Lorelei's Lapras had hid it masterfully but swimming in Articuno's domain, had affected her more than she initially let on.

  The water type was completely exhausted and my aunt had forced her to take a break.

  Her other Water types weren't as suited for carrying someone across the sea, barring her Dewgong (it wouldn't be comfortable), so she took that as a sign that she should ride with me on Freyja.

  Considering the talk we just had, I wasn't surprised that she was squeezing me to death once more.

  We were sailing leisurely through Route 20 and I was taking the time to have Oberon meditate once more.

  His talks with Jynx, seemed to be going quite well so far. The little bear was already looking a bit better...

  Though, that might be because he had opted to start sleeping with me any chance he got. Even now, he looked closer to dozing off than meditating.

  I'm glad I was able to offer him some peace... he was making good strides to being better.

  ...

  I could learn a thing or two from him.

  "Aunt," I said quietly.

  Lorelei craned her neck slightly. She was doing something on her bright red pokegear and I wasn't curious enough to ask what.

  "What is it, Silver?" she asked.

  "I was experimented on by Team Rocket," I told her bluntly.

  I couldn't tell her my other relations with Rocket just yet but... that one was okay.

  Lorelei's grip on me, tightened into something almost painful.

  "Is... that so?" she asked measuredly, controlling her voice to the best of her ability.

  I nodded. "I'm sure you realized by now... but Psychics and Ghosts have a hard time around me. I think Team Rocket has something to do with that," I informed her.

  Lorelei began shaking, lips pressed into a very thin line. Then, she paused.

  "You think? You aren't certain?" she asked softly.

  "I don't remember," I replied honestly.

  That finally set her off.

  A terrible scowl formed on my aunt's face and she hissed in her displeasure, trembling as the anger overwhelmed her.

  "They did what to you? I've suspected terrible things but this?! No legendary is protecting Team Rocket from my wrath," Lorelei swore, a dark glare on her face.

  A long drawn out breath left me. "Be careful. I suspect that if Team Rocket becomes aware of the league knowing about their legendary..."

  "They'll see no reason to keep it in the shadows any longer," Lorelei finished, frowning harshly.

  I nodded. "It's a psychic type. Created by the cells of Mew... I think the experiments done on me, are connected to the legend."

  "...How horrific. Are they attempting to use you to control a legendary?" Lorelei muttered in disbelief.

  "That's... inconceivable. Trying to use a child to control something that powerful... I can't even fathom how that would work," she admitted.

  After witnessing Articuno's power first hand, I was inclined to agree with her. I don't know what they expected from me but it was probably the most optimistic thing Team Rocket had ever thought.

  "I still don't know the full details... but maybe one day I'll figure them out," I pondered.

  I would refrain from telling her about our meeting with Blaine. Lorelei's overprotectiveness was appreciated, but it would only hurt my quest for knowledge in the long run, if I told her Blaine had played a part in experimenting on me.

  An abrupt touch, brought me out of my musings and I blinked at feeling the paw gripping my outfit.

  I glanced down, meeting the stunned eyes of Oberon. He was looking up at me, black eyes wide and mouth hanging.

  "Urs?" he questioned quietly.

  I tilted my head. "Was I experimented on? Yes, I was," I confirmed.

  That's right... I never did explicitly mention it to my team. Maybe Loki, Gaia and Metang were aware but the others probably didn't know too much.

  "We're not so different, little man," I chuckled, ruffling the top of his head. "We can't let them think they've won. We'll show them that we're even better than what they tried to make us."

  Oberon stared at me and for once, there wasn't a starry look in his eyes.

  No, there was just a firm resolve there as my little bear wrapped me in a protective hug.

  I stared at him and chuckled.

  "Sometimes, I don't think I deserve you guys," I said fondly.

  "No. You absolutely deserve them," Lorelei denied ferociously. "You went through the effort to take them from such ridiculous situations and I won't let your thievery go to waste, with that mindset. If you're going to steal something, you should at least believe in yourself 100%!"

  I paused in disbelief at her words, before a loud laugh erupted out of me.

  To think my aunt would tell me to steal with all my heart if I was going to do it in the first place.

  "You've become so twisted!" I snorted.

  She blushed in embarrassment. "That's not it! I just believe since you went through all that trouble, it would be pointless and downright offensive to begin doubting yourself now. Of course I disapprove of you stealing and I hope to never hear that you've stolen something again... but what's done is done!"

  I just kept laughing. "Right Aunt. I'll become such a good thief, that no one will ever be able to link it back to me," I assured.

  Lorelei spluttered. "T-That is not what I said at all! Silver, I swear you better not steal anything else! Don't take advantage of my goodwill to you!"

  "But you're my super beautiful aunt who is supposed to spoil me rotten," I said calmly.

  "Stop trying to compliment me and don't twist my words! You are so twisted!" she scowled.

  "...Fine, I guess you won't spoil me then," I sighed glumly.

  My aunt stared at me with wide eyes. "My nephew is so rotten. I don't understand where I went wrong," she lamented.

  I quirked a brow. "We've only known each other for 4 months. You're taking credit for me being this terrible?"

  "I'm taking credit for not fixing you yet," she replied.

  Another chuckle erupted from my body.

  What an earnest idiot my aunt was.

  "Hey! You guys stop having so much fun back there without me!" Green complained, shooting us an outraged look.

  "It's just Silver making fun of me." Lorelei attempted to placate my companion.

  "Well, stop making fun of people when im not there!" she huffed.

  I held my hands up in surrender. "Okay my bad. Come swim next to us so I can make fun of you both," I appeased.

  "You bet I will!"

  Lorelei gazed at Green with a dumbfounded expression.

  "She... wants to be made fun of?" she asked slowly.

  "It's just our thing. Don't worry about it," I waved her off.

  "Oh dear, you're both problem children," Lorelei moaned in misery.

  Cinnabar Island was far bigger than the games portrayed it as… though that was every place I went to.

  Unlike the games though, this didn't really look like what I expected it to be. Most of the cities I went to, looked fairly similar to the game aesthetic.

  But Cinnabar didn't look much like it at all… I expected it to be more simple in nature but I was quite wrong.

  Cinnabar looked more like a tourist spot than a gym leaders domain. The smell of soot was masked by the compounding aromas of all the citizens of the island, heat magnifying due to the bodies.

  The incessant chatter of hundreds of people, in this area alone, grated at my ears, hundreds of footsteps either crashing on the stone floor or crunching against the low cut grass.

  I frowned in distaste at it all, returning Freyja to the ball, as I continued to inspect the island for what it had.

  Ridiculous. I wanted out. At least Saffron and Celadon were huge. This island was filled to the brim with people and it wasn't big enough to make the experience comfortable.

  "Where's the gym?" I asked.

  Green shrugged. "I dunno. I heard the average trainer doesn't even know there's a gym here."

  "The average trainer doesn't know... what the fuck does that mean? How would the average trainer not know there's a gym here?" I asked in confusion.

  The internet was no secret in this world. I'm positive Blaine was a world renowned Gym Leader and I know for a fact, I read about people coming here to get gym badges.

  What the hell even was the "average" trainer...?

  Oh. It was the trainers who likely stopped at around the 4-5 badge limit. Around this time, a lot of people were giving up on the gym circuit. What they chose to do was up to them. Most would go back home and continue an education, others would doggedly try and find a passion for something else...

  I guess in that respect, it made sense the average trainer didn't know about a gym being here. Most didn't even come to Cinnabar.

  That still didn't change how stupid this all was. I turned towards Lorelei with a raised brow, only to watch my disguised aunt shrug helplessly.

  "I cannot say. This year, Blaine has attempted to spice up his gym challenge. Perhaps that is why so few have been able to locate him," she said with an amused smile.

  I pinched my nose at that.

  "Alright. Let's just go to the center."

  "Kay!" Green beamed, taking a single step forward, before abruptly freezing in horror.

  "Wait a minute... a large crowd and we just arrived to our location?" she muttered to herself a second too late. My hand clasped around both her and Lorelei's and I huffed in annoyance.

  "Agh! Wait you demon! Unhand me!" Green shouted, struggling fruitlessly in my grip.

  Lorelei was too pleased that I was willingly grabbing her hand, to realize what I was about to do.

  Eh, she'd find out soon enough.

  I began mowing through the chattering crowd of people, on the unexpectedly busy island. Their shouts of panic, as a speeding and short missile bulldozed through them, was music to my ears.

  I didn't pay any of them any mind and rushed to the center with a one track mind.

  "S-Silver! What on earth are you doing?!" Lorelei shouted in disbelief, adjusting her hat slightly as I dragged her and Green.

  "Going to the Center. I already said that," I replied.

  My aunt let out a strangled gasp. "You know exactly what I'm asking you! Don't pretend like you don't!"

  I ignored the both of them, exhaling as I stood in front of the Pokemon Center.

  "I can't... I can't believe you," Lorelei muttered. She looked utterly mortified at what I had just done but she couldn't say I didn't get her here fast.

  "You get used to it. Just be glad you aren't me," Green said flatly, face burning red.

  "You're overreacting." I waved them off. I took a step forward to enter the center-

  Only to nearly crash into someone.

  My eyes narrowed and as swift as I could, I abruptly stopped my gait, released Lorelei and Green in one smooth motion and pushed aside the person I was about to crash into.

  Better for just them to get hurt, than the both of us. Crashing into one another, would have been more painful.

  "Oof!" a voice gasped, collapsing onto their butt.

  "Pika!" a pokemon cried.

  "I sometimes can't believe you're a real person," Lorelei sighed despondently.

  "Oops," I said dryly, glancing downwards with a disinterested gaze.

  As I got a good look at who I pushed to the side though, I groaned audibly.

  Oh dammit.

  "What's your deal?! Watch where you're going!" the voice on the floor shouted, looking up to make eye contact with me.

  Warm brown eyes stared into the frigid silvers of mine and I sighed.

  "You!" Ash Ketchum shouted, pushing himself up quickly.

  "Me," I said boredly.

  "Ash!" Green exclaimed happily.

  "Green!" Ash beamed.

  "Silver," Misty greeted with a smile.

  "Misty," I replied with a respectful nod.

  "Beauty!" Brock announced, approaching Lorelei with no hesitation.

  "Pardon?" Lorelei responded.

  Before he could so much as put a hand on her, a deathly aura washed over him and he hesitantly glanced back to see my soulless glare.

  There was a baseball bat in my hand and any sane person, was probably well aware of what I was going to do with it.

  "Away from her. Go harass someone else," I snarled, grabbing Lorelei's hand and pushing her behind me.

  My aunt yelped as she ended up behind me but eventually sighed.

  "Thank you, Silver... but where did you get that baseball bat?" she asked.

  "I've had it for a long time now. Never actually got to use it."

  "Use it... for baseball, right?"

  "..."

  "Right...?"

  I stared at her and she stared right back before my aunt pinched her nose in defeat.

  Brock froze, this time in genuine horror. "Wait a second…"

  "I recognize that voice!" Misty hissed in terror.

  "Huh?" Ash tilted his head in confusion.

  "Brock, apologize right now, you moron!" Misty demanded, shaking the tallest of their group back and forth.

  Brock was bowing nonstop. "I-I'm so sorry. I had no idea it was you Elite -"

  Lorelei smiled, adjusting her hat once more, and held up a hand. "Former Gym Leader Brock, Gym Trainer Misty. It's a pleasure to see you two doing well… Please do not scream. I'd rather not be recognized. I'd be swarmed with attention and Silver would end up arrested."

  I rolled my eyes. "How no one recognizes you? I'll never know."

  She looked confused. "What do you mean? I would have thought this was a fantastic disguise."

  A sigh escaped me at the idiotic statement. "You're a bombshell of a lady with just a big hat on. In the first place, people are already staring at you. How no one realizes who they're staring at, is insane to me."

