Loki launched himself across the field, black streaking behind him as he prepared to end the Alakazam swiftly and net me my victory.

Finally, Sabrina's frown vanished, smile replacing it.

"...Unfortunately, I still have a few more tricks up my sleeve. Alakazam. Psychic."

My brows furrowed in confusion, before widening in disbelief as a psychic sheen actually surrounded Loki, launching him back and away from the Alakazam.

"Zor?" Loki gasped, tumbling against the floor. He clawed the ground and halted his momentum, gazing at the Alakazam with wary eyes.

"Miracle Eye? When did you set up a Miracle Eye?" I asked incredulously.

Sabrina looked impressed. "Your ability to identify moves after a single interaction is worthy of praise, Trainer Silver. To answer your question, Miracle Eye was the first technique I had Alakazam use... against your Bayleef of course. Even before Kinesis."

She pushed a strand of her hair behind her neck. "I was already preparing countermeasures for your truly troublesome Zoroark. I knew it would be a duel between them. That is why I saved Alakazam and not Gallade for it."

I scowled at that. "So that means you've been scouting me as far back as Cerulean?"

"I've watched every one of your battles, Trainer Silver. Our battle was one that I've been preparing to partake in for a long time and it hasn't disappointed," she said calmly.

I took a deep breath and sighed. "So this is what obsession does, huh? Our first meeting turned you into this? I'd be almost afraid if you weren't a decade older than me," I snarked.

Sabrina twitched at that. "Alakazam. Psybeam."

"Agility Loki."

Alakazam pointed both spoons and fired a beam of psychic energy at Loki, who slipped into Agility, blazing across the fields.

"Shadow Ball," I ordered,

"You as well, Alakazam."

Both of them wasted no time conjuring the ghostly energies of Shadow Ball, firing them at each other with pinpoint accuracy and causing them to collide as a result.

"Close the distance. Night Slash," I ordered, eyes narrowed like a predator.

With Agility, Loki leapt much faster at Alakazam this time. He crossed the distance near instantly, lunging at the psychic with a hunters gleam.

"Focus Blast," Sabrina said calmly.

A smirk made its way to my face, before vanishing as Alakazam whirled on a dime, aiming the Focus Blast at where Loki actually was.

He had no chance to react, caught just as off guard as me.

A yellow ball of energy formed in between both Alakazam's spoons and I realized he really wasn't bluffing as he smashed the Focus Blast square into Loki's stomach.

The blast launched Loki away and I watched in disbelief as he rolled across the floor.

"Much like how my tricks will not work on you, yours will not work on me," Sabrina informed me. "To a psychic, a dark type is like the void. Our ability to not affect them, can help us identify them as well."

"Not to mention, Miracle Eye grants us the ability to see more than normal," she finished.

I huffed at that. "You sure are talkative all of a sudden. Loki are you okay?"

Loki huffed, wiping his mouth and gaining a dark glare on his face.

"Zor," he muttered, fangs bared as he locked his teal eyes onto the wary Alakazam.

"Let's slow down a bit," I muttered.

Loki gazed back at me, before an understanding look entered his eyes.

We're not the ones desperate for something fortunate. We were the hunters here. Alakazam was waiting for us to slip up so it could capitalize on an opportunity...

So we just wouldn't give it one.

"Snarl," I demanded.

Miracle Eye allowed Alakazam to attack Loki, but that didn't suddenly make it any less vulnerable to dark type attacks... and that didn't make dark type attacks any less effective against psychic moves.

"Psycho Cut! Cut what you are capable of," Sabrina ordered.

Loki barked and fired a giant dark ring of energy forward. The Snarl rushed towards Alakazam, who shuffled backwards all while conjuring a blade of psychic energy on both spoons.

It grunted and swung, relying on Miracle Eye to actually be able to affect the dark type move.

The Alakazam groaned as it was tagged by the Snarl but he managed to stave off the full damage.

"Shadow Ball," I pressed, eyes narrowed as.

Loki summoned a Shadow Ball in his hands with narrowed eyes, before launching it towards the Alakazam.

Once again the Shadow Ball clashed with one conjured by the Alakazam.

"Again," I said methodically.

Miracle Eye only helped with dark type moves. It did nothing against ghosts.

Loki fired another Shadow Ball and Alakazam tried to match it once more, only for its eyes to widen slightly as it failed.

"Torment!" Sabrina warned a second too late.

Alakazam shuffled back in its surprise and hissed as the Shadow Ball crashed into it.

It got up, shuddering at being afflicted with the ghostly energies before Sabrina attempted to take more control of the battle.

"Focus Blast!" she ordered, gaze focused onto the pacing Loki.

"Don't get hit by that," I muttered.

Loki didn't need to even be told that. The Focus Blast whizzed uselessly past the spot he was at.

"Widespread Snarl."

My Zoroark's eyes were narrowed cruelly and he fired multiple rings this time, dividing Alakazam's attention greatly. They soared through the air, much smaller than the big ring he fired earlier but sporting far more.

The psychic panted, eyes glowing brightly as it held out its spoons and fired off a concussive wave of psychic energy, destroying as much of them as it could.

"Alakazam, Psychic! Rip the ground up underneath it!" Sabrina urged.

Alakazam's eyes glowed and ripped the ground from below Loki, making the Zoroark stumble about.

He ripped the ground and began bombarding Loki with rocks, making my first pokemon hiss in annoyance.

Loki's eyes flashed and he activated Pursuit, lunging towards the Alakazam.

Alakazam were actually quite fast. They utilized their psychic prowess to move their rather weak bodies around.

Case in point, it repelled Loki with a Psybeam and swiftly gloated backwards.

Loki's eyes were shining, malice in them as he refused to back down. His claws glowed crimson and he lunged forward again, swiping relentlessly at the Alakazam who was trying its best to ward the attack off with Psycho Cut. Every other move would simply take too long to conjure and Loki was pressing him like he were possessed.

Alakazam hastily captured Loki in a psychic shield. He was unable to maintain it due to how much Loki struggled against it and was only successful in launching Loki back a few feet.

But we had cornered it from the constant and the psychic seemed to finally realize that.

Alakazam looked behind it, being met with a wall and realized it had gotten corralled here. The psychic gazed ahead and was met with the smirking Loki.

"Alakazam, Focus Blast!" Sabrina shouted urgently.

"Extrasensory!" I shouted right back.

Alakazam hastily conjured a Focus Blast and fired it forward, even without the fact it wasn't full prepared.

It was met with a giant rainbow colored wave that wrapped around the Focus Blast, forcing it to explode preemptively.

Due to the close proximity, both of them got caught by the explosion but neither Sabrina or I could tell what happened to our respective pokemon.

"Alakazam! Taunt has worn off! You must Teleport out of there!" Sabrina warned, watching as smoke clouded the arena once more.

Alakazam hastily activated Teleport, vanishing from its spot and appearing a ways away from the smoke.

I grinned. "So you know when Taunt wears off too huh?" I asked, impressed that she was aware of such a detail.

"...Too?" Sabrina said, before her eyes went wide.

Out of the smoke, a panting Loki burst out, dark energy streaking off of him as he locked onto the Alakazam.

Alakazam's eyes were wide and it's eyes were already glowing in preparation.

"Reflect!" Sabrina shouted, eyes blazing with her psychic powers.

As Alakazam conjured a wall to stop the Pursuit from smashing into it, it froze in shock at seeing Loki skid to an abrupt stop.

I smiled as Sabrina made the same mistake I made earlier in the battle. "Night Daze."

Sabrina's eyes widened, "Focus Blast!"

Loki smiled as well, before erupting in a dome of crimson energy.

The Night Daze was a sight to behold, double the size of what he could muster up as a Zorua and as a result, it practically covered half the battlefield.

As the dome dissipated, I was greeted to the sight of Loki limping tiredly above the unconscious Alakazam, experimentally holding one of its spoons before placing it next to the psychic.

He sighed and took a seat, eyes drooping slightly.

"Alakazam is unable to battle! As a result, Gym Leader Sabrina has no remaining Pokemon! The winner of this match is the challenger, Trainer Silver!"

I smirked crookedly, returning Loki to the ball.

"Good job," I praised quietly. "Even with your tricks negated, we don't have to only rely on that anymore now do we?"

The Luxury Ball shook in my grasp and I snorted.

What a satisfying battle... but next time I wanted to sweep her 6-0.

Was it possible? Probably not... but damn would it feel good if I could.

---

"I admit, I am more than disappointed that I lost, but that was a splendid battle," Sabrina admitted, standing across from me.

I ignored the roaring crowd, simply staring at the psychic.

"I don't completely nullify you... so why are you foregoing using your psychic abilities at all?" I questioned curiously.

The gym leader said nothing at that.

"During our last encounter, I noticed how vulnerable I was. I also noticed how over reliant I happened to be on my psychic abilities," she explained, watching as the battlefield was repaired in preparation for her next battle.

"So that's why you've been willingly acting fully human," I mused.

