The door opened with a mechanical whirr, as I applied the Card Key to it.

  On the other side, what appeared to be the innocent Silph Co workers, stared fearfully at us.

  There was a lone rocket there. On his right, was a Rhydon of all things and I raised a brow as they both turned towards us.

  The Rocket did a double take at seeing the four of us and faltered at the Meganium by my side.

  "W-What the?! What the hell are these kids doing here!" he shouted in confusion, recovering swiftly.

  A look of confidence appeared on his face and he pointed a finger at us.

  "Not another step out of you! If you so much as twitch, the hostages are gonna be in a world of—"

  "Giga Drain."

  The guy was still in the middle of his sentence, so he understandably reacted late to my command and by the time he registered that I gave Gaia an attack, her vines lashed around the shocked Rhydon.

  I resisted the urge to whistle, at how effortlessly she lifted the Rhydon off the floor. The ground type struggled in her grasp and it roared, as her vines began glowing.

  It didn't take more than 30 seconds for her to fully sap the ground type and Gaia slammed it onto the floor with a brutal thud.

  "Bwuh... w-what," the rocket stammered. "That's not... you're not supposed to attack me! That's not fair! You didn't even let me finish speaking!"

  "Cry about it. Loki," I grunted.

  The Rocket went pale as, a low snarl sounded out from behind him and he, along with all the hostages, jumped high at the sight of my Zoroark materializing from thin air.

  He couldn't even take a step before he was effortlessly brought to the ground, the sharp claws of my first pokemon serving as a good pacifier. With them angled at his neck like that, I imagine he wouldn't make any noises.

  I turned towards the innocents and jammed a thumb behind me.

  "Get out of here while you can. Go down, not up. The rockets have been dealt with," I grunted.

  I heard cries of relief at that, most of the fear at my actions vanishing at seeing that I was on their side.

  "Thank you so much!" they shouted tearfully, rushing out of the room.

  "T-There are some supplies through that door back there. Seeing as you have the Card Key... please help yourself to it!" a man bowed thankfully.

  "I will," I said bluntly. "But how did you guys get trapped in here if none of you have Card Keys?"

  "They were all destroyed by that mad Rocket," he explained fearfully.

  I raised a brow and stared at the rocket.

  "It doesn't matter if I lock myself in here! My allies will save me! For the glory of Team Rocket!" he raved.

  I blinked slowly. "Right. I don't really care," I said blandly.

  The Rocket spluttered at that, before a vine gently slammed his head onto the pavement, knocking him swiftly unconscious.

  "Run along now, civilians," I grunted, marching towards the door with my group.

  "Please take the elevator to floor 1. It's been completely cleared out," Crystal guided gently, smiling at them.

  "Right! Thank you so much again! We won't forget this!"

  I ignored them and swiped the Card Key, watching as the door opened with the same whirring noise.

  I smiled in satisfaction at the sight of a plethora of Full Restores and Max Potions. They were lying about, likely produced and ready to be shipped

  "Perfect. Knew one of these rooms were gonna be good for something," I muttered, snatching all of them right up and splitting them between our group.

  Full Restores were expensive. Stocking up on them cost a pretty penny but they were incredibly useful as well.

  "That was good instinct Silver, calling him out on his bluff like that," Crystal praised with a proud smile.

  I blinked at her and tilted my head. "Oh. Yeah... Bluff. Right."

  Gold guided the confused Crystal away. "Don't continue this conversation for your own good, Crys."

  "Huh?" she replied, clearly confused by that.

  Green sidled up next to me and I turned to her.

  "Good?" I asked quietly.

  She nodded, helping me split up the supplies evenly. "It was nice. Crys is a little rough around the edges but we didn't mess up!"

  I snorted. "Just a bit more. Be careful."

  "You too," she murmured, securing her bag.

  "There now we should be fully prepared for this... let's go," I grunted, pocketing my half after making sure no one on my team needed to be healed.

  "I feel guilty taking all this stuff," Crystal sighed, spraying down her Feraligatr despite her words.

  "Consider it our reward for helping. The guy told us to help ourselves after all," I replied easily, jogging towards the top floor.