  Lorelei blinked, red dusting her cheeks. "Please do not call me a "bombshell" Silver. That's incredibly offensive and you're aware of that."

  "You're objectively hot. Do you think I'm calling my aunt this because it's what I personally think?" I grunted.

  "He has a point. I've never seen you leave the top 3 of that most beautiful woman in Kanto list," Green chimed in.

  "You read those?" I asked curiously.

  "Of course! I'm going to be #1 one day!" Green puffed up.

  I looked impressed. "You're actually very arrogant. I thought you calling yourself a cute girl, was apart of a bit."

  My companion immediately twitched at that and rounded on me. "Y-You wretch! You know I'm cute, dummy!"

  "Know is a very powerful word that implies a lot of things. I don't know anything about how cute you are. Where the hell did you come up with that?"

  My aunts cheeks darkened. "Please stop, you two. You're embarrassing me for all the wrong reasons."

  I raised a brow. "Huh? You've never been called hot before? Stop lying."

  Lorelei put a hand to her head. "Naturally I have… but your words have more impact on me. I thought we established this long ago."

  I smirked at that. "Awww. I'm the only one who makes my aunt feel something! That's so adorable!" I mocked, even clapping for her.

  Her eye twitched in annoyance.

  "A-Aunt?" Misty and Brock uttered at the same time, going pale.

  "Who's this?" Ash asked in confusion, staring at Lorelei with a lost expression.

  "A pleasure to meet you… but I cannot divulge my identity at the moment," Lorelei apologized, holding her hand out and shaking Ash's own.

  The boy grasped it, still somewhat confused, and shook it with what little manners his mom taught him.

  "Ask your friends later today. They know who I am," she smiled.

  Ash's brows furrowed at that and he nodded, turning a confused gaze towards his companions before locking eyes onto me.

  I caught both his gaze and his Pikachu's gaze, raising a brow at the glares of determination. There was a fire in them, one that I had probably ignited all the way back in Cerulean...

  Well, not that I gave a fuck. I effortlessly dismissed both him and his first pokemon.

  "Misty let's battle sometime during my stay here. I want to see if you've actually improved," I said bluntly, lightly tugging Lorelei's wrist towards the Joy.

  Misty jumped at that. "O-Oh! Sure! I've been training to battle you again anyways! I got some new members for my team!"

  "Good," I praised with a smirk.

  My battle with Misty was good. She was a talented trainer, who's spirit had gotten ignited by Lance way back.

  I wanted to see how she improved. Type specialists were very difficult to fight. Most people had one or two counters for any given type and if those two counters went down... a competent type specialist would make you suffer.

  Ash, predictably, exploded. There was a look of injustice on his tan face but I barely spared the boy a glance.

  "What?! I wanna battle you too!" he shouted.

  "Pika pi!" Pikachu agreed, glaring at me.

  "No. I already said I have no interest in battling you anymore," I said blandly, not even paying attention to him.

  Ash clenched his fist. "I got stronger! I already got my seventh badge and I actually earned it!"

  "His last couple of badges, he's earned. I didn't think he could do that, but they've been convincing," Misty defended.

  Brock nodded in agreement. "Ash has been getting pretty strong! If you two battle this time, you might find yourself surprised!"

  I paused at that, turning towards their group with a raised brow.

  His seventh badge? Well… I guess it made sense that he'd pass Green and I due to the inconvenience of going back from Fuchsia to Saffron, not to mention us camping in Seafoam.

  "Maybe you got a little stronger… but you irritate me on a fundamental level so I refuse anyways. I'm a man of my word and I will never willingly accept a battle against you, until you impress me," I explained.

  Ash reeled back in surprise and I wasn't surprised.

  Rejecting battles in this world out of spite, was practically unheard of. Anything could be settled with a battle.

  But I didn't need to do that. There was no need for me to chomp at the bits to battle anyone... especially people who I already beat.

  I wouldn't be the one getting driven up a wall at lack of battles. I was the winner after all.

  Everyone was interested in me, not the other way around.

  My personal grievances against Ash, while probably still there (I was a kid after all), didn't affect me nearly as much in this decision... I just didn't want to battle him.

  Battles were most enjoyable for me, when it was a nailbiter that I won or when I was teaching someone a lesson. Ash was too much of an earnest idiot for me to teach a lesson, unlike say... Blue.

  No, the face of the franchise would just continue to bounce back, no matter how many times I won.

  That sounded exhausting to deal with and I was always exhausted.

  "C'mon aunt. I'm trying to go to sleep soon," I grunted.

  "Why are you dragging me everywhere?" Lorelei asked curiously, not releasing my grip.

  "Because I can see that you're happy about it."

  "…I will keep my question to myself next time."

  "Wait for me!" Green exclaimed. She turned towards the group and beamed brightly.

  "Ash, I'll try to convince him to battle you. Silvy listens to me!"

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

  She completely ignored me. "In the meantime, we can have a battle too! I'm not tired like Silvy, so let's meet up later!"

  Ash huffed. "Yeah! I got a lot stronger! Watch me, Green!"

  Cinnabar didn't really get colder at night, but it certainly got quieter so I appreciated it all the same.

  I gazed at the volcano with a half lidded gaze. It was said to be inactive, no real threat of erupting. It had been like this for years now...

  Still didn't stop me from wanting off this island. The Cinnabar volcano does erupt during Johto so it was on a timer.

  I glanced upwards at the night sky, regarding the half moon with a bored gaze.

  Despite being hidden, we were still able to make an appointment for the battle with the Nurse Joy. So long as we found Blaine before three days, we'd be able to battle him.

  Tomorrow, we'd be looking for Blaine's gym and after I battled and got my badge... Green and I would ambush him.

  I wasn't too concerned about getting my badge from him. It wouldn't be easy, but I was confident in my training.

  Green mentioned having battled Ash for fun, while Lorelei and I went to bed earlier. Her loud and sleepy ass, was the reason I was even awake right now.

  She had drug herself into the room, full of exhaustion. It woke me up almost instantly and I could only recall her blearily telling me his members.

  I scratched my bedhead, not seeing any reason to get it under control at this time of the night.

  I think she said his team was a Pikachu, Charizard, Primeape... Ivysaur, Wartortle and Snorlax. He even had extras back at Pallet apparently.

  Now that I was more coherent, I could safely say his team was a lot more impressive than I would have thought. Like seriously impressive.

  But I don't ever remember Ash evolving his Bulbasaur or Squirtle. Was that later on? Not to mention, where the ever living hell did he find a Snorlax from?

  Snorlax wasn't really a pokemon someone Ash's age should be taking care of. They were expensive to feed, incredibly strong and very hard to control. Snorlax were very dangerous pokemon and you especially never wanted to anger one.

  ...

  Maybe he really would give me a good battle. At the very least, that Snorlax would prove to be a huge problem.

  Hm...

  "Are you just going to keep watching me from the shadows?" I asked calmly, standing right behind my stalker.

  The offender attempted to shriek, but I wasn't keen on anyone getting any funny ideas about what was going on... so I covered their mouth (yeah I know, just making the whole misunderstanding thing worse) and muffled the noise.

  I sighed, watching the illusion of myself stare into the night sky... up until he vanished without a trace.

  Then I turned the offender around and pushed them against a wall, ensuring they couldn't move too much to hurt me.

  "Hm? You changed your eye color," I mused, staring into the girl's violet eyes.

  "Not bad. Violet fits a little more than teal, blondie."

  Domino hadn't been aware she was watching an illusion, up until she was getting pressed against a wall with a hand over her mouth.

  Chilling silver eyes, that she could even see in the dark, stared at her. An insidious feeling slowly crawled through her body, at that piercing stare and she hastily averted her gaze.

  "As expected of you to see through my disguise... well, not that I was putting much effort into avoiding you," she said, more bothered by his staring than the grip he had on her.

  "What do you want?" Silver asked coolly, ignoring her statement effortlessly.

  Despite the situation, Domino smiled. Without any hesitation, she used the little room he had given her, to kick up her leg. The flexible maneuver was rewarded, as she connected with his arm and forced him to loosen his grip.

  Silver grunted as she took the chance to immediately leap away. She had lunged to the left, rolling across the cool ground and catching herself immediately.

  Domino smiled coyly, standing up easily. "Oh how sweet of you, Silver! But you should know by now, that you have to give it your all or else I'll win," she teased.

  Her childhood friend stared warily, not really all that bothered. "I tried to give you the benefit of the doubt. Seeing as you've proven you're not a normal civilian..."

  Domino felt her senses going haywire and hastily released her Klefki, who immediately summoned a Reflect that the Zoroark's claws clashed again.

  She stared in horror at the flashing claws, turning towards the redhead with a look of slight disbelief.

  "I'm not gonna murder you or anything. Just maim you until you can't escape and can answer my questions," he offered, glancing at the pokemon she just released.

  The casual way he said that, sent a shudder down her spine.

  "A Wigglytuff and a Klefki, huh? You're not a battler because you're the resourceful reconnaissance type. I imagine the rest of your team helps you scout and escape... and you probably have one heavy hitter," Silver observed, crossing his arms as he leaned against a Meganium.

  "Not as impressive of a guess as you think it is. That's my specialty after all," she retorted.

  He quirked a brow but said nothing. "Why are you stalking me? Think wisely of what you answer or get that teleporter I know you have, ready." he suggested calmly.

  The blonde stared at him in some confusion. "Not even a hi? Just straight into interrogation? You've become even colder, Silver..."

  Well, he had always been pretty cold. Silver was someone who was not afraid to get physical if it called for it.

  "This is the third time."

  Domino paused at that. What was he talking about? Actually, this entire time, he had been acting really strange.

  "Third time?" she questioned.

  He stared coldly at her. "This is the third time you've spoken to me in such a familiar way. Who the fuck are you?"

  That made her freeze completely. "Who... am I?" she repeated slowly.

  What the hell did he mean who was she? Silver didn't know who she was?

  I was supposed to know this girl. But I couldn't remember how I knew her...

  But judging by her brief display of athleticism, I could take a wild guess.

  An agent for Team Rocket, one with enough rank to be trusted to stalk me alone... and considering we looked to be close in age, maybe someone I grew up with.

  Of course, I only really came to the realization that we probably grew up together... after I asked who she was.

  Why? Well because of her reaction of course. The girl looked like I just stabbed her in the stomach (which I was tempted to do by the way).

  Loki slunk over to me and leaned close.

  "That's Domino. You two trained and stuff growing up," he whispered, hiding what he was saying with an illusion.

  "Really wish you told me that before I asked who the hell she was," I hissed back.

  "I was busy trying to maim her on your orders," he snarked right back.

  "Not even a bit of hesitation?" I questioned.

  "I don't hesitate against Team Rocket. I'll do anything to protect you."

  Man I loved my team.

  "You don't know me?" Domino asked in confusion, staring a hole into me.

  Hm. How should I approach this? Doubling back on what I said, would just cause more issue and would lack the consistency.

  "It's been a long time since I've seen you, Domino," I said, throwing her name in just to be safe.

  While she relaxed minutely at the mention of her name, there was still doubt on her face.

  "No... you really didn't recognize me for a moment there," she denied, staring at me with a frown.

  "..." I pursed my lips.

  "Aren't you just so full of yourself?" she scowled, crossing her arms. "What? All those "friends" you made and you forget little ol me, huh?"

  I cocked my head in confusion.

  There wasn't really a desire for me to divulge in information of the sorts with this girl.

  "Why'd you put so much emphasis on friends?" I questioned, leaning against a wall. I may have appeared lax, but I was ready for action at a moment's notice.

  The girl glared at me. "Why else, you little Growlithe!"

  Little Growlithe? What the hell did that mean?

  "Can you stop being so confusing? You're wasting my time," I drawled.

  "Oh I bet. Gonna go back to the room with those girls right?! Is betraying Team Rocket really worth this?!" she asked with a scowl.