"It was an experience I had forgotten about," Sabrina admitted. "I am capable of seeing many things others are not. I even foresaw the arrival of you prior to your arrival."'

"Did you?" I asked flippantly.

"It was a nightmare. I found myself unable to sleep well for reasons I could not explain. It was only until after actually meeting you, did I realize I was envisioning an encounter... because I had that very same nightmare."

Hm. Fascinating.

"You are an anomaly, Trainer Silver. One who is unnatural in a way that cannot be explained," Sabrina stated bluntly. "You are afflicted with an energy I've never encountered. An amalgamation of something familiar, yet utterly alien."

"I'm still trying to figure it out myself. Your curiosity will have to remain just that," I sighed.

Sabrina turned to stare at me, eyes glowing faintly.

"During our battle, I decided to announce my orders instead of mentally communicating with my pokemon. I never expected such a simple change to invigorate me so," she revealed.

I snorted. "Well would you look at that, the drama queen actually enjoys being human. You certainly had a bit of flair during our battle."

"...I did not notice. I believe I was "caught in the moment" for a majority of our battle," she said.

"Good. That means you were caught in the moment when I won," I retorted smugly.

"I do look forward to your progression. I will take great pleasure in properly crushing you with my original team," Sabrina said simply.

"I'd like to see it, Freak."

"I will make sure it is more exciting than this battle, Abomination."

I rolled my eyes, effortlessly catching the speeding bullet known as Green before she could tackle me to the ground like the pest she was.

Charcadet cheered, crushed between the two of due to being held in Green's arms. The little guy didn't seem to mind though.

"Great job Silvy! That was incredible!" Green gushed, practically buzzing in her excitement.

"It was awesome! Just watching that makes me itch to fight!" Gold grinned.

"I agree. After this, we'll have to work off some of our adrenaline," Crystal sighed, an intense look in her eyes that showed that she was just as much of a battle freak as Gold and Green...

And I guess me too. That battle really was fun.

"Well done, Silver," was all Janine said, smiling slightly.

"You still have one more battle," Sabrina reminded. "Come Trainer Green. It is your time for battle."

Green nodded excitedly, adjusting her hat and dusting off her red skirt.

"We need to get you a new shirt and skirt combo. You have no style at all," I mentioned, shaking my head as I placed Charcadet on my shoulder.

Green spluttered. "N-Now is not the time to judge my fashion taste! And I'm not taking advice from someone who only wears three colors! And I like my outfit! And you need to shut up!"

I shrugged helplessly, patting her on the back and walking towards the stands where Gold, Crystal and Janine were seated.

"Whatever you say. Once you stop being stubborn, I'll gladly give you advice on what to wear."

"I hate you, Silvy. Get outta here."

"Dramatic. All of you are so dramatic," I said dryly.

Crystal laughed quietly. "I think her outfit is fine. She doesn't need to change it!"

I spared her a single glance. "Of course you'd say that," I pointed out.

Just the way I said my sentence, seemed to deeply offend Crystal.

"W-What? Are you saying something's wrong with my outfit too?" she stammered in confusion.

"A head of blue hair, a white jacket, a red shirt and yellow pants. Are you applying to the circus? What is your getup?" I raised a brow.

Gold snorted, transforming it into a fake cough as Crystal turned wide eyes over to him.

"He made fun of my outfit as well. He said there's no point walking around dressed like a ninja all the time... it defeats the purpose of a disguise. I-I just like the outfit," Janine mumbled, face burning.

"What about my outfit?!" Gold asked curiously.

I opened my mouth, before shutting it. My eyes shut as well as I let out heavy sigh.

"Silver, are you alright?" Crystal asked in concern, placing a hand against my head to test the temperature.

"Is it that bad?" Gold mused, glancing down at his red hoodie.

I opened my eyes slowly and gazed at Gold again.

"Your outfit... is actually good," I bit out, a strain in my voice.

Gold opened his mouth and shut it.

"Did it... hurt you to compliment me?" he asked in disbelief.

"Don't ask him a question that you don't want to hear the answer to. That's what I learned about Silver," Janine advised wisely.

"After this... let's go shopping after this, Silver," Crystal mumbled.

I raised a brow. "Why the hell are you telling me this?"

"You're the one who made me self conscious about my outfit. I was fine with it before you said something..."

I shrugged. "Fair enough. Alright then."

"This may be a good opportunity for me to update my wardrobe as well... I'm also more self conscious about myself," Janine interjected.

I pinched my nose and just took a deep breath, taking a seat and focusing on my companions upcoming battle.

"Alright you losers. I'll teach you how to dress after this. Now focus on the battle."

---

Sabrina started the battle off by throwing out a Gothorita.

Green narrowed her eyes in contemplation and palmed a pokeball, before throwing it and revealing Dree the Dreepy.

There were noises of awe, people not used to seeing a pokemon like Dreepy.

"Green, unlike Silver, has a very large power gap in her team. There is a giant gap between her strongest three and her weakest three," Janine murmured.

I nodded in agreement. "We basically spent the entire month here bridging the gap of her team a bit. Dree probably made the most improvements," I pointed out.

His rate of growth was actually quite significant. Almost suspiciously so.

Dree was pathetically weak. It barely knew any moves, couldn't take hits and was all in all, a true first form pseudo legend.

But Dree was fast.

Dree was fast as hell. During our trip here, that's what we focused on for the little guy.

And Green was using that to full effect.

"Quick Attack Dree! Get in close and use Astonish!" Green shouted.

The Dreepy zipped in, streaked in white before it dove into Gothorita's guard, foreboding aura making the psychic flinch slightly, before it let out a pained noise at the Astonish connecting.

Gothorita fired a Psybeam in retaliation but its split second of hesitation, allowed Dree to zip behind the pokemon.

"Infestation!" Green pressed.

Dree croaked a bit at that, determination in his eyes as he fired off an attack that literally just looked like a bunch of fleas.

Gothorita shrieked in disgust swiping uselessly as the bugs continued pestering her.

"Alright Dree! Astonish again!"

"Fake Tears!" Sabrina retorted, eyes narrowed.

Dree's assault temporarily slowed down, as Gothorita burst into tears. It caused the little dragon to slow down and Sabrina pressed her sudden advantage.

"Psybeam!"

Gothorita's crocodile tears vanished as quickly as they game. The psychic powered through its disgust and fired off a beam of psychic energy, connecting squarely with the vulnerable Dree.

Dree shrieked at that, launched backwards as the attack struck true.

"That's probably that. Dree can't take a hit," I sighed, mulling over how Green could win this battle.

Her two most advantageous pokemon against Sabrina, were babies still.

Judging by the slight furrow of her brows, Green realized that too. She held out a pokeball to return Dree but stopped as the Dreepy slowly pushed himself back up.

My brow shot up high in disbelief, as his body was surrounded by a white aura and I stared at the sight in disbelief.

"Woah?! Evolution?!" Gold gasped eyes wide.

Crystal awed at that.

I was not of the same reaction at all.

"That... what?" I muttered in confusion, watching as Green's eyes widened in confusion as well.

"What's the matter?" Janine asked softly, having her doubts as well.

"That shouldn't be possible. Dree shouldn't be close to evolution at all," I stressed.

I understood that a Dreepy underneath a trainer was significantly stronger that a wild one but they still had relatively late evolutions.

But as I watched the metamorphosis happening before my very eyes, I could not deny the facts.

Why was Dree evolving right now?

The little thing grew significantly larger, horns on its head growing significantly larger as it (along with his head) turned black, gaining two pinkish and triangle stripes on its head.

The dragon opened its yellow eyes to inspect its new body. His little arms grew slightly, his tail grew massively and he gained an all new set of feet.

Despite my confusion, I still appreciated the Drakloak.

What a cool pokemon.

"Dree? Are you alright?" Green asked in concern.

The Drakloak turned back towards Green and hissed in surprise. He nodded slowly and inspected his body once more.

I don't think anyone was expecting this evolution... even Dree.

I imagine they were taking a one way trip to the pokemon center after this but for now, my companion had a battle to win.

"We'll focus on that later, Dree! Let's win this!" Green exclaimed, confidence entering her eyes.

"Congratulations. Though, it appears this was unexpected and not calculated," Sabrina mentioned.

"Completely," Green admitted without a hint of hesitation. "But he's fine so let's continue!"

"Indeed," the gym leader agreed. "Gothorita, Psybeam."

The Gothorita looked incredibly uncomfortable with the Infestation lingering over them, but it carried out its order immediately.

Dree watched as the Gothorita's Psybeam approached and the dragon growled, before it jetted out of the way. The dragon moved at far faster speeds than before and I whistled in appreciation as it appeared behind the psychic.

The Drakloak tackled Gothorita from behind, before activating the ghostly energy of Astonish, smashing into the psychic with dreadful force.

Gothorita rolled across the ground from the force of the attack before Sabrina returned it to its ball.

"Fast," I murmured. This thing was going to be a serious problem when it became a Dragapult.

Green's whole team was to be honest. But this thing right here? It was going to cause serious damage.

