My fingernails bit into my hands as they clenched into fists.

I had forgotten about Silver.

Actually, I had forgotten about a whole lot of other people. I was an outsider to this world. I had wanted to limit the effects of my presence, causing minor ripples at the worst. That had been my hope. I was just a normal guy, who was I to try and change the future? I didn’t think it was my place to change things; to possibly fuck up people’s happy endings. I hadn’t wanted to mess with this world. It had all worked out fine in the games, except this wasn’t a game. Even if it had been…

Sometimes the bad guys won.

Rainbow Rocket existed.

Somewhere out there was a Giovanni wandering the multiverse with a bunch of successful evil team leaders he isekaied. He’d probably invade in a couple years… I didn’t really have time to worry about the father. I had to deal with the son. Silver was here in his peak Asshole phase and he was demanding Mal…

There’s no way he was getting him.

Why was Silver even here? The next time he should show up is at the Sprout Tower. It wasn’t even a fight. Just the head monk trying to teach him a lesson and Silver being his dickish self. I had accounted for the protagonist's movements but not his. The answer was pretty clear when I considered his team. Crobat, or rather zubat. He had to be very familiar with them considering how many Team Rocket used. He had probably made the side trip up here for one. The main entrance of the cave was only a few minutes away.

What were my outs here?

Could I just beat him up?

I had a couple years on him, I was taller and I outweighed him. What are the odds he had some anime bullshit fighting skills? Honestly, probably higher than I would like. Pokeworld also tended to heavily frown upon most human on human violence. They much preferred it when people settled things with battles. We were both legal adults in the eyes of pokeworld. If the law or the League got involved, I had the Cult and Mr.P behind me. He had Team Rocket. How did I resolve this without any of them getting involved?

I had always wondered how Silver had been able to do the gym challenge when he had stolen his starter. Team Rocket throwing their weight around and protecting the heir could explain it. The police report was probably never filed or was quickly deleted as if it had never existed.

There were probably entire cyberspace wars going on of porygons fighting each other. Team Rocket likely had an entire army of them. They had infiltrated Sliph Co. for who knows how many years. Clearly long enough for them to reproduce porygons and upgrades. The porygons that had been sold out of the game corner in Gen 1 had probably been ones they created. Yet, Silver with all of his family issues didn’t want one of them.

He wanted Mal.

Did I have to involve others? If Silver got arrested did that fuck up the entire story? Silver wouldn’t get his character arc, he wouldn’t change from asshole to actual decent human being. Without Silver as a contrast would that mess with the protagonists’ development too much? Two people that could become pure of heart wouldn’t. No return of the bird, no happy ending and some of the blame would rest at my feet.

Could I replace Silver? Act as the asshole rival if the story needed it? My acting skills… were not that good, as Mr.P could attest. Though, if I just said fuck it and started messing with things I could replace him. I could replace Silver and the protagonist. There was someone else that was pure of heart.

I could tear up the entire fucking script.

I could try and get Natural Harmonia Gropius.

I could get N.

“Well, are you just going to stand there staring into space like a moron or are you going to hand it over?” Silver questioned an eyebrow raised.

I slowly unclenched my fists. My greatest weapon wasn’t my fists but my mind. There were outs here, I just had to find them. “I was just debating on if I should beat your ass or if I should replace you with a better rival.”

“Rival?” He laughed, “You’re too weak as a person and as a trainer to be my rival. I demand your pokemon and you stare mindlessly off into space like a slowpoke. You almost lost to a dunsparce of all things. You’re a weakling, nothing more than a stepping stone.”

“Eh, I don’t make the best path.” I studied Mal floating next to me, his eyes angrily staring at Silver. If I had to guess, in game terms he was maybe at a third of his hp. In the end I nodded, I could have done better. “As for dunsparce it was closer than I would have liked. If you think they're weak pokemon, why would you want Mal if he almost lost?”

I patted Mal with one hand to try and reassure him as he floated next to me. It didn't quite stop an annoyed “Ree” from escaping him. I held back a frown. I didn't want to imply he was weak but I had to keep Silver talking. With my other hand I reached for the Trainer Pack that I filled with medical supplies.

“The type changing obviously, that’s powerful. You know the whole talking to distract me thing isn’t going to work. I’m leaving here with that Porygon.” With the press of a button the pokeball he was holding sent forth a beam of light and a pokemon formed in front of him. A little upright walking blue crocodile with red stegosaurus spines eagerly shouted its name, “Totodile!”

Silver and I locked eyes again. One of my hands was on the zipper of my pack. I had a potion in there. He smirked and the message was clear. If I opened the pack the battle started.

Mal held an advantage over the starter. A Thundershock or two could take out the water type. But one or two hits might just be all it took to take Mal out. If the starters traded at least I’d still have Callie; Dunsparce was in no condition to battle even if he would listen to me. However Silver might have other pokemon on his team. One was likely to be a zubat, the entire fucking reason he was up here. Even without going into a cave they had found a way to mess with me. The other mon could be a gastly if he had gotten lucky and found one. Those two pokemon ended up on his team in the games.