  ...

  Was this girl calling me a dog?

  Hold on when she put all that emphasis on friends...

  I glared at Domino. "What the hell are you implying right now?"

  "You've never been stupid, Silver. Don't start now!" she retorted.

  What the hell was this conversation? What were these accusations being thrown at me?

  Was it a big deal that I was traveling with some girls? I didn't think so. I didn't wanna travel with anyone in the first place...

  A disturbed expression, suddenly crossed my face.

  Hold on. Was Gold my only male friend?

  ...Shit. I wasn't talking to Lance anymore and every other guy I spoke to, hated me... which was a vast majority of the people I ran into.

  Was that really my fault?! Everyone knew that 12 year olds were demons and I was the biggest of them all! In the first place, anyone who kept prolonged conversation with me, wasn't normal!

  I shouldn't have any friends with my bad temper and everyone was a douche at this age, especially the dudes I ran into. It was always an ego check and my ego was unmatched!

  Gold was just extremely abnormal. His ego was close to mine, he was also a douche... but he was goddamn persistent.

  Ash didn't need much explanation. I remember him mellowing out later on but in Kanto, his bad temper was practically at its peak. Combined with the fact that he was a bad battler on top of it, we were destined to not get along.

  As for Blue, he was as big of a douche as I was and neither of us (I was but I refused because I didn't see why I should bother) were mature enough to respect the others skill.

  Huh... the closest thing I had to a second male friend... was Mason.

  "You're making a face," Loki told me.

  I hissed and scratched my head, glaring at the girl as I snapped out of my musings.

  It was not my fault that the girls could put up with my horrible mannerisms. I wasn't thankful for it or anything like that... in fact at a certain point I thought it was more annoying that they wouldn't stop bugging me.

  Didn't they... I dunno, mature faster?

  "Are you jealous?" I asked, banishing my thoughts.

  Domino twitched at my blunt question, thrown for a loop. "Jealous?! Don't get so full of yourself! You leave for a few months and all of a sudden your head is full of air!"

  I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. You know Team Rocket nearly killed me on two different occasions, right?"

  The blonde flinched back at that. "Well... I'm sure they weren't trying specifically to kill you..." she trailed off.

  "Tell that to the guy who smashed a bottle against my head. Or how about the one who blew up a vehicle that had me in it?" I questioned, raising a brow.

  I snorted. "You were sent to observe me specifically. Is my dear dad getting fed up with me?" I asked coolly.

  Domino stared at me with a scowl. "Are you even aware of what you're doing, Silver?!"

  She ignored the warning look Loki shot her and jabbed a finger against my chest. Domino was pretty short, standing a solid two inches below me.

  "Making an enemy of Team Rocket? What goal are you trying to achieve here? Are you testing Boss Giovanni's patience. Trying to see if he'll even kill his own son?!" she questioned aggressively.

  Domino shook her head, a tinge of fear on her face. "Stop while you're ahead, Silver. Angering Giovanni... it's not smart. You haven't seen it but he has a pokemon. If he sends it after you, you're done for," she warned.

  "I know."

  She froze. "Huh? You know?"

  I stared uncaringly at her. "What is my purpose in Team Rocket?" I asked her randomly.

  "...What?" she asked quietly.

  "My purpose, what is it?" I pressed calmly.

  Domino gazed at me, a strange look in her eyes. "You are to succeed Giovanni and lead Team Rocket to even greater heights."

  "What's your purpose?" I asked almost as soon as she finished speaking.

  Clearly she did not know where I was going with this but curiosity got the best of her.

  Of course it did. It always did.

  "To become worthy enough to support you when that time comes," she replied, in a manner that seemed almost rehearsed.

  Considering we grew up together, she had probably been brainwashed to some degree by the stupid propaganda.

  "When will that time come?" I asked coolly.

  Domino blinked. "Um... I'm sure it'll happen-"

  "In 10 years? In 20?" I pressed, walking forward and forcing her to step back until her back hit the wall.

  "How old will we be, when you think Giovanni is ready to give up his role? Answer honestly."

  She shook at my question and remained silent... but not because she refused to answer.

  "You can't answer... because you can't imagine him ever giving it up, can you?" I asked knowingly.

  I snorted at the stunned look on her face and shook my head.

  "I'm not some trophy to be hoisted up and shown off. My ambitions are way too high for that. Waiting until Giovanni dies of old age to become the boss of Team Rocket? I'll be old my damn self. 40. 50. 60. Will you be preparing all those years for a role you think you can already do now?" I asked coolly.

  "That's..." she trailed off, looking disturbed.

  "Doesn't it sound so frustrating? You're supposed to be my #2 but how is that going to be possible, when I'm never going to be allowed to become #1?" I questioned, boxing her in by placing both hands on either side of her head.

  It was funny considering we had similar heights but who was paying attention to that?

  I could already tell my eyes were making her uncomfortable so I bored my gaze into her. With how close we were, it was doubly effective.

  "Is that really a life you want to live? One where you keep saying "one day", until you drop dead?" I asked.

  "Is that why you ran away?" she questioned, unable to stifle the curiosity in her voice.

  I huffed. "That man thinks he can make the perfect son... all without a will of their own. I'm not satisfied living in the shadows. I'm not content being someone's #2. I want to live my own life," I responded.

  Then, I stared at her. "And you? What do you want to do? Is this what you really wanna do?"

  The good thing about being my dad's son, was that my words carried weight. They carried even more weight when I began speaking to people like I knew everything.

  And they probably carried the most weight with this girl, whose goal was to become my #2.

  "This... yes this is what I want to do," she said confidently.

  I stared at her and nodded. "Then give up on trying to become my #2. You should prove your worth to Giovanni and become his #2," I advised, stepping back.

  Domino let out a sigh of relief as I stepped away.

  "I'll let you go tonight but if I see you again, I'm going to hurt you," I warned, stepping back and walking away.

  "W-Wait! Are you seriously going to oppose Team Rocket?!" Domino asked incredulously.

  She took a single step forward. "That's ridiculous, Silver! You'll lose! You won't survive another encounter with Team Rocket. If I'm being sent after you, that means it's only a matter of time before they forcefully retrieve you! This is just a death run!"

  She froze as I turned towards her with a soulless look in my eyes.

  "Stop speaking to me like we're friends. I don't need your advice or your concerns. If there's something you're fighting for, you shouldn't be afraid to die for it. Now stop talking to me, Rocket Girl."

  With that, I marched off.

  "Hey Gaia, I can't sleep. Wanna asphyxiate me until I do?" I asked her, ignoring the girl staring at my back.

  "M-Meganium?!" Gaia repeated in horror. She was gazing at me like I had grown a second head and I shrugged.

  "Oh wait you're right. I'll just have Freyja use Hypnosis on me. Good idea," I mused.

  "She didn't say that," Loki interjected, grinning in amusement.

  "Huh, coulda sworn she did," I mused, ignoring the vines wrapping threateningly around my waist.

  It was ignored for good reason. Gaia just puffed her cheeks angrily and deposited me on her back, trotting back to our room.

  What a strange conversation I just had. Maybe if I knew her whole team, I'd probably attempt it but... maybe a small part of me did consider her a friend...

  But a much larger part was utterly disgusted. Like I had an interest in fraternizing with a Rocket.

  "So we have to find the gym?" I mused, leaning back on the bed's headboard and exhaling. Wrapped around my bottom half with far too little shame, Freyja breathed softly as I raked a specialized brush against wherever I could reach.

  "Seems like it," Green nodded, scratching her head and yawning lazily.

  She was sat cross legged to the left of Freyja and I, Vee lazily dozing on her legs. "Guess we just have to ask around…"

  Lorelei smiled, sitting to the right and brushing my hair down. "It will be a fun experience. Do try not to take too long, I'd like to watch the battle."

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  I rolled my eyes. "Whatever. Let's go exploring I guess. We may as well go check if there are any clues at the actual gym."

  "Mhm!"

  It had been pretty difficult to book a room in the Center, considering how packed it was… so Green and I decided to abuse Lorelei's status for once, to get a good room because camping out in Seafoam wasn't fun.

  It seriously wasn't. I hated that place so much. Any random chill I got, I attributed to the hell that was Seafoam Islands.

  So yeah. We were in the best hotel of Cinnabar thanks to Lorelei and my aunt decided that her reward for doing such a thing, was completely hogging me.

  She was becoming more and more shameless as the days went by.

  But… her knowledge of me was probably why she was so clingy these days.

  Coupled with the fact that Green was also a hogging freak of nature... I woke up from Freyja's hypnosis (who was lying across all of our bodies after refusing to return herself) with way too many people near me.

  Maybe Domino had a point. Gold would never have done this.

  Our group departed from the lodgings and I idly snarled at the dude trying to suck up to Lorelei.

  He squeaked and shut up at my glare.

  "I'm terribly sorry for him. He's not a morning person," Lorelei lied, dragging me out of the hotel with admirable speeds.

  "Have a good day!" Green waved at him.

  As the door shut, our group made our way through the packed city. At the very least, it was only morning so it wasn't as filled as it would be underneath the afternoon sun.

  We beelined it straight to the gym and it was then I realized, just how much Lorelei's status as an Elite 4 (and a hardass) served as deterrent… because it wasn't helping at all right now.

  With her disguise, way too many people were interacting with us to get a chance at getting to know my aunt.

  Naturally, that didn't go over very well with me. I hated interacting with people for more than 30 seconds, I hated being crowded and I hated basically everything, so I could keep this train of thought going for a very long time.

  For everyone's sake, I'd stop it here.

  Regardless, we were getting held up by a good amount of people who didn't have any self preservation skills.

  People seriously underestimated how much ferocity I had in this little body of mine. It was getting bad enough that Gaia released herself, dutifully following us and shooting anyone who thought to approach, a scolding stare.

  Lorelei had long ago swapped positions, being the one to drag me through the city now. I was almost impressed at how strong her grip was... but we fought before so it wasn't a surprise.

  Green just cheerfully followed. She was currently sitting on the happy Gaia and watching my antics with an amused grin.

  "I can't believe you. You've been acting extremely unhinged lately," Lorelei muttered. She was huffing at my antics, torn between embarrassment and appreciation.

  It said something that she even had an ounce of appreciation in her. My aunt was seriously whipped.

  I rolled my eyes. "You should blame yourself and your poor disguise. You remember what I said didn't you?"

  She coughed, cheeks dusting once more, and my aunt began dragging me through the island even faster.

  "Please stop. I don't like that the only time you compliment me, is with the knowledge that you're embarrassing me."

  I chuckled at that before gauging the gym before me.

  It certainly did look shut down. We were in a more empty part of the island, the noisy chatter seeming to die down.

  It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in ages. While the building still remained upright, cobwebs, grime and dust littered the entire thing.

  "Give me a minute and I can find a safe way in," I muttered, eyes contemplating what I'd need to have a seamless break in.

  "Oh! Oh! Can I try actually?! We know you can do it but I wanna see if I can!" Green exclaimed, eyes wide in excitement.

  I mulled it over before nodding. "Sure. It's a good training experience for you."

  My aunt immediately put a stop to that.

  "Please do not collude about breaking and entering in front of me," Lorelei sighed tiredly.

  "Aw shucks," Green mumbled, kicking her feet against the dirt.

  "Buzzkill," I muttered under my breath, making sure my aunt could hear it.

  Lorelei twitched. "I didn't expect this journey, to become me trying to convince my nephew and one of his best friends to stop committing crimes..." she mumbled in distress.

  She took a deep breath and stared at us with a measured expression. "Why not ask around? Perhaps you will find answers?"

  I raised a brow. "Nah. That's too much work. Asking around, is for the other fools. I'll do things my way."

  "Old me would have asked around," Green said wistfully. "Silvy taught me that doing that is just stupid. We should just force it and eventually, it'll work out in our favor."