Sabrina mulled over her options, before grabbing another pokeball and throwing it out.

A Xatu appeared from the ball, staring at nothing before it slightly shifted its gaze towards the Drakloak.

Then, the bird spread its wings.

"Tailwind," Sabrina said.

I watched with a calculating eye as a whirlwind formed on the battlefield, cloaking Xatu and pushing Drakloak back slightly.

Xatu let out a shrieking cry before firing blades of wind at Dree, who hissed and dashed backwards, avoiding the Air Slash by a hair's breadth.

The dragon dashed towards Xatu, ghostly energy pouring off of him once more but right before he arrived, the bird teleported, appearing behind the dragon instantly.

Dree let out a strangled hiss of surprise, as more blades of wind crashed against his back.

"Night Shade."

As the dragon whirled around, a black mirage of the Xatu was conjured, before it crashed into Dree.

Dree attempted to crash into the Xatu with Quick Attack but the bird had already flown away, speed enhanced by the turbulent Tailwind.

"Quick Attack! Try and catch it!"

What followed next was a high speed chase between the two. Dree tried following after the speeding Xatu, but was always a step too slow.

They zipped through the air and Xatu took the chance to try and pepper Dree with ranged attacks the entire time. Dree avoided as many Air Slashes he could but at the cost of losing even more distance between him and the psychic bird.

Dree's frustration was clearly mounting but the dragon just wasn't used to his new body. He had a difficult time maneuvering, wasn't as aerodynamic as the Xatu, wasn't as fast either with the Tailwind activated.

This wasn't even mentioning the fact that Xatu could teleport. Once the Tailwind petered out, Dree actually began gaining on the Xatu but right before he could connect, the bird vanished.

Dree's growling was getting louder and louder and it peaked the moment Xatu appeared back on the ground, teleporting once again.

The psychic gazed up at the Drakloak before firing another flurry of Air Slash.

Dree's growl transformed into a roar and the dragon opened its mouth, before firing a very familiar orb of draconic energy.

The turquoise orb smashed against the blades of wind, plowing through them and striking the surprised Xatu in the chest.

"Now! Infestation!" Green pressed immediately, a vindictive gleam in her eyes as she greedily accepted the gift.

Dree hissed and jetted forward, soaring through the air and firing off an Infestation to make sure Xatu's attempts at escaping were far more limited.

Xatu squawked as the fleas began harassing it, before squealing as Dree crashed into it from above, slamming directly into its midsection with pure momentum.

The bird shrieked and began relentlessly pecking at the Drakloak, before Dree opened its mouth and fired a point blank Dragon Pulse at it.

It's struggles ceased after that and Dree hissed, slowly floating back over to Green's side.

"Ares is gonna be pissed at that," I mused, patting Freyja idly as she greedily watched the battle, Dragon Pulse in particular.

"Fee," she agreed, not remotely as putout by the detail that Dree just learned Dragon Pulse. She just inspected the move, absorbing whatever knowledge she could.

That was the good thing about her. Every opportunity was a learning one for her. She was very humble.

Sabrina returned Xatu and gazed at the Drakloak with a contemplative expression.

"It seems I truly do have to battle you like I battled Trainer Silver. Good," she said, pleased.

Green smiled at her, before her expression turned serious at the next pokemon Sabrina released.

Short and humanoid, with a black body that looked like it was wearing a dress... The Gothitelle stared at Dree with a half lidded expression, blue eyes glowing faintly.

"Dragon Pulse!" Green shouted immediately.

"Psybeam," Sabrina countered.

Dree opened his mouth and fired an orb of turquoise energy, watching as it soared through the air.

In retaliation, Gothitelle fired a familiar beam of psychic energy. It collided with the Dragon Pulse and cancelled each other out, a brief explosion taking place.

"Quick Attack! Get close and pepper it!" Green ordered.

Dree was of the same mindset, already streaking through the air to close the distance.

"Feint Attack," Sabrina smiled.

Green's eyes widened in shock, as Gothitelle leaned back slightly, before it bitch slapped the hell outta Drakloak with a hand cloaked in dark energy.

Dree's head turned from the force of the smack, before the dragon wheezed and collapsed.

"That looked like it hurt," I muttered, as Green returned Dree to the ball.

"Sabrina did not fight the two of us as hard as she's fighting you two," Crystal murmured, eyes wide.

"Poor Green is collateral from traveling with Silver," Gold snorted. "I'd prefer this more than not knowing what she's even ordering though."

"But she has a lot more passion when she says the orders aloud. It's almost like her pokemon are reciprocating her newfound energy," Janine pointed out.

I snorted and pat Charcadet, who's eyes were completely glued to the battle, on his little helmet. "They can sense her obsession. Considering the spoiled princess probably never felt such energy, it must have lit a fire under all their asses," I mused.

I heard gasps from the people around me (they had tried congratulating me earlier and after the first five, I just started snarling at them), probably due to the fact I called their Gym Leader a spoiled princess.

Then again, we had been sending quite the scalding remarks towards each other during our battle.

In comparison, Green and Sabrina actually looked like they liked each other.

"Alright Larvee," she muttered, sending out her Larvesta.

Larvee was a lot bigger than when I first met her. She was maturing by the day and getting stronger as a result.

"Flame Charge, Larvee!" Green began.

The Larvesta's eyes narrowed and she launched herself forward, enhancing flames covering her body as the larvae charged her opponent.

Before she connected, a psychic sheen covered and lifted Larvee up, courtesy of the Gothitelle.

"Throw it," Sabrina instructed.

"Not so fast! Larvee use Screech!" Green shouted.

Before Larvee could get launched away, she opened her mouth and let out a piercing wail.

Gothitelle's eyes widened and she let out a cry, abilities faltering and dropping Larvee to the ground.

"String Shot! Don't let go at all!"

Larvee chittered and spat out a long string that wrapped around the Gothitelle thrice.

Freyja let out a cheering noise as without any hesitation, Larvee used the psychics body to start launching herself through the air.

"I think she took a bit of inspiration from us," I scoffed, hiding my smile at seeing the flying Larvesta.

"Leech Life!" Green ordered, eyes gleaming.

Before Gothitelle could fully recover from the Screech, she was brought to her knees, as Larvee tackled and suck her fangs into her neck.

The Psychic let out a warbling cry, twitching as Larvee tried to drain her of everything. The Psychic shouted and released a concussive blast of psychic energy, blasting the Larvesta away.

Larvee hung onto the String Shot for dear life, only to cry out in pain as a pinpoint Psybeam smashed into her.

Gothitelle's lazy look was gone, replaced by fury at Larvee's shenanigans. She summoned another Psybeam and fired it without hesitation.

"Struggle Bug!" Green urged.

Larvee fired out darts of sickly green energy that shielded her from the worst of the Psybeam.

That didn't mean she left out unscathed. Both her and Gothitelle had gotten attacked by their respective attacks.

Larvee was panting, keeping a firm grip on the string shot. She glared at the Gothitelle and yanked forward, making the psychic stumble on their feet.

"Flamethrower!" Green suddenly shouted.

I let out a barking laugh at that, making eyes turn towards me.

The little maniac really was learning from me too much wasn't she?

Larvee, who was still attached to the string shot, let loose a Flamethrower that traveled across the string from her to the still trapped Gothitelle.

"Psyshock Gothitelle! Defeat the Larvesta!" Sabrina immediately ordered, watching the flames race across the fire.

The terrified Gothitelle heard Sabrina's voice and braced herself, eyes glowing bright.

Purple dots formed around Larvee, before at once they crashed into her body.

At the same time, the Flamethrower reached the end of the rope and consumed Gothitelle, lighting the psychic up in a great blaze.

Larvee cried out and Gothitelle let out a shriek of agony, as both attacks struck true.

The Larvesta's eyes fluttered and she slumped over, unconscious.

Meanwhile, the flames were forcefully banished by the irate Gothitelle, who was gasping. The psychic was gripping themselves, eyes wide as they stared at the unconscious body of Larvee, who was still holding onto that String Shot.

"Larvesta is unable to battle! The winner is Gothitelle!"

What a trooper. Larvee did far more than I was expecting her to do against that Gothitelle.

Green returned Larvee with a soft expression, smiling at the pokeball and hugging it slightly, before she placed it away.

My companion gazed at the Gothitelle and nodded to herself, grabbing a pokeball and tossing it.

Lapee burst out of the ball, crooning as she stared at the burned Gothitelle.

"Lapee! Use Rain Dance!" Green started off.

"Gothitelle, Hypnosis," Sabrina said calmly.

Green's eyes widened in horror as Lapee's eyes began glowing the same color as Gothitelle's.

"Lapee! Listen to my voice!" Green shouted on deaf ears, watching as Lapee's eyes began drooping.

Much to her dismay, the Lapras was put to sleep by the move.

What a tactic by Sabrina. Gothitelle was on its last legs so its best bet was to output as much damage as possible.

"Heal Block. Follow it up with Psyshock," Sabrina murmured, eyes gleaming.

"Heal Block?!" Green repeated in disbelief.

