"How is it?" I asked calmly.

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

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

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

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

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

Then she confidently shook her head.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Practicing Night Daze?" I asked Loki curiously.

My Zorua was currently a panting mess and he nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ares looked mildly displeased, showcasing her fangs to me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Saur," Saury grunted bluntly.

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

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

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

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

I nodded, mulling over their problem.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Understood."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I raised a brow.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I snorted abruptly.

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

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

She was still annoying as all hell though.

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

"Kay," Green agreed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The grin she shot me was blinding.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

----------------------------------------

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

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

So the Underground Path it was.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You beat him?"

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

That sounded familiar…

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

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

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

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

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

Honestly, what a dumbass.

"It worked out?" I asked curiously.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I snorted. That was one way to put it.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Right…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I snorted.

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

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

"Quit ignoring me! The names Damian —"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wait a minute.

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

Huh, was he still an abusive piece of garbage?

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

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

"Dissatisfied with this trainer?" Metang asked.

"Yeah. Crush him."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What?" he asked slowly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yeah, not on my watch.

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

"Kay!" she nodded with a frown.

As we made distance, I turned towards her.

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

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

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

Green's gaze darkened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Oh that reminds me!"

I raised a brow.

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

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

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

I snorted in amusement at that.

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

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

"Great follow me!"

----------------------------------------

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

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

She glanced back at me with interested eyes and nodded.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Bay," Gaia growled warningly.

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

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

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

I scowled furiously.

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

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

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

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

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

Ariana.

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

Disappointment, anger, sadness… longing.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I glared at them.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"…" I scowled.

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

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

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

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

I grunted.

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

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

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

But these three did seem far more competent.

Just how competent would the other Executives be?

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

Jessie and Meowth both shot me a puzzled look.

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

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

So I grew up with them… hm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I grunted at that and stored the information away.

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

Not bad…

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

How immersed was I in the Rockets growing up?

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

"Yes sir!" they saluted.

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

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

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

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

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

The three squeaked, stepping back slightly.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

…

"Puberty?" James decided.

"Puberty," Jessie nodded.

Meowth shrugged. "Puberty," he agreed.

I snorted quietly at that and fully vanished.

----------------------------------------

"Silvy! Look who I ran into!"

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

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

No unfortunately, the Ash trio was here again.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Silver," Brock greeted.

"Brock," I greeted.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Strange form of training…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I blinked.

Were… they serious?

"Haunter," I replied in some confusion.

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

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

"Gengar."

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

Everyone in this world was so damn stupid.

"He answered so quickly!"

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

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

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

"Ice and Psychic."

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

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

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

A silence fell over the crowd and I smirked smugly.

"Don't know?" I asked curiously.

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

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

I nodded as I thought of a question.

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

They probably thought they had this in the bag.

"Lance the Flying Master —"

"Dragon, Silvy."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ash shook his head embarrassingly and I laughed.

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

"Hyper Beam, correct?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Green beamed at my words for some reason.

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

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

"Two!" Ash announced proudly.

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

I raised a brow. "Three."

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

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

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

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

Misty nodded, just as eager for some reason.

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

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

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

Dramatic. How could the talentless act talented?

I rolled my eyes and trailed behind her.

----------------------------------------

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Green nodded, pondering the interaction with a wistful expression.

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

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

He had attacked Silver first and Silver retaliated in kind.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

----------------------------------------

"Please, send out your pokemon first."

I raised a brow at Giselle's request.

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

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

I hummed at that.

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

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

Actually…

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

Giselle rolled her eyes, unfazed by my words.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Gaia and I's gaze darkened equally.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"His Feebas."

Her jaw dropped.

"HIS WHAT?!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Bone Club!" Giselle announced.

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

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

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

She really had a mean streak.

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

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

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

I tilted my head curiously.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Fearow, come forth!" she announced confidently.

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

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

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

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

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

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

And I knew exactly what this girl was thinking.

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

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

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

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

"Aerial Ace!" Giselle shouted.

"Poison Powder in its trajectory."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Fearow try to —"

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

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

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

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

"Bay," Gaia sighed in disappointment.

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

"I…" Giselle said in shock. "But…"

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

She flinched back and I scoffed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The silence was deafening and I snorted.