  Lorelei's mouth opened before abruptly shutting. She placed a hand over her face and let out a slow breath.

  "Silver, I cannot believe you've corrupted Green so thoroughly. She seemed so innocent."

  I smirked wildly and pat Green's head getting a wide smile out of her.

  "You guys struggling to find the gym?" a voice called out.

  I blinked at that and turned, seeing Ash's group once more and crossing my arms.

  "What are you still doing here? Actually, how the hell did you find us?" I grunted, eyes narrowed.

  "I wanna watch your gym battle! What? Gonna stop me from doing that too, Lord Silver?!" Ash said bluntly, glaring at me.

  I twitched at that, turning a dark glare towards the boy.

  "You trying to get your ass kicked? I can do more than just pokemon battles," I warned.

  "Try me!" Ash barked right back.

  "We heard about a foul tempered redhead storming through the island and asked which way you went," Misty chimed in.

  "It wasn't Misty so we thought it was you," Brock added, pushing Ash behind him while Lorelei did the same to me.

  Misty's eye twitched as Ash nodded in agreement.

  I sighed and ignored the group. "Whatever. Do what you want."

  Green waved happily at the trio. "You guys know where the gym is?" she asked eagerly.

  Ash nodded with a cocky grin. "We can take you to a guy!"

  My foul mood worsened almost instantly. "So you approached me... to tell me that you know a guy who has the answer? Is this some kind of fucking puzzle? I've got a fucking puzzle for you and you're on Step 3. The first step was showing up, the second was annoying me, figure out step 3 and you'll get a goddamn reward named my foot up your ass!" I snarled.

  Gaia let out a heavy sighed and wrapped two vines around my waist, preventing me from taking a step more.

  Ash's group gaped at my foul language and as expected, my aunt reached out to grip my cheek.

  "Language and please stop threatening bodily harm to people. I've lost count of how many times you've done it today alone," she chastised.

  I bit her finger.

  "O-Ow! Silver, you little brat!" she hissed, yanking her finger back.

  "Imagine walking up to a group of people, saying "hey I know the answer to this... but I'll take you to someone else who knows the answer too!", and expecting not to be treated like a freak!" I barked, trying to lunge at the group to choke them all out and being held back by Gaia.

  "Why would they even bring it up in the first place?! Just keep your mouth shut next time instead of saying such useless things!"

  Green sighed. "Is it bad that I get where he's coming from?" she asked numbly.

  Lorelei huffed. "Stop being such an animal! They are just abiding by the rules!" she reprimanded.

  "Then they should shut the hell up next time! I didn't even ask for their help and they showed up, offered help... and then said well actually! How is no one seeing how deranged that is?!" I questioned.

  "I see it." Green raised a hand happily.

  We ignored her.

  "You've been wound up ever since we left Seafoam! You need to relax," Lorelei soothed.

  "I'll relax after shoving my foot up someone's ass," I replied calmly.

  She pinched my cheek again. "Silver! Language!"

  I huffed and glared back at her. "I'm willing to brawl with you in the middle of the street. Are you down to do the same? I already know the answer to that."

  Lorelei twitched violently at that. "I'll deal with you later," she promised.

  "I look forward to it."

  "Meganium..." Gaia sighed tiredly.

  "I've never seen anyone talk to Ms. Lorelei like that," Misty muttered.

  "That's because no one ever has. Can you imagine what would happen to someone if they bit her finger?" Brock whispered back.

  Both Misty and Brock shuddered at just the thought of it.

  Green wasn't even looking at us. She slung a hand around the confused Ash's shoulder and laughed.

  "Lead the way Ashy!" she cheered.

  "What's this pokemon?" Ash asked curiously.

  Gaia perked up and tilted her head, smiling brightly at the boy. She was currently carrying Lorelei and I across the island, having broken up our spat earlier.

  We had both been properly scolded by my second pokemon and I'm sure she cheated a bit with her little aroma trick because I had calmed down in the process of being reprimanded.

  "That's Gaia! She's a Meganium and Silver's scariest pokemon!" Green explained easily.

  "It's that Bayleef I fought in Cerulean," Misty added.

  "Oh! The one that made your Golduck crash into the wall," he mused, staring at my starter with a curious eye.

  Misty shuddered. "I've watched some footage of his battles... she's even scarier than when I fought her... and that was before she evolved."

  I grunted, watching as Gaia preened under the attention.

  "His entire team is pretty scary," Brock noted.

  Ash perked up at that. "His team? What is it?!"

  I stared at him. "You're so eager to battle me but you haven't done your research? Are you trying to get a repeat of Cerulean?" I asked blandly.

  The boy turned towards me with a frown. "You haven't researched anything about me, so I won't do it for you! I want our rematch to be fair," he declared.

  I stared at him with a tilted head. "It would be fair if you actually did your research. The two of us going in blind is a huge disadvantage for one of us," I replied calmly.

  "Well, I guess you can prepare after watching my battle. I'm not interested in watching your footage so whatever."

  Ash glared at me. "You sure are just a great person to talk to."

  "I'd think you're being sarcastic, but everyone besides me seems to think that," I drawled.

  Brock put a hand to his head. "You'll probably see a lot of his members during his gym battle, Ash. Let's just all try and be civil until then."

  "I'm sorry for him. Silver's been grumpy since we left our room," Lorelei apologized, raking a hand through my hair.

  I twitched and ignored it, grumbling obscenities to myself.

  So maybe I was a little wound up. Things had been stressful lately.

  A finger poked my cheek and I glanced to the side to see that it was Green. She was smiling up at me, eyes knowing.

  I sighed and nodded, feeling myself calm down slightly.

  "Get your finger off my cheek," I said bluntly.

  "No!" she cheered, pushing my cheek in just enough, to avoid making me waste energy on biting the hell out of her. A little bit more and I would have done it but she seemed to know what the hell the limit was.

  She was actually pretty smart. How did she know so much about me?

  "The Big Riddle Inn?" Green mouthed, tilting her head as Ash's group stopped guiding us.

  "Is that why everyone's being stupid? Because of some riddles?" I asked tiredly.

  Ash looked distinctly smug at that and I rolled my eyes, before entering the inn.

  It was rather barren, with the exception of a man in there who perked up the moment he saw us.

  I stared at him with a half lidded gaze, tilting my head slightly.

  "Well if it isn't my young friends! Bringing me more revenue? You're too kind to an old soul like me!" the man exclaimed, bustling about.

  I tuned him out instantly, immediately tired of him by the way he spoke alone.

  "Shut the hell up old man. Where is the gym?" I asked bluntly, forcing the man to look at me.

  We had a stare off, before the man smiled.

  "More trainers eh?! Didn't I already tell you all that the gym's been shut down? I fear the gym leader's fire, has been put out!" the man exclaimed.

  I pinched my nose and turned on a dime by the time he said "shut down". Without any hesitation, I began marching out of the building.

  Green shrugged and began walking after me with no doubt in her steps.

  "W-Wait! Where are you going?" Ash asked with wide eyes.

  I ignored them completely.

  I didn't have time for this. And one thing I learned about this world, was that people acted a certain way because others would indulge their stupidity.

  Not me. I had no interest in playing these stupid games. Keep that attention seeking bullshit to yourself.

  "I'm pretty sure I know where the gym is, c'mon Green and aunt. I want off this place," I said gruffly, rolling my eyes and stomping out of the establishment.

  "I expected that," Lorelei sighed. She shook her head and prepared to chase me down, probably to make sure I didn't commit a crime by accident.

  "Now hold on just a minute! If it's a battle you're looking for, I'm sure the gym leader would be willing to scorch you with knowledge!" the inn owner announced, unable to hide the confused panic in his voice.

  I stopped and gazed at him. I didn't even bother grunting. He just deserved silence.

  The innkeeper coughed at my dead stare. "This is the hint I leave any challenger interested in battling Blaine! Where is a place firefighters can't win?"

  Green took on a contemplative expression at that question. She gave up far too quick (I'm convinced she wasn't even thinking of an answer) and just turned towards me with an expectant grin.

  Hopeless idiot.

  "…" I tilted my head and rolled my eyes at how smug Ash looked.

  I bet he didn't even figure it out himself. He probably stumbled across it by accident.

  A sigh, that almost sounded like a groan, escaped me. "All of that just to tell me the gym is in the volcano? I was just about to go there anyways," I huffed.

  The absolute silence that filled the establishment, was music to my ears. It was always nice when someone was surprised by something you did.

  Watching Ash's group stare at me with wide eyes, almost made this whole trip worth it. I sure did love getting one over on people.

  "Oh and your disguise is fucking stupid, Blaine. Don't be ashamed of your bald ass head," I sneered.

  Green blinked at that, before turning towards the stunned man with a dropped jaw.

  "Wow… he really can see through disguises! I had no idea!" she exclaimed.

  Lorelei touched her hat. "Is he right about my disguise? No... he's the only one who could tell it was me," she murmured to herself.

  "So this is what it's like to travel with a competent person," Misty muttered, shooting a suspicious glare towards Ash.

  "H-Hey! You speak like you're any better! What good are you?!" Ash barked back.

  "Better than you!" she complained.

  I ignored the two batting heads with each other and stared a hole into Blaine.

  "Well?" I pressed.

  Gym Leader Blaine awkwardly coughed.

  "Well… since you've got it all figured out, how about I lead you there?!" he shouted boisterously.

  I sneered. "Hah, I like it better when everyone's playing my game."

  Blaine's battlefield was above the volcano, which should be incredibly inappropriate by the way, but there was a sturdy looking barrier protecting anyone or anything from falling off.

  I doubt that barrier would protect from an eruption though. How did Blaine even get approval of this?

  "I'm first this time!" Green beamed, hugging me tightly.

  I huffed and shrugged my black jacket off, tossing it over my shoulder in the process. "I don't need to say good luck. Just make this fast so we can get out of here. It's hot as hell."

  She nodded eagerly, cheeks rosy, as my words invigorated her.

  I leaned in close, in order to whisper in her ear. "Don't act suspicious. We attack after all this is over," I murmured.

  She nodded imperceptibly and squeezed me tighter.

  "After Lorelei leaves then?" she murmured back.

  I smiled and nodded back. "Yeah. It's all working out well for us actually. Things lined up even better than expected."

  She nodded in determination. "Alright," she murmured.

  Then, an impish grin made its way to her face.

  "Awww Silvy! You don't have to be so shy to compliment a cutie like me! Next time, say it out loud so the whole world knows!" she beamed, hugging me gleefully and in a very exaggerated manner.

  My eye twitched.

  "What the hell are you doing?" I hissed quietly.

  "Making our convo seem not so suspicious!" she winked playfully.

  "You playful idiot! I don't know why I put up with you!" I barked.

  "Because you loooove me!" she replied cheerfully.

  I snarled at her and made my way to the stands, ignoring her wave and directing my piercing towards gym leader Blaine for a moment… but not long enough for anyone to notice.

  Lorelei was sitting next to Ash's gang, who were all to the right of her, and I grunted, taking the available seat next to the left as she conversed with Misty about something. There were a few seats left open but I very much doubted anyone would be dumb enough to sit next to me.

  My aunt immediately directed her attention towards me and I let out a sigh of relief.

  "Never thought your cold ass body would be good for something," I grunted, scooting closer to her without drawing too much attention.

  She let out a small sigh of relief as well, idling dragging me into a side hug. "Regardless of how offensive that sounds... I could say the same to you. This heat is stifling and your own cool temperatures, are a much needed relief."

  I didn't even let out a disgruntled noise at her affection. I was used to it as much as I was used to Green.

  "You look nice without your regular attire. You should be more willing to wear different things," Lorelei complimented, gazing at my short sleeved purple shirt.

  "Was my outfit for Seafoam not enough?" I asked with a raised brow.