"Regretfully, this Gothitelle has not been taught Psychic Noise," Sabrina explained.

Psychic Noise? I never heard of it.

The burned Gothitelle's eyes began glowing and she shot out a red beam that the Lapras didn't react too, simply glowing red with the aura as well.

Purple dots formed around Lapee, before they all at once slammed into her. She cried out and writhed in pain, still sleeping from the hypnosis.

Gothitelle was merciless. She summoned even more purple dots, trying to pour out as much damage as possible.

Lapee was helpless to stop the assault. As the repeated Psyshocks continued to hit her, the Lapras would just shudder, damage accumulating by the second.

"Lapee! You have to wake up! Use Brine!" Green shouted desperately.

Right before the next salvo of Psyshock crashed into the Lapras, her eyes snapped open.

The kindness was gone, replaced by the protective fury of a pokemon who knew their trainer was in trouble.

She opened her mouth and fired a stream of water directly at the Gothitelle.

The Psychic wasn't expecting the attack and it crashed into her with the speed of a bullet.

Her eyes bugged as the attack washed over her, before the pain kicked in. With all the injuries, the salt water of Brine was doubly effective.

Gothitelle writhed in pain, strangled shriek leaving its mouth before it slumped over.

"Gothitelle is unable to battle! The winner is Lapras!"

Lapee panted, injuries all over her body from the beating she took while unconscious.

"You can't heal, Lapee. She did something to you," Green informed her with a frown.

The Lapras whined, shutting her eyes in exhaustion before slowly opening them again.

Sabrina smiled. "Wonderful, Trainer Green. Let us not waste anytime."

The Gym Leader grabbed her next Pokeball and launched it forward.

A Gardevoir popped out of the pokeball, easily identifiable by me because who wouldn't be able to identify a Gardevoir?

"A Gallade against me, a Gardevoir against Green. She's so fucking obvious," I sneered.

What was with these gym leaders? Erika had used a Lombre against Green and a Nuzleaf against me as well.

Was Koga gonna use a Nidoking and Nidoqueen against us respectively? Goddamn.

Gardevoir was an elegant pokemon. Just its stance alone gave off that vibe. Something like walking even seemed tedious to it.

"Lapee, use Ice Shard!" Green began immediately, eyes narrowed.

Lapee summoned a barrage of tiny icicles and fired them off at incredible speeds towards the Gardevoir.

They crashed into the psychic and rung out a noise of discomfort from the Gardevoir. Her eyes began glowing and she immediately teleported.

God, Teleport was so annoying.

As if sensing my annoyance, Sabrina turned towards me for a brief second and we locked eyes, before she turned back to the battle.

The Gardevoir appeared behind Lapee, a pink ball in her hand that she fired at the back of the Lapras.

The Moonblast hit with devastating force. Lapee cried out as she was sent skidding forward after being hit from behind.

Lapee attempted to turn around and face the psychic, but a sheen covered her, before hoisting the water type up slightly, and slamming her back down.

Finally, Gardevoir leaned forward slightly, smiling as it kissed the Lapras on her head.

Despite how gentle the move looked, Draining Kiss was anything but and the small wounds Gardevoir had, instantly closed up as she siphoned energy off of Lapee.

Green returned Lapee to her ball instantly, a deep frown on her face.

"Lapee didn't get to do anything," Crystal frowned.

"It's unfortunate. She got neutralized completely." I frowned at that detail and gazed at the Gardevoir.

That Gallade had been insanely troublesome for me. I was expecting Vee to be in for a fight.

"Swift!" Green shouted just as Gardevoir teleported.

The Espeon's gem began glowing and Vee fired a barrage of stars that honed in on Gardevoir's location even through the Teleport.

As Gardevoir appeared, she was forced to defend herself from the Swift. Her eyes glowed and she let out a cry, summoning a ring that captured some of the stores.

Not all were caught from the Disarming Cry and she winced as they chipped her slightly.

"Sunny Day, Vee!" Green continued.

Vee summoned a beam of light and fired it into the sky, making the entire room grow brighter as sunlight poured out.

"Moonblast," Sabrina said softly.

Gardevoir held her palms in front of her, summoning a pink ball of energy that she fired at Vee.

"Quick Attack!"

Vee's body streaked white as the Espeon blazed across the field, speed enhanced by their psychic abilities.

He focused on Gardevoir's location and instantly closed the distance.

Gardevoir was already prepared to teleport the moment Vee lunged, but the Espeon stopped early and kicked a face full of dirt in the Gardevoir's face.

The final form of Ralts let out a shout of surprise at being blinded and Vee finally took the time to actually lunge, fangs glowing dark.

A tussle ensued, as Vee tackled the Gardevoir to the ground and sank his fangs directly into her neck.

No one ever expected the Espeon to get physical. Gardevoir and Sabrina were of no exception.

The Gardevoir shrieked as Vee injected her with dark type energy.

She attempted to use her wiry limbs to push off the Espeon, but Gardevoir's weren't the most fit pokemon around.

"Dazzling Gleam, Gardevoir!" Sabrina instructed with narrowed eyes.

Gardevoir heard the order and her eyes glowed, before a shockwave of pink energy erupted from her.

Vee squealed as he was launched back, before the Espeon used his psychic powers to slow his descent.

Gardevoir panted before pulling herself up. She gazed warily at the Espeon and dusted her gown.

Then, she teleported and appeared behind Vee, firing off another shockwave of fairy energy.

Vee squealed as the Dazzling Gleam connected once more, tossing him backwards. The Espeon skidded across the floor, only for his momentum to halt as another popping noise reverberated through the air.

Gardevoir, who had teleported once more, cut off Vee's route and hoisted him up with psychic energy, before planting a kiss on the Espeon's head.

Green was not going to let that slide.

"Vee! Use Shadow Ball!" she barked.

Gardevoir's eyes widened and she hastily tried to pull back.

Vee glared at her violently and spat a ghostly ball of energy directly in her face.

Gardevoir squealed in shock, stumbling backwards and letting out a wail as another Shadow Ball crashed into her.

Vee was relentless, he peppered the Gardevoir with Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball.

The Espeon panted as they stopped, gem dimming in brightness to signify his exhaustion.

Gardevoir was collapsed on the floor, unconscious to the world after the barrage of Shadow Balls by the Espeon.

"Do you guys have the TM for Shadow Ball?" Gold asked quietly, eyes wide.

"Yeah," I replied coolly. "We got a couple from the Game Corner."

Their eyes widened at that and I grunted.

"Consolation prize for doing their job for them. I'll share. Just wait for this to be done," I told them.

Gold had an excited gleam in his eyes and even Crystal looked interested.

My interest was grabbed, as Sabrina released her final pokemon. Out came a Slowking of all things and I quirked a brow at the intelligent pokemon.

"A Slowking? Really now?" I mused.

It seems like Sabrina was really reading my mind.

"Normally, I'd use Alakazam here... but Trainer Silver was the one who battled him. You should count yourself fortunate, Trainer Green but that does not mean the battle is over yet," Sabrina explained.

Green smiled. "Of course it isn't! My hand hasn't been raised yet after all!"

"Vee! Shadow Ball!" she shouted.

"Amnesia, Slowking," Sabrina retorted calmly.

Vee shouted and fired a Shadow Ball forward towards the Slowking who just smiled regally.

An aura surrounded the water type, suspiciously shaped like some question marks, and as the Shadow Ball crashed into it, he merely took a single step backwards, mostly unharmed.

Green's mouth opened in shock at that.

"Okay then... Quick Attack, get behind and Bite it!" she ordered.

Vee darted forward, speeding across the field as he opened his mouth and prepared to bite into the Slowking.

"Disable."

Slowking turned at a leisurely pace, the gem on its crown glowing as it fired a blue beam that completely froze Vee in its spot.

"Yawn."

Slowking yawned and to Green's horror, Vee yawned as well, eyes drooping slightly as the Disable on it wore off.

Vee stumbled about drunkenly, trying to remain upright and failing the tall task as his eyes began shutting.

Try as he might, the Espeon was unable to resist and he fell unconscious.

"Surf," Sabrina instructed coolly.

Before the attack could fire, Green returned Vee to his ball.

"You're so cheap," Green grumbled, grabbing her final pokeball.

"My apologies. I am just well aware of what your final pokemon will be. That Ivysaur is truly a threat. I cannot waste anymore of Slowking's stamina before facing it," she explained gently.

Green sighed, before a smile made its way to her face. "Sorry Sabrina, but your slightly mistaken? I'm not using Ivysaur."

Sabrina tilted her head. "Pardon? Do you intend on using your Togepi? That is unwise, Trainer Green."

Green grinned, grabbing a pokeball. "Nope! I'm planning on using my Venusaur!"

With that, she threw the ball and out came Saury in all his glory.

"Holy... shit," someone said, mouth flapping uselessly.

"What the hell has that Venusaur been eating?!"

"You didn't know? In her battle against Surge, Green had the biggest Ivysaur I've ever seen!" someone exclaimed.