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

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

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

That just reeked of insecurity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"...No."

"Silver, was it?"

I paused and gazed back at Giselle.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pikachu growled fiercely and I simply glanced back dispassionately.

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

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

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

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

Ash blinked, a little taken aback by that.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Apologize," I demanded.

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

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

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

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

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

Still didn't help squat against me though.

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

"Should I help?" he asked.

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

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

----------------------------------------

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

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

"Who is that?" Green asked.

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

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

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

My eye twitched and I scoffed at her.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Sure," I said with a smirk.

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

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

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

"Fuck you."

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

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

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

Speaking of which.

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

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

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

"How about Toxic?" I asked instead.

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

"Spikes and Roost?"

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

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

"I-I thought it was just Johto?"

"When did I say that?"

Green laughed and I turned towards her.

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

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

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

He was such a dork.

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

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

"Nope!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Course. Talk to you later."

With that I pocketed my Gear.

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

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

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

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

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

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

I nodded easily enough and Green beamed at me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I did not like the look in her eyes.

It was apologetic and I let out an annoyed sigh.

I knew what that meant.

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

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

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

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

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

Interesting.

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

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

"Useless question. Not answering."

"You're just so terrible!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nurse Joy couldn't stop the sweat at that.

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

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

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

She waved at the duo once more.

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

----------------------------------------

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

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

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

"…"

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

No it was focused on my torso.

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

What was so awe inspiring this time?

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

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

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

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

I watched her back with a stunned gaze.

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

…

I frowned myself and stood up.

I should go do that shopping stuff.

----------------------------------------

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

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

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

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

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

And I was not.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This guy was so fucking adorable. This was unreasonable.

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

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

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

"What the actual fuck—"

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

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

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

Crystal… what the fuck was Crystal doing here?

"Y-You…" Crystal stammered in shock.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Silvy? Are you alright?"

I paused at that and shut my eyes in realization.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She was a lot smarter than she looked.

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

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

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

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

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

"Green?!" Crystal thought in disbelief.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Whatever you say, Leaf."

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

"No."

She blew a raspberry at me and vanished.

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

Catching my shift in mood, she glared at me.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

----------------------------------------

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hopefully Gold didn't come guns blazing immediately.

----------------------------------------

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

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

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

I furrowed my brows.

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

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

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

"Why did you take Chikorita?"

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

"Why?" I repeated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Well, technically I was an anomaly.

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

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

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

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

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

Oh well.

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

Predictably, Gold and his team scowled ferociously at me.

Crystal did groan this time.

Looks like peace talks were officially off the table.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

----------------------------------------

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

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

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

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

Gaia's gaze immediately darkened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

She… really wasn't planning on coming back?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Shut up, Ataro," Misteree said bluntly.

----------------------------------------

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I would ignore what I did to Metang.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Despite my earlier worries back when I was in Johto… I didn't feel any of that fear now.

I was talented. I was great at battling. These two were as well… but they weren't as good as I was.

Each of them had three pokeballs. It was a 6 on 5 but I'm confident I could win this battle.

"I'm not giving Gaia up and I'm not turning myself in for what I did. There's no compromise we can reach so let's get this over with," I grunted, eyes narrowed as I brushed a hand against my remaining team.

Gold went stiff and his eyes narrowed, while Ataro and Quilava both growled warningly.

"Wait!"

Both Gold and I paused at that, gaining looks of confusion as we gazed at the stern Crystal.

"Silvy," Crystal said slowly, cautiously.

My eye twitched at that.

"We don't want to report you to the authorities… Gold and I just want to talk," she said civilly.

I said nothing, staring suspiciously.

"After seeing how happy Bayleef —"

"Gaia," I corrected.

"Gaia. After seeing how happy Gaia is with you… and from our conversation, I don't think you're all that bad," Crystal said tentatively, trying not to set me off with the wrong words.

Gold looked at her in some surprise, likely not expecting her to go this route but he took a step back and let the blue eyed girl take the reigns of the conversation.

"You said you didn't mean to hurt the Professor that bad… and you only took necessary items for survival… why?" she asked hesitantly.

I stared at her, puzzled. What game were they playing at right now?