  "It was... but I want more. You look rather adorable when you wear a different variety of clothing. I hope to one day see you in different colors," she smiled.

  "Keep dreaming," I scoffed.

  "One day," she said optimistically.

  "What were you and Green talking about?" Ash asked suspiciously.

  I glanced at him with a tilted head. "Nothing to concern yourself with. Just some words of encouragement."

  Misty chuckled. "Awww you really did call her cute! Who knew Silver had a soft side? While we still have this side of you, go ahead and compliment me too!"

  I twitched harshly. "You don't want to be the target of my bad side. I'd stop while I'm ahead," I warned her.

  She shuddered at my ominous tone.

  Brock chuckled. "He was just giving her a pep talk in his own way. If we pry too much, he might cause a scene."

  "Might is optimistic. I will cause one," I snarked, leaning back into my seat and staring ahead.

  Lorelei glanced at me with a small smile. "Despite your total lack of manners, I am quite glad you have someone like Green. I can already tell she's been a wonderful influence on you. Jasmine as well."

  I waved her off. "I'm a demon. I don't know what you're talking about."

  She simply smiled and chuckled, before abruptly stopping as someone took a seat next to me.

  I wondered who had a death wish to sit directly next to me and turned to the left, freezing at seeing a flash of blonde hair.

  "Mind if I sit here? It's such a good view for the battle!" Domino beamed, a flash in her teal eyes as she stared at me.

  I stared at her in disbelief, wondering how fearless someone could be.

  What game was she playing at right now?

  The two of us exchanged a glance and I clenched my jaw slightly.

  "Sure," I grit out, ignoring the incredulous stares being shot my way.

  "Great! Oh, I know you! You're that trainer with the really scary Bayleef!" she grinned.

  I twitched and took a deep breath, before I noticed something.

  "Where the hell did this crowd of people come from?" I asked in disbelief.

  I thought the gym was dead. Was this all some kind of ploy to piss me off? Where did this huge crowd of people come from?!

  "It's a 7 badge gym battle. Of course people would want to watch it!" Domino explained, leaning back into the seat and shooting me a coy smile.

  I opened my mouth and shut it.

  I wasn't even going to bother questioning it. This was something that operated outside the logic I used.

  "So you travel with Green, right? Can you tell me about her?" Domino asked curiously.

  "Go fuck yourself," I replied blandly.

  "Silver! Don't be so rude!" Lorelei chastised instantly.

  I scoffed. "She'll figure out as the battle goes on. I'm not explaining if I don't have to."

  Domino didn't seem even remotely put out by my words. I still didn't know what the hell she was planning right now but I had a battle to focus on.

  I side eyed the freak who was sitting very close to me and grunted in annoyance.

  I idly made sure Lorelei was paying attention to the battle and leaned ever so slightly to the left.

  "What are you playing at?" I murmured lowly, so discreet my lips barely moved.

  Domino's smile never vanished and from the corner of my eye, I saw that she was looking straight ahead as well.

  "Nothing in particular. Since you found me out, I'm just going to watch you closer. You don't have to worry, I'm not going to rattata you out to Giovanni. I'm just going to observe for now."

  Her lips didn't even move. If I had doubts that this girl and I trained together, they were mostly gone. She was able to escape my grasp from a small opening and was very well versed in the art of stealth.

  I rolled my eyes. "Do what you want, coward," I said blandly.

  She scoffed. "I'm not the suicidal one. I just want to see how it all crashes and burns for you," Domino murmured.

  "Enjoy the show," I grunted.

  "I will," she said, more aggressive than she probably intended.

  Judging by the look on her face when I shot her a glance, she realized it too.

  I snorted and focused on the battle about to take place.

  Blaine's gym battle was a 5 on 5. I wasn't too surprised at that because only the 8th badge challenge, was a full 6 on 6.

  Blaine was all smiles, disguise all gone for a polished white and red suit. He held a pokeball in his hand and launched it forward, grin widening as a Torkoal appeared from the ball.

  Almost immediately, the sun above brightened and I gazed at it curiously.

  "Let's make things a little brighter!" Blaine announced, practically buzzing with energy.

  Green stared at the Torkoal with a frown. There was a contemplative look in her eyes and she eventually nodded.

  My companion grabbed a Luxury Ball (Yeah you already know who gave her the idea to swap her team out with) and threw it.

  "Alright, let's go Dree!" Green shouted, starting off her battle once more with her Drakloak.

  The dragon hissed as it was released, two Dreepy's alert on its head.

  "Woah! What's that?" Ash asked in excitement.

  "It's a Drakloak. It's quite the rare dragon to find in Kanto," Brock explained. He was impressed by the sight of it.

  "Didn't you two battle?" I asked.

  Ash nodded. "She used a Togetic and a Lapras against me!"

  I let out a noncommittal grunt and focused on the battle.

  "Torkoal! Flamethrower!" Blaine shouted immediately.

  "Agility! We're running circles around it!" Green demanded, eyes narrowed.

  The Torkoal opened its mouth and fired a massive way of fire, boosted by its ability, Drought.

  Dree wasn't staying idle as the Flamethrower rushed it. The Caretaker's body glowed and it vanished in a burst of speed.

  I shuddered to think about how much stronger Green was going to become when she got a Dragapult because Drakloak's were ridiculously fast.

  The Torkoal would never hope to be able to keep up with it.

  Dree appeared behind Torkoal and opened its mouth, firing a Dragon Pulse at it's back.

  "Withdraw!" Blaine shouted in advance, watching as Torkoal tucked itself back into its shell.

  "Use Infestation, all three of you!" Green shouted.

  "How underhanded," I thought, watching in amusement as the three dragons fired off the black fleas.

  Drakloak and Dragapult, were one of the few pokemon allowed to just battle with another pokemon. I guess it counted because you could store all three in a single pokeball.

  At least Dreepy's were weak enough. They couldn't really do much.

  The infestations crawled into the open sockets of Torkoal and drew out a panicked noise from the tortoise. The sight of all the bugs crawling into each of Torkoal's holes, was quite the disturbing sight.

  I approved tremendously.

  The skin crawling sensation forced the distressed Torkoal right out of its shell... and right into a Dragon Pulse that smashed into its face.

  "Shadow Ball!" Green pressed.

  The Shadow Ball followed suit and Torkoal wailed from the onslaught.

  The Dreepys cheered at damage being done and Dree hissed.

  "Smokescreen quickly!" Blaine shouted, expression a tad more serious at how merciless Green was.

  The Torkoal spat out the oily ink, shrouding it slightly and clouding it from the Dree dashing away from the smoke.

  The Drakloak let out a shout of surprise, as a spiraling flame surrounded him from all angles.

  That shout of surprise, turned into a pained noise as a huge amount of flames crashed against it.

  Torkoal huffed, head drooping slightly at the direct hits to its face.

  The flames persisted, Fire Spin licking at Dree and getting the dragon to let out a noise of discomfort.

  "Torkoal Lava Plume!" Blaine demanded.

  The tortoise let out a bellow, entire body glowing red. It exploded in an inferno of red flames that tagged the trapped Dree.

  It hissed in pain, only for him to freeze at hearing the pained cries of the Dreepy's (the one on the left was named Dory, the one on the right was named Draky) atop their head.

  I watched with a fascinated gaze, as Dree let out a roar of fury and rushed out of the Fire Spin, burns on his body.

  He opened his mouth and began rapid firing Dragon Pulses with a vengeance.

  They began crashing all over the Torkoal's body and the fire type shouted. It withdrew back into its shell but Dree was merciless.

  The Drakloak rammed into the tortoise and tipped it over, before opening his mouth and charging a truly gargantuan Dragon Pulse, that it fired directly into the hold that Torkoals popped their head out.

  I winced at the explosion that took place and watched as Torkoal's shell skidded away like a stone skipping across water.

  Dree huffed and gingerly regarded the two Dreepy on his head. After seeing that they were mostly fine, just suffering from burns, he turned back towards Blaine.

  "Torkoal is unable to battle! The winner is Drakloak!"

  Blaine whistled. "You sure put out my fire quick! But that's not enough to douse me completely! Let's keep it going!"

  He grabbed his next pokeball and launched it forward.

  A fiery horse burst out, cream colored and lined with flames. It neighed and the fires exploded as the Rapidash fully coalesced.

  The Fire Horse pokemon stamped its hooves on the ground, small red eyes glaring at the burned Dree.

  Dree hissed at the Rapidash and the two squared off with each other.

  At once, Blaine and Green shouted the same order—

  "Agility!"

  —And the two blazed across the field.

  The crowd roared in excitement, at the edge of their seats, as the Drakloak and Rapidash dashed all over the field.

  "Infestation!" Green ordered.

  "Flame Charge!" Blaine shouted.

  The bugs never even got to rest on Rapidash, as the horse lit up in flames and burned them to cinders. If possible, the horse got even faster and it dashed across the battlefield, leaving a trail of fire behind itself.

  Dree let out a surprised noise, at the increased speed and was unable to defend itself as the Rapidash crashed into him horn first. He roared as he was launched back, flames acting again.

  "Dree, use Thunderbolt!" Green demanded.

  "Not so fast! Bolt outta there, Rapidash!" Blaine grinned.

  Rapidash neighed and sprinted away, before Dree even got the electricity ready. The Thunderbolt crashed into nothing, the horse just being too fast for it.

  This would normally be a great matchup but Dree was already burned from the Lava Plume that Torkoal had used earlier.

  Compare that to the fresh Rapidash... and well, it was no surprise that he was faltering in terms of speed.

  "Flamethrower!" Blaine pressed his advantage.

  "Dragon Pulse!" Green retaliated.

  The piping hot orange flames that Rapidash belched out, enhanced by the flames on its body joining the stream, were met with a turquoise ball of energy.

  Draconic energy inherently had an advantage over fire type moves, but Dree was weakened enough that the two attacks canceled each other out.

  Rapidash would not be deterred. The horse stamped its foot once more, flames licking all of its body as it rocketed off towards the Drakloak.

  Green watched with narrowed eyes. "Dory, use Swift! Dree use Assurance!"

  Blaine's eyes widened at the command. "You said what now?!" he shouted in confusion.

  Rapidash was moving too fast for its own good. As it closed the distance between itself and Dree... Dory, the Dreepy on his left horn, fired off a weak set of stars that only grazed, but basically did no damage to the Rapidash...

  Not that it really mattered because Dree, whose tail was glowing a ghostly purple, hissed and smashed it into the Rapidash's head.

  The Assurance normally wouldn't have done much damage... but considering Dree had just had his little buddies tag the Rapidash with Swift...

  Assurance was a move that did much more damage, if you had accumulated some form of damage in a very small time frame, normally seconds at most.

  But when it was used in optimal conditions, the power it exhibited was absurd.

  Rapidash let out a noise of anguish, as the strange properties of the move, activated. The inconsequential Swift before, felt like a wound that amplified the Assurance to almost unbearable levels.

  But despite that, Rapidash crashed into Dree regardless with the Flame Charge.

  "Not yet! Draky, use Thunder Wave!" she shouted.

  "Is this legal?!" Misty hissed in disbelief, watching as the Dreepy on the right, fired off a weak wave of electricity that hit the surprised Rapidash.

  "While a Drakloak with two Dreepy... isn't quite common. Dragapult's typically carry two Dreepy with them that assist them in battle. I do believe though, that Green might be the first trainer to actively train the other Dreepy's..." she trailed off.

  I flashed them a thumbs up. "They could sit there and be pretty... but why not just have them be little menaces instead?" I asked.

  Dory was the one who would annoy it with little attacks, while Draky would use annoying status moves.

  Lorelei pinched her nose. "It does not even surprise me, that you are the one who gave her the idea."

  I smiled and watched the battle.

  Despite the annoyance (Dree was quickly shaping up to be one of Green's most valuable pokemon), Rapidash still had the energy to continue battling.