Gold whistled. "I will never get used to the size of Saury."

"He's gigantic!" Crystal nodded in agreement.

"Bullshit, that's what it is," I scoffed, glaring at the Venusaur in all its glory.

Saury stared ahead, ignoring all the shouts and whispers of awe. His expression was as neutral as always and he assessed his opponent with a calm and searching gaze.

"I see... your Ivysaur has evolved while journeying here."

Sabrina's voice was flat, but there was definitely a tad bit of appreciation in her gaze. "Most impressive, Trainer Green."

"Thanks! Now we've got a battle to wrap up!"

The gym leader nodded. "Indeed we do. Slowking, Nasty Plot."

"Growth, Saury!" Green ordered.

The plant on Saury's back somehow seemed to get healthier, standing ramrod straight as he absorbed the sunlight to boost himself and the Venusaur rumbled.

At the same time, a sinister gleam entered both Slowking's eyes and the gem on its head.

"Razor Leaf!"

"Power Gem."

Saury fired off a barrage of razor sharp leaves that carved through the air, before Slowking summoned a wall of rocks to block them. They nearly cut completely through the stone, reducing them to rubble and Slowking was still subjected to some of the attack.

"Confusion."

The Venusaur let out a groan of annoyance, as a weak psychic force crashed into his giant body.

"Vine Whip! It's too slow to dodge!"

"Disable!"

As Saury's vines flew through the air, a blue beam hit the Venusaur and completely froze the beams.

"Psychic," Sabrina ordered, eyes glowing.

Slowking's eyes glowed as well and Saury let out a roar as he was launched backwards from the Super Effective attack.

"Slack Off, Slowking."

Green's eyes narrowed as Slowking sagged slightly, sighing as he relaxed and his body healed over.

"Saury. Take Down," she instructed.

Saury stamped a feet onto the ground, catching himself and glaring at the Slowking.

Then, he tensed up and launched himself across the battlefield.

Seriously. This was so bullshit.

"That Venusaur is 8 feet tall, weighs about 500 pounds and is moving like he's one with the wind," Gold said in disbelief, watching as Saury crashed into Slowking.

"Welcome to the unfair world of Saury," I said boredly, watching as the Venusaur wrapped the Slowking in vines.

"Use Toxic, Saury!" Green ordered.

Saury rumbled and spat out a venomous blob that seeped splashed right against Slowking, seeping into its skin.

The Slowking let out a groan of discomfort and cried out as Saury violently slammed it against the pavement.

"Giga Drain!" Green pressed, eyes wild.

The Slowking's struggles renewed as Saury began draining it of its energy, healing himself in the process.

It almost looked like this was going to be how the rest of the match went, up until Saury let out a roar of pain, blasted backwards by an unknown force.

I had a hunch what it was though.

The Future Sight sent Saury tumbling, releasing Slaking in the process and Sabrina immediately pressed her advantage.

"Psychic!"

Slowking had a look of determination on its face, heaving Saury and launching him further back.

"Get up Saury! Seed Bomb!" Green urged.

Saury pushed itself up and fired off a flurry of exploding seeds towards the Slowking that exploded on impact, sending the psychic tumbling backwards.

"Wrap this up, Saury! Petal Dance!" Green jumped.

"Slowking, weather the storm! Slack Off and Amnesia!" Sabrina exclaimed.

Pink petals began falling around Saury as he began moving side to side in a fast paced rhythm, that would absolutely kill him in embarrassment, before the Venusaur roared and launched them. It flew towards Slowking with a purpose and the slow pokemon tensed up, before getting consumed.

Saury didn't let up in his assault, just continuing to power the Petal Dance, before finally stopping. The Venusaur swayed in a daze, eyes unfocused as the fast pace and power consumption of Petal Dance left it confused.

Once the Petal Dance died down, we all saw the sight of Slowking standing there, calm and collected even despite the hellish storm that he had just been battered with.

Then, his body glowed purple.

Slowking's eyes rolled to the back of its head as it fell backwards, Toxic finishing off the pokemon on its last legs.

"Slowking is unable to battle! As a result, Gym Leader Sabrina has no remaining Pokemon! The winner of this match is the challenger, Trainer Leaf Green!"

A grin split Green's face and she began cheering loudly, jumping on the tired and confused Saury.

"YES SAURY! WE DID IT! GOOD JOB!" She squealed, squeezing her starter happily.

The Venusaur gained a bit of clarity in his eyes and he simply wrapped a vine around his overexcited trainer.

"Venusaur," he said simply, smiling at her as she continued to squeeze him.

---

"Magnificent," was all Sabrina said, looking a little wondered by the battle. "Even with all I threw at you two, I was still overpowered."

Green puffed up at her praise. "It was such a fun battle! You really made us sweat for it Sabrina!"

"You even looked like you enjoyed making us sweat," I pointed out with a knowing smirk.

Sabrina's eyes shifted over to me. There was still that natural distaste we had for each other but the gym leader seemed to appreciate the restrictions I suddenly placed on her.

"I've never once gone into battle blind," Sabrina stated truthfully. "There is a certain thrill… in dealing with the unknown. Ignoring my poor state, it is rather refreshing to see the world from a… rawer viewpoint."

I nodded, rummaging through my pockets and pulling out my Pokegear.

"How do you feel about this?" I asked randomly, showing her a picture of our first encounter. The one where she had a gushing nose and if you had no context, made her look like a huge pervert.

"Wait Silvy! Don't show her that picture!" Green exclaimed with wide eyes, just a second too late.

Sabrina stared at the picture where she was suffering a nosebleed, with a painfully neutral expression.

Then, I watched with a delighted expression as a small scowl made its way to her face.

"I knew you were an abomination," she said in such a low voice, I'm sure it was one step from being a hiss.

"I knew you were a pervert," I replied easily, glaring at her in return.

"Huh? Pervert? Who?" Gold said curiously, only to get hit in the back of the head by Crystal.

The troublemaker held the back of his head. "N-Nevermind. Forget I asked," he sighed.

I idly snatched the two badges out of the frozen Sabrina's hand and handed one over to Green.

"That was a fun battle Sabrina. When I become much stronger, we can have a good battle where we can both fight the way we actually want to," I smiled innocently.

Sabrina's eyes began glowing and Green let out a squeak of terror.

"I look forward to such an event, Trainer Silver. Now please, get out of my city," Sabrina said, measured and professional.

"Sorry, we're going to stay here a bit longer. I need to train for a bit longer with the color gang," I smiled innocently.

"...What did you just say?" Sabrina asked quietly, eyes boring a hole into me.

"You've got a team to heal. I've got a team to heal. Let's end the conversation now." I clapped my hands and waltzed out of the gym, Green right on my heels.

As the lingering crowd cheered us on, I smiled at hearing Janine say, "I'm sorry for him, Ms. Sabrina... just please try and ignore him. We really are training here for the time being."

"Gym Trainer Janine... if you do not keep him away from me, I fear what I will become."

I snorted in amusement.

What a drama queen.

---

Charcadet was sat on my head, as I regarded my entire team with a pleased smile.

"We got our badge you guys," I praised.

While most of my members were pleased, two were not so much.

"Ares, what's up?" I asked, sitting in front of my Shelgon.

She was glumly laid out, legs splayed in all directions and I met her annoyed eyes.

"Shel," she stated.

I sighed. "We can't win em all girl. You did damn good though fighting a fully evolved pokemon without being fully evolved yourself."

Ares perked up slightly, gazing at me with her big eyes and I ran a hand against her shell.

For someone so proud, Ares sure did love my words of affirmation.

I moved to the side of her and pulled her in a one armed hug, wrapping my hand around the hard shell.

"Don't worry about it Ares. You win some you lose some but once you reach your apex... once we reach the very top, we'll win them all," I assured.

Ares wasn't used to losing. Ares was especially not used to losing without even fainting one other member of the opposition. I can understand why she was so put out by this defeat.

"...Shel," Ares agreed, rubbing herself against me in content.

I smiled and let her show her affections, before turning towards Oberon.

"Oberon," I said calmly, watching as he nervously fiddled with his paws.

He jumped and gazed at me, placing both paws in his mouth.

"You weren't satisfied with that battle, right?" I asked bluntly.

He shook his head slowly.

"Then learn to better control yourself, little man," I said, ruffling the fur atop his head. "You put up a good fight. If you were in more control, that battle was ours."

He jolted at that, eyes widening. Then, they narrowed in determination and he nodded.

"Every loss just motivates you to get better because losing sucks. You'll get better in no time, Oberon. Just work on it, alright?"

He nodded furiously, cuddling me and sighing as I raked a hand against him.

"Well done everyone. That battle wasn't easy at all. If you guys weren't exceptional, we could have easily lost that," I pointed out.

Gaia and Loki smiled tiredly at that and Metang huffed in my mind.

"The next battle is against a fire type. Freyja, I'm going to be relying on you," I said, gazing at my content fish swimming around.

Freyja jumped at that, gazing at me with wide eyes.