Here I was, planning for battle… yet now I was just confused. Was this a trap?

"You answered your question already," I pointed out, crossing my arms and not letting my guard down for a second. "I took them to survive. That's all. Only two of you were selected to be Elm's trainer this year right? No one was getting the third pokemon anyways and I doubt either of you were going to pick Gaia."

"Is that why he raided Elm instead of Oak despite being from Kanto?" Gold thought, finally looking at Silver as something besides the thief.

Crystal gazed at the violent redhead… the thief who had no regards for how his words hurt people… and recalled the thought of how he might have ties with Team Rocket...

"Are you, trying to survive because of Team Rocket? Are you being targeted by them?" she asked quietly, gazing at me like I wasn't the violent redhead who flipped her boyfriend onto his back... or the guy who sent their dearest professor to the lab.

No, she was pitying me.

I instinctively went stiff at that and a heinous expression crossed my features.

Neither missed it.

"Are you alright?" Crystal asked in worry, unable to stamp the concern that someone the same age as them felt the need to go to such lengths to protect themselves.

"I don't think you're a bad person. You can't be with how much Gaia loves you!"

"Cut the bullshit," I scowled, rolling my eyes. "Let's not suddenly pretend like we're friends. Asking if I'm alright? What are you two playing at?"

Crystal's eyes widened and she held up her hands. "We're not planning anything! I'm serious!"

"I don't fucking believe you," I said bluntly, eyes narrowed. "I'm a criminal. You know it, I know it. You didn't come to Kanto to talk to me. You came to capture me stop trying to beat around the bush and get to the part where you try to capture me."

"W-Well… we did but," Crystal trailed off.

"But all of a sudden you pity me," I scowled ferociously, eyes lit in fury. "I don't need your pity. I don't want your pity. Hurry up and send out your team, so we can battle and I can disappear."

Who the hell told these two to suddenly start pitying me? In what world did they think I was some type of weakling, reaching out with my arms and begging someone to grab it?

Were they dumb? Were these assholes patronizing me?!

"We're not pitying you, dumbass."

I paused at that, looking into the molten eyes of Gold.

They were narrowed in determination and he shook his head fiercely.

"This has nothing to do with that! Gaia chose you as her trainer, just like Explotaro chose me and Totoree chose Crys! Yeah you stole her, but she still loves you despite that detail so we'd be just as bad as you, if we stole her from her home!" Gold exclaimed.

I said nothing at that, stunned silent.

"It would be no better if we turned you in either because not only would she lose her home, the rest of your team would lose it too! If you're team loves you like Gaia does, then you aren't the bad guy you're trying to make yourself out to be," he said, pointing a sure finger at me.

"Whether you like it or not, our paths are connected and dammit, you're one of the only trainers to beat me in a battle, so I'm not gonna let you throw your life away to Team Rocket before I can get my revenge on you!"

Those eyes of his, almost the complete opposite of mine… continued glaring at me with a nauseating amount of emotional intelligence.

...He and Ash really were quite similar. They'd probably get along great.

"You have your reasons for doing what you did… and I definitely don't agree with the method, but Professor Elm is fine and Gaia is happy… so as far as I'm concerned, if your reasoning for doing this has to do with Team Rocket, then you can't be this terrible criminal! Do you think you're a terrible criminal?"

"…" I said nothing at that.

"You said you didn't mean to hurt Elm... and he didn't seem all that mad at you. I think he knows what's happening to you and... and I think I know too," Crystal interjected quietly. "Everyone's not your enemy, Silvy. At the very least, I'm not your enemy," she said strongly.

...

I clenched my fist at that, eyes darting rapidly between the two as my heartbeat picked up and my blood started pumping.

I didn't believe them. Not for a damn second. I didn't believe anything they had to say.

"So what? You don't want to capture me anymore?" I asked eventually, ready to bolt at a moments notice.

Loki looked up at me in visible concern, seeming to notice the distress I was suddenly in and he whispered a quiet "Zor?" to me.

I ignored it, eyes too focused on the two across from me.

"Nope. I got no interest in turning you in," Gold said resolutely. "I don't think you deserve to lose your team… I don't think you should be locked up. I think you should keep training and getting stronger, so that when I beat you in a battle, it'll be way satisfying."