  The four of us were, quite frankly, too overwhelming for any other rockets to deal with. Even in the event that they managed to send out a pokemon, we just steamrolled them all.

  I took extra joy in crushing the two other Rocket Brothers and making sure they didn't send out their members either.

  "We're getting close," Crystal called out, eyes narrowed in determination.

  In order to utilize our speed, we had returned most of our members. The only one currently out, was Crystal's Mismagius for obvious reasons and Loki.

  As our group rushed through to the end, I used the Card Key to access the president's floor and stepped through.

  What I saw, made my blood go cold.

  There standing in the room of the uppermost floor of Silph Co, glancing down through windows like he owned it all, was a blue haired man in a crisp white outfit.

  Part of me was glad it was him and not Ariana... but that didn't make things better for me.

  At his side, a Houndoom was already gazing at us. There was a lethal glint in its eyes and I'm pretty sure I realized who was the one who killed those guards at the front.

  Eventually however, the Houndoom's gaze locked onto me and stayed there.

  At the confused growl, Archer turned around and his confident smile, vanished in favor of genuine surprise.

  The man stared me down, cruel and cold stare warming only slightly as he regarded me.

  "Silver, what is the meaning of this?" Archer asked with a raised brow.

  I smirked sardonically. "Shouldn't I be asking you that? I don't think you're the president of Silph Co."

  Archer didn't look very amused by my patronizing tone. "This is not the time for games. What are you doing here? I don't think I have to remind you of what will happen."

  Then, he noticed my companions.

  "And you've brought friends too?" he mused. "I hope the conclusions I'm coming to are all mere speculation... but I wondered why not a single Rocket came back to me..."

  Archer sighed, pinching his nose. "I do hope you're not so petty, that you would allow the attack of Fuchsia to guide you into making such a foolish decision."

  I sneered. "You nearly killed me twice. I'm tired of dealing with you assholes."

  The executive exhaled. "You certainly are your mother's child," he muttered under his breath.

  Gold leaned in. "Dude, he's talking to you really familiar. Like really familiar. What's the deal with that?" he whispered.

  Crystal's eyes were glancing at me and Archer, a knowing look in her eye.

  "Now's not the time, Gold," she murmured, glaring harshly at the executive as her hand reached for the pokeball of her Feraligatr.

  "I see… a group effort to stop me I suppose?" Archer asked, Houndoom snarling with him. A toxin smoke poured warningly out of the helldogs mouth as it moved to guard Archer.

  "Looking for something?" I asked mockingly. "Considering you're still here, I guess you haven't found it yet."

  Archer twitched. "The electromagnetic disruptor, is a double edged sword. While proving net useful for us overall... that is with the knowledge that we are facing no serious opposition. The lack of communications is rather detrimental for me with the current information granted to me… so I have to thank you for appearing before me yourself."

  The executive released his entire team at once and we tensed up.

  "I won't question you any further. I will simply do my duties. For the glory of Team Rocket."

  I glared darkly at his team of dark types.

  A Houndoom, Bisharp, Malamar, Pangoro, Mandibuzz and Crawdaunt…

  What a tough fucking team. This wasn't going to be easy to deal with at all.

  Archer rubbed his chin contemplatively. "You all have quite the members as well. Even I might struggle against such opposition. I suppose it's a good thing I brought some backup... no matter how useless they may be."

  We went stiff as two figures suddenly appeared and my eyes narrowed at the confident, yet somewhat nervous, looks in their eyes.

  It was a blonde girl and a green haired man. While nothing about them screamed dangerous, they still looked a cut above the other Rockets we encountered.

  I sucked my teeth at that. It didn't matter who the hell Archer brought out. Anything that helped even the numbers, was a disaster for us. He only needed meat shields.

  Archer smiled thinly. "You have no one but yourself to blame for whatever happens, Silver. We'll discuss this at a later time."

  I glared harshly. "Your buddy underestimated me too. At the end of this, you'll be thinking the same thing as he was."

  "Hoh? And what's that?" Archer raised a brow.

  "I'm dealing with a maniac," I sneered.

  "I see... Agent Butch and Cassidy, deal with the two girls please. You need only distract them while I deal with these two," Archer called calmly.

  "Yes Sir!" they saluted nervously.