She was my only member who truly didn't mind not doing Gym Battles. She was afraid that she could cost me the badge if she put up a poor performance.

"Yep. You're basically my only answer to fire types," I smiled confidently. "I'll be strategizing around using you as the ace, alright?"

She nodded shakily, not believing that I was planning on making her the ace of this battle.

"Hey, just trust me. You'll be fine. You know I'm not going to set you up like that. I'm doing this because I believe you can do it," I assured, smiling confidently at her.

Freyja saw my confident smile and stared adoringly up at me, nodding rapidly and getting a chuckle out of me.

"Alright guys. In the meantime, we're going to train with the usual people until Team Rocket decides to show up or not. I'll give it a max of one month and if they don't we'll move on and just leave a tip to be careful of them," I advised them quietly.

My team let out noises of affirmation and I gave them a thumbs up, before deciding it was about time for a nap.

---

"Silvy!"

I looked up at the sound of distress and watched a teary eyed Green tackle me.

She sobbed against me and my eyes narrowed.

Who the fuck made Green cry?

"What's the matter?" I asked quietly, glancing at Janine with a tilted head.

She shook her head. "She refused to tell me. She just came looking straight for you."

"Dree is gone!" she cried out, fat tears spilling out of her eyes.

I raised a brow high at that. "What?" I asked in surprise.

"I dunno what happened. He was a little antsy earlier but I wrote it off because Nurse Joy said evolution was smooth despite me thinking it was too early!"

She was rambling hard but I could understand her easily enough.

"But then today, he just flew off! He was too fast for me to stop a-and I waited for him to come back but he never did!"

I frowned at that, mulling over what could have happened as I ran a hand against her back to soothe the hysterical girl.

"W-What do I do?" she asked me, big wet eyes staring up at me in distraught.

"Oh. Ohhhh," I said in realization. "I think you just need to wait a bit more, Green. He'll be back."

Green sniffed, lips wobbling. "R-Really?" she asked me.

I nodded. "You said he was feeling antsy right? There's a reason for that," I explained calmly, some amusement in my eyes that I hid because this was really stressing her out.

"Promise he'll come back?"

I pat her head. "Promise."

She nodded shakily and we went about our day as usual.

For the entire day, Green practically glue herself to me, nervous energy going down due to my calm air and giving her the balance she desperately needed.

I decided to forego training today since she clearly couldn't focus and just told Gold and Crystal to go without us...

But those two just ambushed us as well. Then Janine decided to be there for Green and now we were all just relaxing in a room, playing video games and chatting.

"I am so bad at this," Janine complained, face burning as Crystal picked up another victory against her.

"You're just as bad as Silver!" Gold cackled.

"Shut the fuck up," I sneered, leaning back.

"What he said," Janine muttered, hitting rematch without any hesitation.

It was a good thing Pokemon Centers had such big rooms. They were seriously nice and accommodating to all but the biggest of pokemon.

Green said nothing as Gold and Janine began arguing, causing me to sigh.

As I opened my mouth, I suddenly closed it at seeing a figure outside our window... our very high up window.

I smirked and tapped Green, making her look outside.

"!" Green's eyes widened before she pushed herself up and launched herself out of the room, marching through the door with a purpose.

"Be right back," I sighed, jogging after her.

Green was like a bullet but I was in no rush so by the time I made it out, I bore witness to the sight of Green sobbing happily, squeezing Dree like her life depended on it and watching as the ghost tried its best to calm her down...

All while two Dreepy stared down at Green in confusion, resting proudly on Dree's head.

"Drakloak's like to care for Dreepy. If they don't have one, they get anxious and start finding replacements," I explained to Green, watching her bear hug the dragon.

"Though, they normally have one. I'm surprised Dree has two."

Dree nodded at my explanation and Green sniffed happily.

"The more the merrier!" she laughed, pulling me into a tight hug. "Thank you Silvy."

I snorted and laughed. "Yeah yeah."

Green smiled and rounded on Dree. "You are in big trouble mister! You can't just fly off and not tell anyone about it! Next time you have to tell me before doing something like this! I was worried sick about you!"

I snorted at the withdrawn look in Dree's eyes and turned on a heel. "Reprimand him in our room. Now that you're no longer depressed you can speak for the both of us."

"Yes sir!" she beamed happily.

---

Crystal and I stood across from each other, gaze equally calculating, as Gaia faced off with Croconaw.

It wasn't close. Gaia was absolutely thrashing the water type and he was getting more and more furious at how easy she was making it seem.

Anger seemed to fuel it something fierce though because with a quick usage of Dragon Dance, he had thrown himself back into the fray, fangs glowing an icy white.

With the renewed speed and power (Crystal's damn Croconaw had its hidden ability by the way), the spar began anew and Gaia's eyes widened excitedly at the slight shift in tempo.

She was still stronger than him but his ferocity was a good match against her slow it down style. The best way to get at Gaia, was brute force that surpassed her defenses.

He didn't quite surpass it, but he was certainly trying.

As their spar grew in intensity, Gaia and Croconaw both let out cries of pain as they viciously attacked each other with teeth and vines respectively.

The two glared harshly at each other, before twin smiles were revealed and they began glowing in unison.

My eyes widened in surprise at that.

"Seriously?" I grunted in disbelief and excitement.

"Woah!" Crystal awed.

The commotion stopped and everyone gasped, at the dual evolution currently taking place.

While there were two evolutions taking place, I only had eyes on my starter of course.

Gaia grew tremendously, shooting up in height, as the leaves around her neck bloomed out. The leaf on her head vanished, replaced by two antennae and as the glow settled, I noted that her scales had turned a deep shade of green, far similar in hue to when she had been a Chikorita.

My Meganium let out a deep noise of curiosity and she immediately turned towards me.

Then, her gaze lit up and she stampeded over to my location.

"Meganium!" Gaia bellowed happily, vines launching out and snatching me up with ridiculous speeds.

My mouth opened in shock as I was pulled into a crushing hug and I let out a disbelieving laugh, wrapping my arms around her.

"You're taller than me now," I laughed happily.

"Meganium!" Gaia beamed, eyes glowing in joy as she effortlessly hoisted me up and placed me on her back.

"You remember what I said too. That was what, our first day meeting?" I smiled fondly, running a hand against her neck and getting a happy sigh out of her.

"Mega," she puffed up, trotting around the field with me in tow.

I'm pretty sure she was actually planning on becoming my taxi now.

I sighed with a pleased smile, inhaling the aroma around her and feeling myself relax naturally.

"We're gonna have to get you a saddle if you really do plan on carrying me as much as I think you do. I can't end up sore from this," I commented in amusement.

"Gan!" she beamed, accepting without issue.

She stopped directly in front of the Feraligatr, inspecting her friend with a happy smile and they began chattering, even as she pulled the large crocodile into a hug.

I took the time to inspect Crystal's starter, whistling at the big guy.

"Double evolution is kinda cool," I commented, watching Crystal gush over her water type. There was a big grin on her face and she ran a hand against his scales repeatedly.

"I'm so surprised! I knew he was close but not that close!" she exclaimed.

I nodded in agreement, watching as Green rushed Gaia next.

"Wow Gaia you look amazing!" Green squealed, jumping and hugging the Meganium.

Gaia squealed happily as well, wrapping an insane amount of vines around my companion.

Without any hesitation, she hoisted Green up and planted the girl directly behind me.

Then she happily trotted over to my gathering team, preening and showing off to them all.

"Ganium!" she cried out happily, pulling Loki into a tight hug.

"Ark," Loki rolled his eyes, accepting it all the same.

Ares and Freyja both inspected her with appreciative gazes, while Charcadet stood happily atop Gaia's head.

"We're getting so much stronger!" Green gushed happily, squeezing me in her giddiness.

To my surprise, I smiled at that. "Yeah we are. We'll keep getting stronger too."

"Ya see that, Explotaro?!" Gold asked with a wild grin. "They're getting stronger but we won't let that stop us! You're next buddy!"

The Quilava let out a cry of agreement and I grunted.

"He should be close to evolving," I said bluntly. "I'm sure with a bit more of a push, he'll get there."

Gold blinked owlishly. "Who are you?" he asked bluntly.

Crystal nodded in agreement. "You're so mellow all of a sudden. Well, everytime we see you, you're a bit nicer but this one is too sudden."

I blinked at that. "Probably because of Gaia here. I've been inhaling her aroma since she was a Bayleef."

Gaia beamed at that and I sighed.

"Let's go get you checked out girl. Good job kicking that Feraligatr's ass by the way. We'll count that as your victory."

The Feraligatr in question shot me the evil eye and snarled but I ignored it.

Gaia laughed happily.

---

Lorelei typed away on one of her computer screens in the comfort of her office, which doubled as her room in Indigo.

On the other screen (she bought this one recently for... reasons), was a screen detailing information on her nephew, Silver.

He was a mystery.

Lorelei loved him dearly but that did not change the fact that there was something strange going on with him.

"I just don't understand... he's listed as an orphan but he's almost certainly Ariana's son," Lorelei frowned.