Worse case scenario he had both of them. Callie might not be able to handle the zubat. She just wasn’t mobile enough yet. It could confuse her from range and then do a bunch of hit and run attacks. She’d have to react to it in a confused state as it wore her down. The Gastly was similar, Confuse Ray or Hypnosis from range. The best way she had to hit it was with Lick if I remembered correctly. She’d have to get close, real close.

Mal could hit the Gastly and the Zubat. I needed him there. Could I heal up Mal during the battle or…

“Totodile, Mud-Slap!”

A torrent of water hit the ground in front of the totodile and their arms started to glow with a brown energy.

My hand on the zipper quickly moved over to the pokeballs on my belt and I quickly recall Mal. Large globs of mud went flying past the space he had just been occupying to splatter on some trees.

“Asshole.”

“Moron, are you going to keep talking? Hand over the porygon already.”

The totodile bounced back and forth in place eager to battle.

Mal had still been electric type, the move would have been super effective. It would have likely knocked him out. The biggest downside of type changing was that you took on the weaknesses of the type.

Callie takes shape in front of me when I release her from her ball.

“Teddi?” She nearly yawned out. Her paw started to go towards her mouth as she began to look around.

“Callie, we have your first battle.” It would have been nice to have been able to do some training with her before something like this. I could guess at some of her known moves but that was it. I could guess. She had to be focused for this. Food was enough to recruit her, it might just be enough now. “If you do really well I’ll get you a lot of honey when we get into town.”

“Ursa!” She nearly roared, her tiredness and honey soaked paw suddenly forgotten.

I smiled, a lot of noise was one of my possible outs. If our battle could attract Silver it could attract other people as well.

“Mud-Slap!”

Another salvo of mud went flying.

“Dodge it and try to get close.” I command. We had to close the range without taking too much damage.

Callie narrowly dodged the barrage. But another one soon started. Totodile’s aim with the move was rather poor. He had been training for maybe a week as a fresh starter. Still there wasn’t really a way to close the distance, pure volume of projectiles would make up for the aim in time. We had to get closer.

“Fury Swipe the mud. Get close!”

“Ra!” She turned toward the mud and charged. Her tiny legs pumped as fast as she could as her claws glowed white with energy. One, two, three swipes. Her claws left glowing afterimages in their wake as they cut through most but not all of the mud projectiles. One nearly hit her in the face but a paw was brought up and blocked, it keeping her eyes clear. Seeing her muddy paw she let out a loud “Sa!”

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“Keep going!” She was half way there. Just a little more and Totodile would be in melee range.

“Water Gun!”

“Dile!” Totodile opened its mouth wide and a torrent of water rushed out. Callie couldn’t dodge it in time. The torrent lasted for a second or two before it tapered off, revealing a very annoyed looking wet and muddy Callie.

“Another..” Silver’s command is cut off.

“Baby-Doll Eyes!”

Callie’s eyes grew big and wide. They seemed to glisten as the move was used.

“To to?” It questioned as it took in Callie’s state. A sad little teddy bear that was all wet and muddy.

“Dile…” It actually sounded a little sorry.

Callie had closed the distance with the momentary distraction of the move.

“Scratch!” I commanded. Callie’s claws glowed white with energy as she brought them forward with a large sweep of her arm.

“Totodile Bite!” Silver angrily commanded.

Totodile seemed a bit reluctant to do so but his jaws seemed to shine briefly before he aimed for her shoulder.

Callie let out a grunt of pain as Bite landed and Totodile latched onto her shoulder. Their eyes winced shut in pain when the Scratch landed against their side. Yet they refused to let Callie out of the grip of their jaws.

Totodile leaned to the side putting more of its weight onto her shoulder as it tried to drag her to the ground. Being based partially on a crocodile, maybe it wanted to try and roll? However, Callie held firm. The two of them were just too evenly matched in size and weight.

“Fury Swipes and don’t stop!”

“Scratch! You’re a Starter act like one. Finish it!”

The claws on both pokemon glowed with energy as they traded blow after blow. Their Scratch landed but all the blows from Callie’s Fury Swipes struck. Some of the strikes were awkward. Totodile hadn’t let go after that Bite. In the end it turned into a brawl as the two still locked together exchanged moves with little to no input from either Silver or myself.

Eventually Callie let out a soft “Ursa…” and fell backwards, unconscious. Totodile let go of her shoulder and grinned wide and did a little jump in victory. Then with a soft “Dile…” they fell unconscious as well.

We both recalled our pokemon. I had a soft smile as I whispered some words to Callie’s pokeball. Silver scowled as he held the pokeball. Totodile had won but they had traded. Callie had taken out the Starter. She had done her job and opened up a path for victory. Mal could take a freshly caught zubat or gastly. Though both of them might be a bit too much in his weakened state.