Crystal stepped up. "I… saw the way you talked to Green and you protected her when you had no reason to. I don't think you're a bad person, Silvy… if we tried to capture you here, you'd just escape… how would Green feel about that? You care about her, right?"

…

"Can't trust. Can't trust. Can't trust."

Before I could go scorched earth and deny everything they were about to say, a vine snaked around my hand and temporarily dissuaded me from making a terrible move.

My heart beat started settling as I gazed at Gaia and she looked up at me with a patient expression, that made my flight or fight sense slowly go away.

I could already tell what she was saying with just her gaze alone and finally, I took a deep breath that turned a bit shaky as she wrapped me up in a hug.

Finally, I let my guard drop slightly and nodded to her.

"You understand that you two are the only ones who know I'm a criminal, right?" I said eventually.

"Let's keep it that way!" Gold grinned cockily.

Crystal nodded slowly, gazing at me with inscrutable eyes. "We may have had a terrible first meeting… but that doesn't have to define all of our meetings. I think you're just misunderstood, Silvy."

"…" I sighed in defeat. "It's Silver. My name is Silver. Silvy is Green's annoying ass nickname for me and she's the only one I'm willing to let call me that."

"Silver…" Gold tested the name on his lips and nodded.

"I'm Crystal and this is Gold, we grew up together," Crystal smiled patiently. "We've been neighbors our whole life."

"Cute," I said flatly, feeling unexpectedly drained.

I just wanted to sleep until the boat ride.

If the two noticed my less than stellar personality, they didn't mention it.

"I honestly wasn't expecting our first meeting to go that well," Gold shrugged truthfully.

"It's because I ran into him alone," Crystal said. "If you were here from the start, I don't think it would have gone this well."

I grunted, watching as Gaia happily trotted up to Quilava and Croconaw. The Croconaw was still shooting me the evil eye, but focused more on his found friend.

"So what do you want from me?" I asked bluntly.

The two flinched, caught off guard by straightforward attitude.

"We don't want anything from you… we just don't want you to deal with Team Rocket alone," Crystal explained.

"It's not like you're traveling with me. How do you think you're going to prevent that?" I retorted, beckoning Gaia over so that we could prepare to leave.

"...We need to put more thought into this. I wasn't expecting our plans to change so drastically," Crystal said a bit sheepishly. "I thought you'd be a lot more unreasonable."

"Can't say I blame you," I muttered, beginning the trek back to Vermilion.

"You're not the type to ever ask for help… so I'll never offer it," Gold said bluntly. "If I think you need help though, I'm going to help you. Whether you like it or not."

I twitched at that. "You aren't strong enough to be worrying about my safety. Worry about your own," I scoffed.

"Where are you going?" Crystal asked curiously.

"Back to Green. She'll start to worry if I'm gone too long," I said truthfully.

"You don't wanna battle?" Gold frowned.

"No, we agreed to take it easy until the boat ride. You'll lose anyways and I'm tired," I replied simply.

Gold gained a tick at that. "I've gotten way stronger, asshole! This battle will be different!"

"I doubt it. Besides, I'd rather battle Crystal."

Crystal perked up at that. "Me? Why?"

I shrugged. "I didn't give you enough credit."

She flushed at that. "You're a lot less… of an ass. You've changed a lot."

"Shut the fuck up. Why are you following me?"

Crystal sweatdropped.

"We're going the same way, might as well!" Gold grinned leisurely.

"Did you say you're waiting for the boat ride? The S.S Anne?" Crystal asked curiously.

I eyed them. "Yeah."

"We are too!" Gold grinned. "Not bad! You really are getting stronger!"

I snorted. "I should be saying that to you."

As they badgered me on the way back to Vermilion, I acknowledged the swell of relief in my chest.

I… was thankful that I didn't have to leave anyone behind. I wouldn't lie to myself and deny that… If I had to leave behind Jasmine and even Green… it would suck.

They were my friends and I don't think I ever had friends before because… it felt really nice to have them.