Silver had informed her that he did not have a good relationship with Ariana... but he knew of her for certain. If he was an orphan, that would imply that either Ariana was now dead... or she had given him up.

This wasn't something she had the answer to. She'd have to somehow ask Ariana about it or wait an undetermined amount of time to prod Silver because Silver was closed off and guarded. Lorelei already told Silver she wasn't interested in him because she wanted to mend her relationship with Ariana and that was true. Asking Silver anything regarding that, would be seen as a betrayal in his eyes, and she refused to prove his wounded heart right.

It would do no good to force him to speak about it either because Silver was also insane and unpredictable. She had literally no idea how he'd react to something like being forced.

Lorelei needed patience and a gentle hand that Silver... clearly wasn't used to.

"What a conundrum," she murmured to herself, choosing to focus on a much more heavy topic.

Silver was being targeted by Team Rocket.

Did Team Rocket take Silver from Ariana? Did Ariana give him away? Was that why he had a bad relationship with her?

There was no point thinking about what could have transpired between Silver and Ariana right now. The more urgent thing was that Silver was being targeted by Team Rocket...

She grabbed her cup of tea and drank it.

The reason why, likely tied into why psychics were terrified of him.

Did Team Rocket turn Silver into a psychic deterrent? Why would they do such a thing? Why him?

What did her nephew do to deserve such a thing?!

Lorelei gripped her cup tighter than intended and watched in dissatisfaction as it spilled, only for a beam of ice to hit it, instantly freezing and preventing the drink from spilling all over her desk.

She sighed and watched as Jynx placed the frozen drink back into her cup.

"Thank you Jynx," she smiled.

"Of course, Mistress Lorelei," Jynx replied. "You are thinking of something stressful?"

"Silver," she replied, observing how Jynx flinched back at just the mention of his name.

This is what she was talking about. Jynx was her pokemon. Jynx was the pokemon of a master...

And she was terrified of not Silver's pokemon, but Silver himself... her first year as a trainer, nephew.

That didn't make sense. Team Rocket didn't do something normal to Silver. To turn her nephew into a person that was capable of terrifying a master level psychic... that seeped into levels of unnatural.

If this was what they were capable of, it was no wonder he was being targeted by them. Was Silver the only psychic deterrent? Was he the only successful one?

What did they do to him?

"Mistress... you are making an out of turn face," Jynx said warily.

Lorelei took a deep breath and schooled her expression. She noted that she was trembling and grabbed her cup, before realizing her drink was still frozen.

"I will make you another drink," Jynx decided, grabbing the cup out of her hand and gliding off.

"What did they do to him?" she whispered to herself.

Was that why he was so guarded? So cold? Silver didn't trust anyone and he didn't want to trust anyone.

He only let his guard down around her because he truly wasn't used to such affection. Had Lorelei been the first adult to give Silver what every child needed?

It was no wonder he didn't want her to tell Lance anything about him. From what her Champion had said, he had basically tricked Silver.

He probably wouldn't want to know that Lorelei gave him a firm lashing for that.

Very well then... Lorelei was already intent on being there for him, but she was completely committed to making sure Silver understood he could trust her if not any other adult.

He was her nephew after all and despite all his faults, Silver was utterly adorable and she would protect him.

---

A gentle knock on the door, interrupted Lorelei and she glanced up, sorting through some paperwork.

"Come in," she stated loud enough to be heard.

The door opened and Lorelei glanced up, surprised to see little Jasmine on the other side.

"Gym Leader Jasmine?" she tilted her head. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

Jasmine blushed and ducked her head, before taking a deep breath and standing straight.

That was already massive improvement from previous interactions Lorelei had with her. Jasmine was quiet on the best of days and practically mute on the worst. Lorelei couldn't remember ever having a casual or even professional conversation with her.

Jasmine was competent, she rarely needed to be spoken to or reprimanded.

"H-Hello Ms. Lorelei," Jasmine greeted softly, shivering as the absurdly cool temperature of the ice masters room, brushed against her.

Considering she was wearing a sundress and cardigan combo... it wasn't protecting her very well from the cold.

Lorelei stood up and walked over to her closet, grabbing a long black coat in the process. She made her way over to the child and wrapped her in it without hesitation.

"My room can be cold to visitors," she murmured gently as she ensured it was covering her completely.

Jasmine turned beet red and began stammering.

"T-Thank you Ms. Lorelei," she smiled shakily.

"Just Lorelei is fine," Lorelei smiled in return, beckoning the girl to a seat. "Can I get you some tea? I was just about to get some for myself."

"Oh, yes please!" Jasmine nodded eagerly.

Lorelei sat across from Jasmine and watched as Jynx glided over to the kitchen. "So Gym Leader Jasmine, it's not often you wish to speak to anyone... It's even less often that the person would be me," she mentioned bluntly.

The poor girl looked very awkward, jumbled up in Lorelei's jacket, but she wasn't nearly as withdrawn as the Elite 4 expected her to be.

Jasmine accepted the cup of tea with a thankful smile and took a tiny sip out of it, sighing as the heat warmed her up.

"Just as blunt as him too... Well, to be honest Ms. Lorelei... I'm here because I found out you're Silver's aunt," Jasmine said bluntly.

Lorelei blinked at that. "You know of that? Silver told you?" she asked in genuine surprise.

She knew that Jasmine had visited Silver but she wasn't sure of the details behind it. She had been to surprised at the revelation to question the relationship between the two.

All she knew was that they were friends.

Jasmine nodded happily. "He mentioned that he would have told me earlier but it slipped his mind and he expected you to parade it to the whole world."

Lorelei sighed at that. It certainly sounded like her nephew.

"I'm just surprised. Silver is incredibly guarded... I wouldn't have expected him to tell you that," she mentioned, taking a sip out of her drink.

The gym leader tilted her head in some confusion. "Well... Silver is my best friend. He doesn't tell me everything but I think he trusts me... I think," Jasmine murmured, not sounding the most sure of that.

"They are best friends?!" Lorelei thought in surprise, eyes widening slightly.

Jasmine shook her head hastily at her depressing thoughts. "No, he trusts me! I was basically his only friend until he met Green and we care about each other a lot!" she said, a determined expression on her face.

Lorelei smiled softly and placed a hand on the teen's shoulder, making her jump in her seat with a startled yelp.

Adorable. Lorelei wouldn't have believed someone as kind as Jasmine would be friends with her bad mannered nephew but then again, Lorelei was also unable to believe that he and Green were friends.

"I think Silver appreciates you as much as you do him. I had no idea you two were so close... he just told me that you were one of the few people to enjoy speaking to him," she assured.

Jasmine lit up at that. "He's getting a lot better! You should have seen him when we first met... He mentioned that you two just recently learned about each other during the S.S Anne?"

"He truly does trust Jasmine. I never expected that," Lorelei thought in surprise, nodding easily at her question.

"We did, yes. I had no idea I had a nephew. I've been working on connecting with him and I think I'm making some progress."

Just talking about her nephew, seemed to completely put Jasmine at ease. He truly was the reason she was breaking out of her shell and that was something that filled her with pride.

Jasmine grinned brightly. "Silver's prickly on the outside but he has a heart of gold deep down! He always pretends like he's aloof and doesn't care... but he's also the same person who always listens to every word I say before giving me great advice... sometimes! Even when it doesn't seem like he's listening, he'll go and say something that proves that he heard every word!"

Lorelei felt a swell of fondness form at that.

Clearly she hadn't put enough stock in Silver and Jasmine's relationship. He trusted her just as much as he trusted little Green.

"How did you two meet? That's very much a strange happening," Lorelei asked curiously.

"In Olivine! I found him in my secret training spot training with Loki! He was going to leave but I told him we could share the spot and we began talking from there! He really didn't want to speak to me at first but we made it work and now we talk a lot. He helped me decide to catch a Tinkatink and Ferroseed too," Jasmine gushed.

Lorelei nodded, smiling at how giddy the girl was—

The Elite 4 member froze abruptly.

"Olivine...? Silver was in Johto?"

"This is news to me," Lorelei said measuredly, schooling her expression.

"Oh! I didn't mention how we met to Champion Lance! Silver isn't the type to talk about himself so I don't talk about him too much," Jasmine explained.

"I had no idea Silver was in Johto," Lorelei mused.

"He's like that. Silver doesn't really talk about his personal life unless you ask... and even if you do, he might not tell you anything. He's rubbing off on me because now I don't talk about those things too much either!" Jasmine sighed with a small smile.

The gym leader hummed. "We spoke everyday until he had to catch his boat ride! I could never actually tell if he was listening but he really was!"

Lorelei nodded thoughtfully at that, pieces to a puzzle she had been mentally creating, falling into place slowly but surely.

"Jasmine I don't mean to sound so sudden with this... but has Silver ever mentioned Team Rocket to you?" she asked carefully.

Jasmine went stiff, a nervous expression on her face.

"I won't tell anyone. I just wish to know because I suspect some things," Lorelei explained carefully.