  "Smart Strike! It's on it's last tail!" Blaine ordered.

  Rapidash huffed, electricity sparking across its body, as it neighed and jabbed a metallic horn directly into Dree's midsection. He was launched backwards, ghostly energy spilling at the stab.

  Combined with the burns and the earlier battle, the Drakloak hissed in defeat, eyes shutting as Green returned him to the ball.

  "The floor is burning with how much you're keeping me on my toes!" Blaine exclaimed, grinning despite the hell Dree had given him.

  Green said nothing, utterly focused on winning the battle.

  There was also the fact that she didn't like Blaine for... reasons of course.

  "Togee!" she decided, revealing the Togetic in all his glory.

  Togee smirked, preening under the attention of the crowd. Considering his debut in gym battles... was for the 7th badge, he was pretty relaxed about it.

  "Flame Charge into Smart Strike!" Blaine shouted immediately.

  "Not on my watch! Togee use Ancient Power!" Green shouted with a gleam in her eyes.

  Rapidash's gait was halted, as Togee raised an army of rocks. There was a terrible gleam in his eyes as he launched them and Rapidash let out a panicked neigh, attempting to dash away... only for a psychic sheen to cover it.

  It didn't take the pokemon long at all to shatter the Psychic but sparks raced across its body from the effort needed and the rocks effortlessly smashed into the Rapidash.

  I winced as one of them crashed into the horses leg, sending it buckling like a snapped twig.

  Togee, the little demon, just cackled in glee and I watched as his body glowed purple for a moment.

  "The lucky little shit got the boost," I said in disbelief, shaking my head.

  Ancient Power had a chance to boost every one of a pokemon's capabilities. Considering Togee had Serene Grace, I wasn't actually too surprised by that... but off the first try?

  "Nice!" Green praised. "Finish it off!"

  Togee was in full agreement, the boosted Togetic ripped a single rock out of the ground and crashed it against the crippled Rapidash's head, forcing it to eat the floor.

  Blaine returned his Rapidash promptly after.

  "Quite the nasty little Togetic you've got there! I thought they were supposed to spread joy but he's just burning my heart through!"

  I twitched and shook my head, watching as Togee floated in place. There was a violent gleam in his eyes and the Togetic looked absolutely nothing like its other brethren.

  Happiness Pokemon my ass. This little man was a certified gremlin.

  Blaine grinned and grabbed yet another ball, tossing it forward with an eager grin.

  Out of the ball, burst a strange looking pokemon made of coal. It's massive body was coal-black, with two legs and a pair of stubby arms. There were two massive spikes atop its shoulder and it looked to be carrying a bunch of hot coal on top of its small head.

  "A Coalossal," Lorelei muttered, a somewhat surprised expression on her face. "He's not holding back for this challenge."

  I scoffed, gazing at the strange pokemon with mild interest.

  A Coalossal huh? It looked like a Rock and Fire type. I should honestly take some time to study the Galar and Paldea pokedex. There was a feature that allowed you to filter native pokemon by region so I'd have to look into that.

  The difference in size between Togee and Coalossal was genuinely hilarious. The giant rock could probably pulverize the Togetic by walking over it... and not even realize.

  But despite that, Togee stared fearlessly at it.

  "Stealth Rock!" Blaine shouted immediately.

  "Yawn!" Green fired back.

  Blaine's eyes began twitching, as Coalossal roared and fired off pointy rocks that remained stationary on the field... only for a bubble to pop directly in its face.

  "Quickly, use Smack Down!" Blaine shouted.

  "Ancient Power Togee! Protect yourself!"

  Coalossal groaned, eyes drooping slightly, as it formed an orange ball of energy. It launched it towards the Togee who had formed even more of the mystical rocks.

  The rock pokemon's powers showed though, as it plowed through Togee's makeshift defence with a dreadful amount of ease.

  At the very least, it didn't outright oneshot the surprisingly sturdy fella. The Ancient Power had also done a decent job at cushioning the rock move.

  Probably still hurt like a bitch.

  Togee hissed as he was forcefully brought to the ground. He glared darkly at the sleeping Coalossal and wagged his little mit.

  A sheen of white covered the little things body and it streaked across the field with speeds that a Togetic just did not have... eventually ending in the little guy landing a fierce punch on the midsection of the Coalossal.

  Despite being super effective... the Mach Punch didn't really do anything of note to him because well, Togee wasn't really the strongest around.

  "Ancient Power, Togee!" Green demanded.

  Togee growled in affirmation and summoned rocks from all angles, before they all converged directly onto the still sleeping Coalossal.

  The rock type roared in pain and it's eyes snapped open in a renewed fury.

  Togee had no time to react, as a giant rock smashed into it. The Togetic was sent sprawling with a squeal as the rock, that was the size of him, nearly bowled flattened him.

  But that wasn't it.

  2 more rocks crashed against the Togetic and Green hastily returned him. No doubt he was out of the battle.

  "It was a bad matchup. Togee is still newly evolved after all and he's up against that fully evolved pokemon too."

  Togee just doesn't have strong enough moves right now. Soon, he'd be a real menace to battle.

  "Look how fired up Coalossal is!" Blaine grinned. "You sure lit a fire under him!"

  "I want to hurt him," I said blandly.

  "Blaine is eccentric. It's best to just ignore his mannerisms," Lorelei smiled.

  I made no outward reaction. "As soon as I kick his ass I will."

  "She's really good," Domino commented.

  "Course she is," I replied idly, watching as Green cupped her next ball.

  Domino let out a simple hum, turning back towards the battle.

  I wasn't surprised at all to see Green release Lapee. She was her ace for this battle but this Coalossal would do real damage if left unchecked.

  "Lapee, the sun's getting really annoying!" Green said.

  The Lapras crooned and almost immediately, the skies darkened and it began drizzling. She winced slightly as the rocks dug into her, but a quick application of Life Dew, banished her discomfort.

  Coalossal hissed as steam began forming around it, the hot coals on its head falling victim to the rain.

  "Flame Charge! Get that heavy body running!" Blaine shouted immediately.

  Coalossal lumbered about, clearly uncomfortable from the rain but doing its best to carry its heavy body across the field...

  To almost no effect. Lapee had been trained to snipe much faster opponents.

  She tracked him easily, stationary in her spot and began charging up a Scald.

  "Tar Shot!" Blaine shouted, already understanding how bad things were about to get for his Coalossal.

  Coalossal roared and opened its mouth, shooting out a thick black substance right before the super heated water crashed into it.

  Lapee let out a noise of disgust, as she was covered in the tar. The normally refined Lapras, looked a mess and she let out a noise of sadness at having her image ruined for the moment.

  The rain did nothing to wipe the tar off her body and she failed to wash it off.

  "Hah! Alright then, let's keep turn up the heat!" Blaine grinned wildly, throwing the next pokeball out.

  A wave of heat, felt even through the rain, washed over the field as a loud and deep bark rattled our bones.

  Massive, even bigger than that one the Jenny in Fuchsia had, the Arcanine tested its footing on the ground. It let out a grunt, that sounded like a guttural growl, at the rain pounding its skin.

  A cloud of steam was already forming around it and the Arcanine barked again.

  Arcanine's were real monsters. Fast, strong, with a tremendous amount of flames... all Arcanine became strong when evolved but very few reached their full potential.

  Professor Oak had an Arcanine. His was the reason they began calling it The Legendary Pokemon.

  Crystal was actually handling her Growlithe very intelligently (on my suggestion). She was getting everything she could out of its first form, so that its evolution would be truly impressive.

  Arcanine was one of the pokemon that benefited the most from a late evolution. That's why their strength varied so much. A trainer who was capable of making a Growlithe formidable (like Oak and Crystal) were going to have a monster of an Arcanine in their hands.

  That's why I told her to hold off on evolving it for the time being until she was sure it was ready. The payoff would be worth it, much like my payoff with Freyja.

  I recommended the same to Green and Togee. He had already made good strides as a Togepi.

  But I digressed, Arcanine's were always going to be strong, no matter when you got one... as shown when this Arcanine raised its front paw, placed it back on the ground and vanished.

  It only took the crowd a moment to realize that was a result of the Arcanine running. The giant dog crashed into Lapee, before she even realized what was going on.

  Lapee cried out at that, stumbling backwards a bit at the force. She retaliated immediately, firing a giant Water Pulse in retaliation.

  "Extreme Speed!" Blaine shouted well in advance.

  Arcanine yipped a deep yip, raising its paw once more before tapping it on the ground and rocketing off. The way it practically glided across the field, made me understand why so many people appreciated this pokemon.

  It was pretty awesome.

  Wet spots on the floor splattered with the rapid footsteps of the Arcanine. The dog had a focused glare, without much actual heat (ugh) in it, lasered onto the wary Lapee.

  "Mist!" Green shouted immediately.

  With the rain to help, Lapee formed a large white cloud that surrounded the entire side of its battlefield.

  Arcanine let another growl of discomfort out, as the temperature dropped against him. It wouldn't do much, but it would steadily slow him down.

  "Ice Shard, Lapee! Aim for the legs!" Green pressed.

  Despite how fast they were, only one managed to slice against Arcanine's leg, the dog already on the move again. It was moving at a speed that we could see, signifying that it wasn't utilizing Extreme Speed.

  No surprise there, that move was incredibly taxing. Continued use of it, would wear the user out fast.

  "Turn up the heat! Flame Wheel!" Blaine ordered.

  Fire and steam surrounded the Arcanine, as it leapt into the air and did a front flip, catching its whole body on fire. As it landed on all fours, the dog rocketed off.

  Green grit her teeth. "Don't let it do that for free, Lapee! Counter with Scald!" she barked.

  Lapee only just began charging the attack, before the Arcanine's blazing body crashed into her.

  What normally wouldn't have done much damage, did a significant amount as Lapee let out a pained wail. The Tar Shot from the Coalossal right before, playing a massive hand in why that Flame Wheel did so much damage. The black sludge lit up with the flames, making the Lapras twitch about in agony.

  It was only thanks to the downpour, that Lapee was able to not be consumed by the pain. The rain pounded against her body, dampening the burns and slightly rejuvenating her.

  The small respite gave the Lapras enough time to blast Arcanine with a Scald. The surprised dog barely reacted to the attack, avoiding a face full of boiling hot water and sacrificing his midsection instead.

  Arcanine let out a pained yelp, skidding backwards and huffing at the attack.

  The mist was growing so thick, that it was getting quite hard to see and hear what was happening in there.

  I snorted at that.

  That could only mean one thing—

  I winced slightly as a terrible noise emitted from the mist, piercing it with no effort at all. I heard groans of discomfort from the crowd, watching as some even covered their ears.

  Judging by the look of horror on Blaine's face, and the grim smile on Green's, it was clear what was happening.

  "Lapee, return," she said coolly, returning the Lapras to the Luxury Ball.

  Why?

  Well because that terrible noise we just heard, was a Perish Song of course.

  "Perish Song?" Brock muttered. "It's not often you see that move."

  "Not to mention with the gym rules in place... that's surprisingly scummy of Green," Misty noted.

  At once, everyone turned to look at me.

  I blinked and gazed back at them.

  "I seem to be a good teacher so people ask me for advice. Green clearly picked up on a thing or two by traveling with me," I replied coolly.

  "You're... a good teacher?" Ash, Misty and Domino asked in disbelief.

  I blinked at that and tilted my head. "No. I'm too impatient. But people somehow find advice in the rude things I say and decide that I'm a good one. I sent Jasmine on a crusade recently."

  "T-That was you?! You're the one that made her attack Chuck, Pryce and Morty?!" Lorelei spluttered.

  "Yeah. When I talked to her, she wasn't as confident in her ability to beat those three so I sicced her on them. I heard it caught wind and she got challenged by a few others," I mused.

  Misty's eyes widened. "My sisters told me about that! She's terrorizing them quite a lot I hear!"