So yeah, I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth and tell these two to fuck off… because I wasn't that stupid (I ignored the fact that for a moment, I was about to be that stupid). I understand that Gold and Crystal had the most potential to screw my life over…

So to know that they had no intentions of reporting me…

Huh, guess being a hero wasn't all that terrible if these two were indication. Bleeding hearts of gold did a lot for me…

Guess keeping these two on my good side was imperative.

What a thought.

----------------------------------------

…

Green removed herself from the tree that was hiding her from Silver, Gold and Crystal's line of sight with an expressionless face.

She had followed him for one reason and one reason only...

Because during their conversation, he had called her Green while directly speaking to her. Silvy only called her Green when he was talking to someone else... not her.

It meant one thing... Silver was too distressed to consciously mess with her. When he wasn't consciously doing so, he more often than not referred to her as Green... but he was always conscious of that detail when speaking to her...

So she followed him and what she heard was...

Silvy was… Silvy was a criminal. Silvy was the one who stole Gaia from Elm's lab… and Silvy was the one who hurt him really badly.

The shock of the situation caught up to her and she gripped her dress with a distraught expression.

He lied to her!

Silvy… told her that he found Gaia in the wild but he lied! H-He stole her and sent someone to the hospital while he was at it…

Green didn't even realize the tears welling in her eyes…

Silvy… Silver lied to her.

"He lied to me! How could he lie to me? I-I thought we were friends!" Green wailed in despair.

She lost the power to support herself and collapsed, tears falling freely as she let out a sob.

Green was just a fool. A dumb fool! She put her trust in someone that clearly didn't want to be trusted and she was too blind to see that!

H-How could Silver do this to her?! Leading her on and making her think that they could actually be f-friends?! He was...

That was so cruel of him! Why would he pretend to care about what she had to say? Was he just entertaining a dumb girl that he was eventually going to abandon...?

She hated him... she hated Silver. She hated him because he was a liar and he tricked her a-and he made her actually believe that they were friends.

Green let out another sharp wail and curled into herself, prompting Vee to finally take action.

Vee looked at the heartbroken Green in sorrow.

"Vee," he said patiently, nudging his head against her belly.

What?

Green sniffed and gazed at her first pokemon with those wide teary eyes.

"Eev, eev vee," Vee explained to her with a frown.

"Silver's just trying to protect me?" Green asked quietly, trying her best to wipe the tears and failing miserably.

Vee nodded and her lips wobbled again.

"Protect me...? He was... protecting me?" she said unsuredly, trying to calm down her errant emotions to think about it more.

R-Right… when Crystal asked why he wanted her gone so badly… Silvy said it was because Green had nothing to do with this and that she was innocent…

"He was trying to stop me from being an unknowing accomplice," Green said in realization, using her dress to wipe her face.

If it was ever revealed that he was a thief... of course another prime suspect would be his traveling companion!

T-That's why he didn't want to travel with her at first… that's why he kept pushing her away! In his own awkward way... Silver was trying to make sure Green didn't incriminate herself without revealing his status as a criminal...

The only reason he conceded in letting her travel with him… was because she mentioned that she was being targeted by Team Rocket…

Just like he was.

Green wiped her tears hastily as more and more revelations were revealed to her from all the dots she began suddenly connecting.

Now that she was no longer heartbroken at the revelation that Silvy had been lying… Green was able to delve deeper into the contents of that conversation…

No, she was able to delve into anything involving Silver that didn't make much sense to her before and when she did, it caused her to come to a horrible realization.

Silvy was being targeted by Team Rocket… because he was in Team Rocket.

And if she was right about Silvy being in Team Rocket… then that meant one thing.

Giovanni was in Team Rocket too.

Not only was Silver in Team Rocket and trying to get out of it… Giovanni himself was trying to make sure that didn't happen.

Silver wasn't just being targeted by Team Rocket… he was being targeted by the strongest gym leader in the region!

Green felt a strong vertigo hit her at that and she collapsed on her butt once more, an intense look of concern crossing her features.

Giovanni was in Team Rocket? Was that true...? How could she be so sure of that?

...Silver was sponsored by the Viridian Gym... more specifically Giovanni. That's what Lance had said.

Everything made sense now. Silvy knew about the mole in the League… but he didn't reveal it because it would have put him in danger too... because he was sponsored by the mole.