  "I wasn't expecting other agents… can you two deal with them?" I whispered quietly.

  They nodded in unison.

  "Take the battle elsewhere. The floors are powerful but I doubt it can handle so many pokemon," Archer advised with a knowing smile.

  I glared at him. "Take those two away from here. We'll handle it," I muttered to Green.

  Green clutched me tightly. "Please be careful. I'll be as fast as I can," she begged me.

  "You be careful too. Never look ahead of your current opponent. They'll catch you off guard if you do. Watch each others back."

  Crystal and Gold exchanged a quick hug, before both their expressions hardened.

  A temporary truce was quietly announced, as Green and Crystal marched out of the room with Butch and Cassidy in tow. It was probably the friendliest we'd ever be with Team Rocket and that wouldn't even last long.

  As they walked off, Gold and I spared each other a glance.

  "Ready, hero?" I asked him, turning towards Archer with a cold glare.

  "You bet. Let's win this," Gold said cockily.

  "Using so many pokemon at once is rather barbaric, don't you think?" Archer asked rhetorically. "Come. A Double Battle shall suffice. We are not attempting to destroy Silph Co after all."

  The Executive waved his hand and at once, the Crawdaunt and Malamar stepped forward.

  I snarled but I'd play his game for now.

  Gold and I exchanged a glance and we nodded.

  "Scytaro let's do this!"

  "Loki."

  Archer raised a brow at seeing our choices but looked mostly unbothered.

  I would make him regret that.

  "Agility," Gold and I said at the same time.

  At once, both our pokemon sped up with the Agility, blazing through the fields with the enhanced speed.

  "Water Pulse. Target the Scyther. Wrap. Target the Zoroark," Archer ordered calmly.

  "Not so fast! Double Team!" Gold countered immediately.

  Scytaro split into five copies of herself, as Crawdaunt summoned a water pulse in both his claws.

  The crayfish fired off the Water Pulse, watching as it slammed through two copies of the Double Team, before conjuring two more to launch at the final two.

  As it fired at the final two, a confused noise escaped its mouth due to the final two copies of the Scyther vanishing as well, no damage being taken by any of them. It gazed at the final one and conjured a final Water Pulse, clacking its pincers menacingly.

  At the same time, Malamar gurgled and it's tentacles launched forward, attempting to catch the Loki closing the distance between them.

  Loki utilized his higher speed to avoid the lunging tentacles, eyes gleaming as he fired a Shadow Ball towards the Malamar.

  In retaliation, the squid summoned a Light Screen to protect itself from the attack... only to let out a confused noise as it harmlessly connected with the screen.

  Archer's eyes narrowed in confusion but I didn't give him time to think.

  Gold was of the same mind clearly.

  "X-Scissor! Don't stop even once!" he shouted.

  "Night Slash. Keep going."

  Loki, who had utilized Scytaro's Double Team to set up an illusion, burst from the shadows with the Scyther in question, both eyes of the predators honing in on the Malamar.

  The Malamar gurgled in surprise at the pincer maneuver and hastily attempted to conjure what was probably a Reflect...

  Only to fail. The complete failure of the move left the dual psychic and dark type completely vulnerable to the onslaught.

  Malamars were a strange pokemon. It didn't take a genius to realize that mixing dark and psychic energies wasn't really smart but Malamar was a pokemon that somehow managed to balance both the polarizing energies inside of its body.

  Why? No clue but I did know that Malamars also possessed ridiculously powerful hypnotic abilities. Enough for me to deem it a powerful threat.

  Archer may have been stronger than us, but a focused attack would still be very effective... especially when you were caught off guard and had little intel.

  He was a fool to send it out first because this Malamar would have been the biggest threat on utility alone.

  At once, the Malamar was stabbed from the front and back by both the Night Slash and X-Scissor.

  The squid gurgled, as it was slashed repeatedly, the bug type attack practically rearranging its insides. Getting hit by a bug type attack, was a Malamars worst nightmare but not only that, getting hit by a large dosage of an external dark type move, overloaded the pokemon.

  I watched with a cruel gaze as Malamar let out a final pained noise, quickly overwhelmed by the attacks. It's body practically began attacking itself as well and it didn't take long for the pokemon to be taken out of action.