  I smiled. "I've been giving her advice. Good to know she's taking them to heart."

  "You're giving a gym leader advice... and it's actively making her better?" Brock muttered in confusion.

  Domino jolted at that and gazed at me with wide eyes.

  Lorelei pinched her nose. "When I heard you were helping her get better, I had no idea it was in all aspects. Falkner, the newest gym leader, complained to me about her Empoleon after he got swept by it... he's a very talented trainer who recently won the Silver League," she explained.

  I leaned against my seat, watching as Green released Vee promptly. The Espeon grunted as the rocks dug into her but held strong.

  "As expected. All of them are going to lose to her except for that dragon brat," I grunted.

  "Dragon brat...? Do you mean Claire? Are you sure calling her a brat is a good idea?!" Brock gaped.

  "Shhh, focus on the battle. If she's got a problem with it, we can meet up and die about it," I grunted, staring ahead.

  "There's something wrong with you. I know you aren't kidding either," Lorelei exhaled.

  I waved her off and locked in on the battle.

  Green really didn't like Blaine. She would normally never do something as wicked as this Perish Song strat but she was clearly a little vindictive.

  My friend was surprisingly, extremely overprotective of me. Things that didn't much bother me, always sat wrong with her and she was quick to act in my defense.

  It helped that Arcanine was going to be a real problem if allowed to run rampant.

  The dog was in a frenzy now, urged forward by the panicked gym leader.

  But Vee was playing defense. His control over his psychic abilities had exploded as he got used to being an Espeon. As Arcanine lunged at it, a wave of sand crashed into its eyes, getting a howl out of it as it pawed uselessly at its eyes.

  A barrage of stars crashed into it right after and launched the dog backwards.

  Vee let out a haughty laugh at that, eyes glowing as he preened.

  Arcanine snarled and prepared to lunge forward, heedless of its issues. The fire around burned the sand away, rain no longer able to sustain itself with Lapee gone.

  "Cool down, Arcanine! You're getting too heated up!" Blaine demanded.

  The dog stopped abruptly at that and huffed.

  "We're on a timer now! Let's take it down with us!" he instructed.

  Arcanine nodded at that, glaring at Vee with a wild gaze.

  "Extreme Speed!" Blaine shouted.

  The dog vanished before the order even vanished, blazing across the field with a streak of fire around it.

  Vee's eyes glowed in preparation, before he lunged to the right, a streak of white trailing him.

  The quick attack stood no chance against the Extreme Speed but Vee had used his exceptional perception to avoid it... somewhat. The Arcanine's speed was still too much to fully neutralize.

  The Espeon hissed at being grazed, the force still launching him far backwards. He forced himself upright with his psychic powers but stumbled slightly, a nasty bruise on his side.

  "There we go! Now use Crunch!" Blaine pressed.

  Arcanine howled at that, showcasing a row of ridiculously sharp teeth. Black energy shrouded around them and he lunged at the staggering Vee.

  Vee shrieked, as the fangs dug into him. Arcanine possessed incredible physical strength and Vee's body was rather frail.

  Before Arcanine could begin throttling the Espeon, it was forced to drop him. Its body suddenly seized up, before it let out a tortured cry, psychic waves crashing into it from all angles.

  "Nice Vee! Good Future Sight!" Green grinned, eyes glowing slightly to match the Espeon's.

  The Future Sight made the Arcanine stumble backwards, before an ominous purple shroud covered the entire body.

  The dog howled, roar carrying across the entire stadium. The deep guttural growl abruptly stopped, and the dog collapsed.

  Blaine returned the Arcanine with a calculating look in his eye.

  "I was expecting Arcanine to do a lot more," he commented.

  "I know," Green replied easily.

  Blaine chuckled at that. "Well then. This old fire hasn't been snuffed out just yet!"

  He took a pokeball and threw it forward.

  A reddish-orange pokemon burst out of the ball, far smaller than Arcanine. It was actually very similar in size to Vee, with long ears that had a black interior, darks eyes and a small black nose.

  "They sure do love using Eevee's against Green," I commented, gazing at the Flareon with a calculating eye.

  The Flareon perked up at seeing the Espeon on the other side, the two alternate evolutions of Eevee staring at one another.

  "Flamethrower!" Blaine ordered.

  "Shadow Ball!" Green countered.

  The two of them fired their attack off immediately, the stream of fire blew through the orb, dispersing the Shadow Ball and racing towards Vee with no hesitation.

  Vee didn't seem too surprised by that, streaking to the left with a quick attack and wincing as the flames licked his skin.

  "Quick Attack, Flareon! Get up close!" Blaine shouted.

  Flareon growled in affirmation, tensing its hind leg up and rocketing towards the Espeon in a streak of white.

  Normally, Espeon's were far faster than Flareon's psychic powers boosting their speeds to incredible levels... but with what Arcanine had done, Vee was somewhat crippled.

  Flareon crashed into him with no hesitation, growling loudly in victory.

  Vee struggled intensely, as he was brought to the ground and the two began scrambling about, only for the Espeon to cry out as Flareon utilized a vicious bite.

  "Get it off of you, Vee!" Green urged, watching Vee writhe under the Flareon.

  Vee hissed and fired a concussive blast of psychic energy, dislodging the Flareon and sending it tumbling backwards.

  It caught itself, only slightly disgruntled by the move.

  Vee in comparison, was sagging and limping eyes drooping as exhaustion seeped into them.

  "Finish this quick! You've got a fiery few battles ahead of you! Fire Fang!" Blaine shouted.

  Flareon hissed in agreement, flames licking its small but sharp teeth. It lunged at Vee with a violent gleam, intent on finishing this off.

  "Vee, Power Gem!" Green ordered with narrowed eyes.

  Flareon's eyes widened at the command but it was too caught up in its momentum to stop.

  Luckily for it, Vee wasn't proficient in Power Gem yet. His gem glowed and he let out a final shout, firing off a weak beam that glowed like gems.

  Flareon let out a small cry at that, scrapes forming on its body. Despite that, it latched its flaming fangs on Vee's singed fur and clenched down.

  Vee cried out, struggling slightly before going limp.

  A beam hit it and returned the Espeon, Green staring at the Flareon with a narrowed gaze.

  She stared at the Flareon and released Lapee.

  The Lapras sighed softly, staring at the Flareon with a focused gaze.

  "I'd appreciate if you didn't use Perish Song again, miss," Blaine requested.

  "...Fine," Green shrugged. "Lapee, Water Pulse!"

  Flareon let out a surprised yell, as a pulse of water slammed into it. It was sent flying backwards from the force and shakily pushed itself up, fur sagging at the water.

  "You sure are a feisty one!" the gym leader shouted. "Flareon! Flamethrower!"

  "Cancel it out! Use Water Pulse again!"

  I grunted at the steam forming from the attacks hitting each other. Flareon burst out on the other side, white streak on its body as it closed the distance between itself and Lapee.

  Green seemed to anticipate it. "Scald Lapee!"

  The Lapras crooned, forming and firing the high pressured, superheated water at the Flareon.

  Flareon leapt to the right but Lapee simply adjusted her aim, connecting with the fire type once again.

  "Fight through it! Use Flare Blitz!" Blaine shouted.

  Both Green and I's eyes widened as Flareon roared out, sounding nothing intimidating. It's body ignited with a furious amount of flames and the scald began evaporating somewhat.

  It roared again and rushed the already injured Lapee, intent on being a self made bomb.

  "Lapee quick, switch to Brine!" Green shouted.

  Right before Flareon crashed into Lapee, the Lapras fired a new stream of water. With the wounds from Power Gem, Flareon let out a squeal at the burning (ugh) sensation it was no doubt feeling.

  But the little trooper finished its mission.

  Green watched with a clenched jaw at the fiery explosion. It masked both Lapee and Flareon's cries and when the dust settled, the Flareon shakily got to its feet.

  Lapee was unconscious, burns on her body from the attack. A beam hit her moments after and Green stared silently at the heaving Flareon.

  "Darn," she muttered, launching her final pokeball.

  Larvee burst out of it, cheerful as ever. She let out a cry, only to yelp in pain as the rocks dug into her.

  Stealth Rock was so useful.

  Blaine let out a noise of excitement.

  "An actual Larvesta! That's quite the pokemon you have there!" he praised.

  "Thank you," Green nodded, smiling at Larvee. "Let's wrap this up, Larvee! You've got this!"

  Larvee's eyes curled up as she used Morning Sun and the bug wiggled to signify her happiness, gazing at the exhausted Flareon.

  "There may be some light in that dark tunnel yet!" Blaine shouted, grinning eagerly. "We can win this battle, Flareon! Burn bright! Quick Attack!"

  Flareon huffed tiredly and nodded, white streak trailing behind it as it raced across the field—

  "Screech, Larvee!'

  —Only to stop and howl at the deafening noise that erupted from the Larvesta.

  "Psychic, lift it up!" Green demanded, a gleam in her eyes.

  Someone surely did get a lot of benefit out of that Psychic TM.

  Flareon struggled, as a sheen of Psychic energy wrapped around it. Normally, it'd be able to break the hold relatively easy, Larvee's psychic stores not enough to restrain anything worth its salt but the energy needed to do such a thing was growing more and more, and Flareon was getting more and more tired.

  "Don't try and break it with force! Use Bite!" Blaine instructed.

  Larvee heard the instruction and immediately pushed Flareon towards her, letting out a battle cry in the process.

  "That's right Larvee! Take Down!" Green cheered.

  Flareon tried to back away, but it's little legs stumbled from the exhaustion and Larvee crashed into it with full force. It tumbled backwards, shakily catching itself and bodily rushed the Larvesta.

  Larvee let out a cry of surprise, as Flareon latched its sharp teeth onto it. The fangs lit up with fiery energy and the Eeveelution bit down as harshly as possibly, fueled by desperation and rage.

  Green's bug thrashed about in pain, eyes wide as it attempted to dislodge the Flareon from it.

  "Struggle Bug, Larvee!" Green urged.

  Flareon hissed as multiple streaks of light green energy hit it. It's grip loosened ever so slightly both from the pain and the secondary properties of Struggle Bug.

  Larvee hissed in return and opened her mouth, spitting out a thick white string that looped around the Flareon's body.

  Green's eyes widened. "Psychic Larvee! Blast it away for just a second!"

  The Larvesta cried out an affirmative and pushed Flareon back just enough to dislodge it completely.

  "Now before it catches you again, spin with the String Shot! Copy Gaia!" she said shamelessly.

  "Copy... Gaia?" Blaine muttered, before his eyes widened in horror as he realized just who Gaia was.

  Larvee roared and utilized her high physical strength, to bodily lift the smaller and lighter Flareon off the floor.

  Instead of body slamming the wrapped up fire type. Larvee utilized Flame Charge to begin spinning as fast as possible, carrying the Flareon with her all the while and getting the Eeveelution to let out a distressed cry.

  Finally, after gathering enough momentum, Larvee snapped her connection to the String Shot and everyone watched as the Flareon shot through the air like a missile.

  The dizzy pokemon let out a cry but was immediately silenced as it slammed into the barrier that protected the crowd from the battle.

  Larvee's eyes transformed swirls, the spinning making her very dizzy. She stumbled about, swaying from left to right before letting out a fierce cry and righting herself.

  She blinked in some confusion, before she heard the loud cheers of Green.

  "Flareon is unable to battle which means Gym Leader Blaine has no more pokemon! The winner of this match, is Leaf Green!"

  "You did it Larvee! Nice job!" Green exclaimed, rushing and lifting up the Larvesta. She spun with her and Larvee let out a cry of distress, unwilling to get dizzy once again.

  I snorted and touched one of my Luxury Balls. "Would you look at that, Gaia. You're becoming famous," I laughed.

  It shook, clearly pleased by such a thing and I continued to laugh.