I carefully watched as Silver put Totodile’s pokeball away. He kept the balls on a belt that his jacket covered. Totodile’s ball joined two others at his belt. He had already caught both of them. The gastly would be the more troublesome of the two to deal with. Zubat would be easier to deal with. It would have to get close to actually damage Mal. Psybeam or maybe a few Thundershocks would take it out before that happened. It needed to be zubat first for Mal to take both of them. The odds weren’t very good otherwise.

After a brief moment of hesitation Silver grabbed both pokeballs…

“Your father would be proud.”

Aw, fuck.

The words were out of my mouth before I could consider what I just said.

Silver’s eyes widened in surprise but he shook his head in denial. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Just a pathetic weakling trying to beg.”

“Giovanni would be so proud. You’re acting like a proper grunt.” His eyes shook and he didn’t have a quick comeback as a look of both confusion and anger crossed his face.

I held back a grin. That was right Asshole I knew you. I might actually get out of this without Mal fighting 1v2. I had gotten caught up in Silver’s pace with the battle, but it was time to tear the script of this encounter apart. I knew the buttons to press. I could inflict some super effective emotional damage on this kid… I held back a frown as my hands clenched into fists again. The asshole wanted to take Mal, he could handle this.

“What was it? A tyrant in a group of weaklings but a weakling when alone?” I casually tossed out some of the last words he had ever spoken to his father.

His hands clenched into fists, the pokeballs momentarily forgotten. He shouted, “I am nothing like my father!”

I walked closer to him, closing some of the distance between us.

“Really? Waiting to ambush trainers in the woods when their pokemon are weakened? You’re even ready to use a group against one pokemon. Sounds like something a weakling would do.” I pause briefly for effect, “Sounds like something Team Rocket would do.”

Silver yelled something I didn’t catch and then charged me. The last of the distance separating us was quickly closed and he punched me in the stomach. I punched him in the face in return. Our blows were both sloppy and clearly neither of us were trained. Soon we were rolling around in the dirt and the mud as we tried to beat each other senseless.

In the end strong hands pull us apart.

A Geodude held Silver back. I could taste blood on my lips. He had given me a bloody nose along with some bruises that were going to hurt the next few days. Silver’s left eye was swollen where I first hit him in the face. I grinned I had gotten a few decent hits in. A quick glance at the hands restraining me showed that they were grey and not stone. A machoke most likely but I couldn’t quite turn and make sure.

“Boys.” The voice is old, almost gravelly.

Both our eyes turned and took in the speaker. It was an old hiker. Seeing that he had our attention he continued, “Now unless your brains are sunbaked you should know. We battle with pokemon not people. Do you understand?”

I nodded, “Yes, Sir.”

After a moment of consideration the hiker gave a nod and the machoke released me. His gaze turned back to Silver.

Silver glared at him but in the end nodded and was also released.

“I could do without the drama of the younger generations.” the hiker remarked before continuing, “I’m not gonna ask what it is about or who started what shit. I don’t really care. I just have one question, is this something that the Rangers should be involved in?”

“No.” Silver quickly replied.

The Hiker stared at him. He had answered a bit too fast. The geodude drifted a bit closer to Silver again. The Hiker’s eyes turned towards me.

I could do it. I could get the Rangers called in. Silver would be arrested. He deserved it. The Asshole would be removed from the story… He wouldn’t get better and canon would be fucked. Or had I already fucked it with this encounter and my mere existence? Should I try and preserve canon or just tear it apart?

I sighed and turned to the hiker. I was missing information. “If the Rangers did get involved would there be a psychic scan?”

Silver frowned and his eyes looked around the clearing. He was getting ready to run.

“There likely would be a scan. Two young trainers fighting in the woods, a quick scan and then there’s no doubt about who started what.” the hiker replied with a shrug before adding, “Easier for everyone that way.”

“The rangers aren’t needed.” A scan by a psychic type pokemon was a common law enforcement tool. It took away a lot of the uncertainty around events. It was also invasive as hell. There was no way I was going to let myself get scanned.

Silver watched me a little confused and maybe a bit calculating. Not wanting a scan could mean you had something to hide, but he was the last person that should be throwing stones.

The hiker just nodded. “Anything you two need to say before you part.”

“Silver.” I tried to stop myself. I really did.

His eyes met mine. It was the first time I called him by his name. “Yes, Weakling?”

“He lost because his bonds weren’t strong. He treated pokemon like tools the same way you do.”

He glared at me again. It was becoming his default state when interacting with me. A fist clenched. “I’m nothing like that man!”

The Hiker glared at me, “Get going.”

His tone left no room for argument. I turned away from the still angry Silver. Wiping some blood from my face I reached the edge of the clearing and the path. Silver’s voice stopped me.

“Your name? What’s your name?”

I sighed and paused. I didn’t want this fucking drama I just wanted a normal journey. In the end I held back a chuckle and replied.

“Make one up.”