"W-well... it's just, I told Silver things I shouldn't really have gone into detail about," she admitted.

The Elite 4 member placed a hand on Jasmine's shoulder with a soothing expression.

"Don't worry Jasmine. This will be our secret, okay? You will not get in trouble for this. Of course you won't, you're one of the most competent Gym Leaders in Indigo after all," Lorelei assured.

Jasmine nodded slowly.

"Well, when I was talking to Silver about the ramping Team Rocket attacks, he had the angriest expression I had ever seen on his face. Silver... I wouldn't say he has an aloof personality because of how mean he can be. But most of the time his expression is distant and stony. He'll rarely make an out of turn face that isn't him smirking or neutral but that anger was... scary," she admitted, frowning sadly just thinking about it.

"Truly?" Lorelei whispered.

Jasmine looked distraught as she nodded. "I asked him if everything was okay and... he told me Team Rocket did something unforgivable to him. That's all."

Lorelei said nothing for a bit, mulling over the information she received.

"Thank you, Jasmine. I'm trying to help Silver in anyway I know how and you've been a great help," Lorelei said.

Jasmine lit up. "I want to help Silver too! If he's really being targeted by Team Rocket... we can't let them get him!"

"We won't," Lorelei said firmly. "Come, how about I share some of my findings with you? In the meantime, we can exchange more lighthearted conversation."

Jasmine nodded vigorously and Lorelei smiled fondly.

She could see how even Silver was unable to be too harsh to this girl. Jasmine was rather adorable.

---

Lorelei was bothered by something and try as she might, she simply could not ignore it any longer.

"H-Hello?" A voice stammered slightly in confusion.

"Professor Elm," Lorelei greeted professionally, gazing at the man with a cool expression. "How are you feeling?"

The Professor blinked owlishly, before he seemed to realize what she was talking about.

"Oh I'm completely fine now! Fully recovered after all these months!" he assured.

Lorelei nodded. "Good. I'm glad you've managed to completely heal. I won't waste anymore of your time so I would just like to ask if you could recount anything you know about that encounter."

Elm looked a little puzzled but he nodded all the same.

"Well, I don't know much to be completely honest... but I heard the sound of a child screaming and I went to check what it could have been... and then I woke up in the hospital bed."

Lorelei pursed her lips at that.

"Whoever attacked me, didn't seem to be inherently malicious. From what I've seen, they likely would have preferred to not have anyone show up and attacked me out of panic. They then took an inconsequential amount of supplies and... one of the starters. Oh but I was only going to give out two starters this year!"

"..." Lorelei furrowed her brows.

Was Professor Elm... perhaps trying to protect the assailant? The words he were saying sounded as if he were making excuses for the thief.

"And the starter stolen... was a Chikorita, correct?"

Elm laughed nervously and nodded. "Maybe little Chiko would be better in the hands of someone who actually wanted her. Chikorita is typically the last chosen starter and my two little trainers, Gold and Crystal, were quite set on their picks. It's a bit unorthodox but if the thief willingly chose her, I suppose it may be good for the both of them."

So he truly was trying to protect the assailant. Did he suspect foul play at hand?

"Right. Thank you, Professor Elm. The thief has managed to cover their tracks incredibly well but that doesn't mean the League has given up," she assured.

Elm scratched the back of his head and laughed nervously. "Take your time! Though, if you do ever catch this thief, I'd like to speak to them."

"Of course. Have a good day, Professor Elm," Lorelei nodded.

Almost as soon as the call hung up, Lorelei's expression cracked and the woman let out a deep and exhausted sigh.

"...Fuck."

Lorelei's entire team stopped what they were doing, in order to gaze at their trainer with wide and disbelieving eyes.

She did not notice of course. The Ice Master was too busy massaging her temple.

When Jasmine had mentioned that she met Silver in Olivine, Lorelei's brain began itching in a way that demanded she delve deeper onto such a strange encounter.

Silver was in Johto... and he hadn't used a Pokemon Center until entering Kanto. It was just too strange to hear that he had been in Kanto's sister region.

And now that she finished her conversation with Elm, Lorelei could say with some confidence that little and feisty Gaia, was the same Bayleef that once belonged to Professor Elm.

Silver was the thief. The same thief that kidnapped Chikorita and attacked Professor Elm.

"That fool," she whispered to herself, holding her head as a pounding headache formed. "What was he thinking?"

Actually, Lorelei could see exactly what he had been thinking. The Ice Master had spoken to her nephew... she had a somewhat keen understanding of her little troublemaker.

Silver was someone who would go to any lengths, to achieve whatever it was he desired. No matter what the cost may have been, if Silver was the only one in jeopardy, he would take that risk.

Lorelei always knew that Silver was completely and utterly insane, the moment she heard about his raid of the Game Corner. It didn't even sound out of character, to hear that he had broken into Professor Elm's lab to take the final starter.

It said something that instead of being confused, Lorelei had already completely figured out the reason he would do such a thing.

To get stronger of course. The starters distributed by the Professors were stronger then their wild counterparts, bred to be captured by a trainer.

So in his unhinged crusade against Team Rocket, Silver decided he needed a strong team to help him.

She just truly wished, he hadn't jumped to the conclusion that he should steal one because something like that, might actually have been considered child's play to her skilled nephew.

"Goodness, I don't even want to know how he managed to capture Metang and Ares," she muttered, standing up and making her way to the kitchen.

The Elite 4 member opened a cabinet and stared at the full bottle of wine in her cabinet, before grabbing it and a cup.

"Ninetales," she requested, pouring a drink and holding out the cup for Ninetales.

Her ice fox peered at the cup and manifested two ice cubes, dropping them in the cup.

Lorelei immediately took a swig of her drink as she contemplated the situation.

Gaia didn't just accept Silver as her trainer. She absolutely adored him. The only reason Gaia's love for Silver wasn't out of place, was because all of Silver's pokemon loved him.

Silver absolutely had not abused her at all. It truly seemed like he took her and forged a bond with her. Like Elm had said, it was unorthodox but perhaps this truly was the best outcome for a pokemon like Chikorita?

Gaia wouldn't have had a trainer otherwise so was any harm truly done beyond the professor being hurt?

Not to mention... Lorelei just truly realized who Elm's sponsored children were.

Gold... and Crystal. Two friends of Silver.

Was it a coincidence? Did those two just happen to befriend Silver, after deciding to travel through Kanto instead of Johto, while not suspecting that he was the thief?

Lorelei was sure not even an infant would find that convincing.

...

Lorelei took another swig of her drink, before realizing it was done. She poured herself another cup and exhaled.

"Never has someone filled me with so much stress," she muttered to herself.

Her nephew was ridiculous. Did he truly raid a professor's lab just to take a pokemon? Not many people would risk such a thing for a Chikorita of all things!

What was he even thinking?! Was this truly his resolve to eliminate Team Rocket? He would incriminate himself to such a degree, just to get rid of the bigger villains?

Did all the adults in his life truly fail Silver, to the point where he realized he needed to be bad to deal with the bad guys?

He attacked them whenever he could... he stole a starter... she didn't even know how he acquired the rest of his members.

And despite that, he managed to perfectly hide his tracks. Silver was not a suspect at all in the league database.

His skills in espionage, were unnatural for a child. He was more skilled than most adults, because not even Lorelei had gleaned how good he was at them.

"I heard the sound of a child screaming."

...

She would talk to him after this mess with Team Rocket was over. Lorelei would get answers out of him at a later date but for now, she would... not do anything too hampering to their relationship.

Silver was a loose cannon. If Lorelei approached this wrong, there was no way the situation wouldn't end in anything less than nuclear. Whether that meant Silver ended up in prison... or disappeared off the face of the planet.

Or even worse, back into the arms of Team Rocket.

Lorelei told Silver he could rely on her and she knew he didn't believe her... so she would prove him wrong.

Silver was a troubled child but he was not a bad one. Her nephew was just a person who would go to extreme lengths to achieve his goals... but it was not at the cost of anyone he seemed to cherish. He did everything he could to protect Green (did Green know about these things as well?) and he seemed to be keeping Jasmine at a safe distance so she couldn't be incriminated with him...

Perhaps that was why she thought he didn't trust her before. Silver was protecting her by keeping her ignorant.

"Silver's prickly on the outside but he has a heart of gold deep down."

Lorelei sighed, massaging her temple and finishing off her drink.

"I'm going to take a break for an extended period of time... I will visit Silver soon," she said decisively.

Was it smart to go to the target of her stress? Likely not... but Silver had caused her this stress so it was up to him to alleviate it.

---

Hello! I hope you enjoyed the chapter :)! So much is unfolding and so much is going on!

Thank you all for the support shown! I really appreciate it. If you have any questions, I'll try and answer them to the best of my ability! If you want a higher chance of an answer (It's like 102%) just ask me on Discord :)!

The code is discord. gg/ BFFtXAXFU7 so don't be shy! Whether you lurk or not is totally fine with me, you'll probably find answers to questions you have that way too!

Anyways, that's it from me. See ya next time!