  Copy Gaia, eh? Maybe I was a good teacher.

  "Gaia is becoming quite infamous. I heard Erika send me a firm complaint about how you were tainting such an innocent Bayleef's nature. She watched the battle against Sabrina," Lorelei explained.

  I smiled in amusement. "That midget is watching our battles?"

  Lorelei held her forehead with two fingers. "You'd be surprised how many Gym Leaders are invested in your Color Gang. You and Green in particular, have garnered popularity with Erika, Koga and the sisters. Sabrina watches your battles as well I hear."

  Hearing that Sabrina watched my battles, would normally come as a surprise, but she was my biggest hater these days so it didn't surprise me at all.

  I smirked. "Well I sure hope she's watching this one. She's gonna be pissed when I win," I snorted, raking a hand through my hair as I abruptly stood up.

  "You heard me list all those Gym Leaders and yet you willingly chose to focus on Sabrina. Your attraction to negativity, is astounding," Lorelei sighed.

  "Sabrina and Silver hate each other?" Brock asked curiously.

  "Sabrina? As in Gym Leader Sabrina?" Misty questioned incredulously.

  Ash raised a brow. "I'm not surprised. Considering both of them have sticks that go up their—"

  "Ahem," Lorelei interrupted immediately, freezing Ash up with a stern glare.

  I snorted, shooting Ash a somewhat impressed look. "You almost impressed me. Too bad you're a giant pussy," I waved him off.

  "Silver!" Lorelei scowled, turning towards me.

  "What? You should be glad you can get like 99% of the population to shut up with a look. Focusing on just the fact that you can't get me to do it? You sure are attracted to negativity. It's astounding," I drawled.

  I watched as Lorelei's eye began twitching and decided it was high time to go get this battle over with.

  "Just wait until you come back," she warned.

  I shrugged helplessly. "We'll cross that road when we get there. I doubt you'll actually do anything though. See ya."

  "Good luck!" Domino chirped, staring intently at me.

  I caught her gaze and tilted my head. I couldn't quite tell what she was thinking but I'd let this strange game continue.

  "Luck? Just watch the show. You won't be disappointed," I drawled.

  "Nicely done," I praised, smirking at Green as she jumped in place excitedly. The crowd was roaring her name and she gazed at them all with rosy cheeks, before focusing onto me.

  "Yeah! It's your turn now! I'm steaming in here so make it fast!" she beamed, high fiving me easily and allowing me to take her spot.

  I nodded easily and took my place across from Blaine.

  Blaine had a glimmer of excitement in his eyes as we gazed at each other.

  "That battle set all my bones ablaze!" the gym leader told me.

  "Shut up," I said flatly.

  "Ouch. You sure aren't one for fun, huh?" Blaine asked curiously, good mood unable to dampen.

  I just stared at him.

  "Alright, how about this then! Which pokemon is known as the Live Coal Pokemon?" Blaine asked me.

  ...Trivia?

  I sighed tiredly and mulled the question over.

  Live Coal Pokemon? Naturally it was probably a fire type. I know for a fact it wasn't Charcadet because he was the Fire Child Pokemon.

  Live Coal...

  ...

  "Let's get this over with old man," I said coolly, ignoring his question.

  Blaine grinned and clutched a pokeball. "Bahaha! Don't worry if you can't answer immediately! Maybe as the battle goes on, you'll figure it out!"

  I sneered. "Hmph."

  "This is an official gym battle of the Cinnabar Island Gym between the challenger, Silver of Viridian City and the Gym Leader, Blaine! Each side is allowed six pokemon and only the challenger is allowed to swap. The match will be decided when all Pokemon of one side are unable to continue!"

  I paused at that.

  "Six?" I questioned in confusion.

  This match wasn't supposed to be a six on six. Seven badge gym battles remained a five on five.

  Blaine chuckled. "The strangest thing happened a couple days before you all arrived. I received a call from the most unexpected person! Can you take a guess who—"

  "Sabrina," I said flatly, rubbing my nose in annoyance.

  Well that was kind of fucking annoying but I could adjust to that.

  God I couldn't wait until I was strong enough to terrorize the gym leaders real teams. I was going to ambush that stupid ass psychic Sabrina at every given chance and make her life miserable.

  Blaine blinked. "You got that correct far too easily. Sabrina is the last person anyone would ever guess."

  "Don't worry about it. Let's get started," I grunted, eyes narrowed in focus.

  "A stare that burns the soul! Alright young one, let's get started!" Blaine spread his arms, a pokeball in one of his hands.

  His grin sharpened a bit and he launched the first pokeball.

  Out of the ball, a simian emerged. It had bright red fur, with cream skin in certain areas. The pokemon had five fingers with three toes, large oval eyes and a small black nose, along with broad ears and a flame ruft atop its head.

  A Simisear... hm.

  "Oberon," I muttered, releasing him from the ball.

  My Teddiursa materialized from the ball with a determined glare, already understanding the assignment. He stared at the relaxed Simisear and growled.

  Simisear waved in return.

  Oberon blinked, before tentatively waving back.

  That was as friendly as we were going to get.

  "Both contestants are set! Simisear vs Teddiursa! Begin!" The referee shouted.

  "Flame Burst!" Blaine shouted immediately.

  "Rip a rock out to block it," I instructed easily.

  Oberon hastily followed my command, activating Rock Tomb and tearing a single boulder out. It looked bigger than he was, so it served as a fantastic shield against the speeding fireball.

  As the Flame Burst crashed into the rock, it splashed in every direction, some landing on Oberon's fur but mostly just hitting the floor uselessly.

  "Launch it."

  Simisear's eyes widened, as Oberon let out a mighty yell and lifted the heated rock up. It let out a panicked shout and leapt to the side, as the rock shot past it.

  "Bulldoze."

  As the Simisear landed on the ground, it let out a surprised yell as the ground underneath it began shaking. A weak yellow shockwave, made him lose his footing.

  While Oberon had nowhere near enough proficiency with the move, so long as Bulldoze could disrupt movement even slightly, it was good enough for him.

  Case in point, a giant rock smashed into Simisear's midsection while it was catching itself.

  The monkey gagged, spitting out fire at the force behind the rock and Oberon let out a battle cry.

  With no hesitation, he rushed the Simisear, surprisingly sharp, teeth bared and used his power to lunge at the simian.

  "There we go, Oberon. Grab it," I ordered with narrowed eyes.

  "Don't let it! Fury Swipes!" Blaine demanded.

  Simisear growled, eyes alert at the sight of Oberon leaping at him. It's fingers glowed white, claws forming and he lunged to match it.

  To my utter delight, Oberon ducked under the first swipe and immediately grasped the outstretched arm.

  "Seismic Toss," I smiled.

  Blood entered Oberon's eyes and he howled, tossing Simisear over his shoulder with no hesitation.

  Blaine's mouth opened in shock at the maneuver, jaw steadily dropping as Oberon hoisted Simisear up, latched his tiny arms around its waist, and delivered an expert German Suplex.

  "What in the world..." he gaped.

  It almost brought a tear to my eye. I was so proud of him.

  "Slash! Make sure it can't run!" I barked.

  Simisear tried to do just that. The fire type attempted to make distance but Oberon's grip was completely unforgiving and he growled menacingly. One of his hands began glowing white.

  It shrieked as Oberon lashed out, gouging lines across its legs and making the simian thrash even harder.

  "Simisear quickly now before it becomes too late! Burn it down with Fire Blast!" Blaine roared over the shrieking.

  My eyes widened at that. "Oberon, throw it!" I hissed immediately.

  Oberon didn't make it very far in throwing the Simisear, before it belched out an enormous blast of fire in the shape of the kanji 大.

  My Teddiursa had no hopes of dodging it and got hit point blank. He shrieked, letting out a wail of agony as he writhed about from one of the strongest fire type attacks.

  Well goddamn. I wasn't expecting it to rip out one of the strongest fire type moves like that.

  There was no way Oberon was going to be able to take a point blank Fire Blast from a fully evolved pokemon and come out well enough to battle.

  I frowned in concern and brought out his Luxury Ball. I wanted Oberon to get a win in a gym battle but maybe that just wasn't going to happen. I wasn't going to sacrifice his wellbeing for it—

  It hit me too late to realize that Oberon was screaming in rage, that only magnified in intensity as he saw me holding his Luxury Ball.

  No doubt, he realized I was about to return him and my completely singed bear let out a roar of fury.

  My momentary confusion, transformed into complete horror as Oberon began glowing white.

  "What?!" I shouted in shock.

  You've gotta be fucking kidding me! Regardless of whether I wanted Oberon to evolve yet or not... I definitely did not want it to be in the middle of a gym battle.

  I even told him not to rush it! He had too many issues to be trying to evolve right now!

  But there was nothing I could do now but adjust and get to the bottom of this.

  I didn't realize, but Oberon must have been under a lot of pressure to win a gym battle. His humiliating loss against Sabrina, must have stuck and he wanted to prove himself.

  This battle, without me really thinking about it, was a must win for Oberon and he realized that I was going to return him because he was very quickly about to lose... again.

  I clenched my jaw.

  Well fuck. I couldn't return him now could I? Who knows what damage it would do to his psyche... not to mention, the whole evolution thing.

  Oberon exploded in height, growing a solid 4 feet taller. His orange fur darkened, turning into a shade of brown you'd see on a grizzly bear. His eyes were narrow now, looking more regular from when he was a Teddiursa. His black nose remained but his mouth grew, visible fangs jutting out of its upper jaw.

  One of the most notable changes besides its size increase, was the lengthening of his limbs. His forelimbs were much longer, with 5 incredibly sharp claws at the end that looked far more intimidating then his claws before.

  Finally, the crescent moon on his head vanished, replaced by a new moon design on his chest.

  "An evolution in the heat of battle?! Your Teddiursa plans to go out in a blaze of glory!" Blaine shouted obliviously, grinning.

  I grit my teeth, absentmindedly shooting Lorelei a panicked look.

  I wanted more time. Therapy was going great for Oberon but Ursarings were a whole different ball game.

  Lorelei gazed at me and beckoned for me to continue. Clearly she understood the exact same risks I did and so I nodded stiffly.

  As Oberon's evolution settled, the Ursaring remained stationary. A tense silence washed over. The aweing crowd had been silenced, anticipation clear.

  I watched with a careful gaze.

  "Oberon?" I called out cautiously.

  Oberon's gaze snapped up at that, sharp black eyes locking onto me.

  For a second, I thought his evolution actually went smoothly.

  Well, at least he dashed my hopes quickly.

  Oberon's expression turned baleful and the Ursaring let out a guttural roar that made a shiver go down my spine.

  Simisear, who had taken the slight reprieve to catch its breath, let out a shout as it was suddenly bulldozed by a wrecking ball that was a fully enraged Ursaring.

  Oberon, who was littered in burns, wrapped a single hand around the Simisear's head, dense muscles bulging underneath his fur.

  With no hesitation, he hoisted the, suddenly, much smaller simian and body slammed it onto the floor, once, twice, three times. It was almost like the burns on his body were making him angrier and it took me a second to realize he had fucking Guts.

  A pokeball hastily returned the limp Simisear to the ball and I hissed as Oberon let out another roar of fury.

  Hopefully that victory would keep him sated because I was not using him for the rest of this gym battle.

  "I'm forfeiting my Ursaring," I said curtly, latching him onto the belt.

  Blaine had a strange look in his eyes, gazing at the spot Oberon had just been at. There was a small pool of blood there that I was ignoring and the crowd had gone deathly silent.

  "Plenty of Teddiursa evolutions end up like that! No harm!" he eventually grinned.

  I grunted. "I was hoping he evolved after our battle, not during," I offered.

  I'd have to deal with that later. For now there was a battle for me to win.

  I took a deep breath. The warm up was over. No more distractions, the battle would begin in earnest now.