And tied with the fact that he took Gaia to protect himself... he was assuming that it would be a giant snowball effect if they even figured one thing out.

"He has expectations for me that I have no interest in following. Unfortunately, he doesn't take no for an answer and that really pisses me off."

"I don't care. At least he has a good family to complain about. It really pisses me off seeing someone get gifted everything they could ask for and they're still unsatisfied with their life. What a sickening mindset."

"Oh Silvy…" Green teared up again, holding her heart as she finally began to understand things about him that he probably didn't want anyone to know.

Even after being forced into Team Rocket… her companion was still so much better than he gave himself credit for.

He stole Gaia, yet she loved him with all her heart, to the point where she readily lied with him about where he found her…

He was so kind to his team and even though his words came off harsh, there was also advice layered deep within it if you just peeled off the prickly shell that he was using as a defense mechanism.

Even now, he was clearly trying to deal with Team Rocket alone and didn't want to drag her into it… only relenting because she was being targeted by them too…

Silvy was…

"He's such a good friend!" Green sobbed, curling into herself.

She couldn't believe she had been about to forsake him! Silver was her friend and he actually cared for her!

He was so nice to his team and they all loved him and damnit, Green did too!

"You're right Vee!" Green exclaimed, wiping her eyes with a grin of determination. "We're gonna get as strong as possible and we're gonna help Silvy deal with Team Rocket… for now, we'll keep this to ourselves! We'll talk to him after the boat ride."

Vee nodded, relieved that she was out of her state of hysteria.

Green looked properly fired up, a genuine goal in her head that wasn't just becoming the strongest trainer alive.

"Silvy is Green's annoying ass nickname for me and she's the only one I'm willing to let call me that."

...Silvy was her friend. He really did think she was his friend so just like how he was protecting her… Green would protect him too.

----------------------------------------

"So you guys heard that right?" Vee asked.

Saury grunted. "Yeah. "

"What are we to do?" Lapee frowned in contemplation.

Larvee had a confused expression on her face. "What's going on? Why are we so serious?"

Togee sighed solemnly. "We're talking about how we're going to murder that shitfaced— I mean Silver. Since we're all so close to him, I can reluctantly be the one who kills him."

Larvee gained an expression of horror. "We're killing Silver?! But why?! He gives me snackies!"

"It needs to be done. He made Leaf cry," Togee said sagely.

The Togepi let out yelp of terror, as a vine snaked around him warningly.

"Enough of that," Saury said calmly. "We are not killing Silver. We are not killing anyone."

The Ivysaur gazed at them all, effortlessly taking command of the conversation.

"Based on what we heard, Silver is being targeted by that Team Rocket just like we are. It's to our benefit to continue working with him," Saury informed them.

Vee nodded in agreement, clambering atop Lapee's shell with a sigh. "Silver's not a bad guy. He's definitely not," the Eevee said surely.

Lapee hummed, agreeing with them both. "He's rough around the edges but Silver's been nothing but kind to us and Green loves being around him. I don't have any complaints if we continue as normal."

"We have no reason to consider him our enemy. I've kept an eye on him and he's earned my trust," Saury grunted.

"Yay! I don't wanna kill Silvy," Larvee beamed. "He's nice, pats me and gives me snacks and he has Freyja too!"

"I agree. I quite like Silver," Lapee smiled.

Togee groaned in annoyance, all pretenses dropped as he gloomily glared at nothing. "Bummer. I was hoping we could kill him and that dragon of his in his sleep."

"Togee," Lapee chided gently.

"That would explain Togee's less than stellar personality," Vee sighed lazily.

Togee perked up at that. "What are you talking about?" he asked suspiciously.

Saury glanced over at the Togepi. "You were Silver's egg. Green hatched you by mistake."

Vee resisted the urge to snicker, as a look of horror crossed Togee's features. "You act just like him. How could you not tell?"

Togee had a look of horror on his face and Green's team was beginning to realize that the little baby really didn't realize he was practically Silver in pokemon form.

"Oh yeah!" Larvee said in realization. "Silvy's basically your dad!"

Even Saury was unable to stop the smile, at hearing Togee's scream of anguish.