  Archer returned Malamar to the ball with a frown, looking decidedly put off by the fact that he did indeed, pay for underestimating me.

  "I see. Your rate of growth is exceptional. I will no longer play around with you."

  He had the Crawdaunt step back onto his side and waved a hand forward, beckoning his Bisharp and Pangoro ahead instead.

  "Brute strength approach now," I muttered, nodding to myself.

  Right before Loki could let loose a Taunt, Bisharp scraped its metallic blades together eliciting a horribly loud screeching noise.

  Loki howled at that, sensitive ears being assaulted by the Metal Sound. He barely had any time to react to the Pangoro rushing him, blood in the bear's eyes.

  "Bullet Punch," Archer commanded.

  Loki hissed and ducked under the huge fist, lunging out of the way with his enhanced speed. Pangoro attempted to pursue, only to grunt in annoyance as Scytaro crashed against him with a Wing Attack.

  The super effective attacked didn't even look like it did much damage, only serving to draw the Pangoro's attention to it. It turned towards the bug type with a furious snarl on its angry face.

  Before the bear could even think to reach out, the Scyther zipped out of range and a wave of fire crashed against its back, courtesy of Loki using Flamethrower.

  The stream of fire continued its assault, getting Pangoro to let out a roar of fury, once more turning his attention onto Loki.

  "Air Slash, Scytaro! Don't let up!" Gold shouted.

  "Sucker Punch."

  Both Gold and I froze, as Bisharp finally moved. The steel type lunged forward, sharp hands glowing with dark energy. Without any hesitation, the Unovan pokemon slashed it into Scytaro's abdomen, cutting effortlessly through the bug type.

  Gold's eyes flew in horror at that and he hastily returned her, gazing warily at the stone cold Bisharp.

  "That things a problem," he muttered, clutching one of his pokeballs.

  I grunted, eyes locked onto the sight of Loki dancing around Pangoro's wild swings.

  "Loki! Be careful! He's goading you into the Bisharp!" I shouted, watching as Bisharp attempted to launch itself forward again.

  "Explotaro! Use Flamethrower on that Bisharp!" Gold intervened right before the Bisharp could capitalize on Loki's weakspot.

  The Quilava burst from the ball and snarled, flames igniting on its body as he opened his mouth and let loose a torrent of fire, colliding with the surprised Bisharp immediately.

  The chess pierce pokemon hissed as the flames bathed it, body heating up uncomfortably at the high temperatures. It's neutral expression made way for a glare and it activated Sucker Punch once more, launching itself towards the Quilava with no hesitation.

  As it connected, Explotaro's form vanished and the real Quilava appeared a ways away, opening his mouth once more to fire another stream of fire.

  Loki huffed mockingly and vanished as Pangoro attempted to grab him into a bear hug. The real one appeared behind him, claws glowing white, before he began slashing at the Pangoro's legs.

  The panda roared as Loki pierced skin and it collapsed onto a knee. There was blood in my Zoroark's eyes as he utilized his superior speed and illusions to dance around his fellow dark type.

  Loki snarled violently and lunged forward, poised to piece the panda's head. He was forced to abort that plan and simply settled for raking its face as the Pangoro began swiping wildly.

  The bear let out a truly furious shout and I watched with wide eyes as it raised both of its fist and slammed it onto the floor.

  "Are you fucking crazy?!" I shouted, stumbling about as the Earthquake shook the building to its core. It was only the knowledge that everything in this world was way sturdier, to counter pokemon's destructive abilities, that stopped me from fearing that the whole place was about to collapse in on itself.

  Archer sucked his teeth but otherwise didn't react to the fact his Pangoro was throwing a tantrum.

  As I caught my footing, I watched the Pangoro lunge forward on its good leg. His fist barely connected with Loki, before I returned him to the ball.

  I hissed and fell flat, due to forgoing balance in favor of getting Loki to safety. He was my most useful member against these people who outclassed me in power.

  Without missing a beat, I rushed to stand up and launched my next ball, Gaia bursting out with a determined glare—

  "EXPLOTARO!" Gold shouted and a chill crawled down my spine. It was slow and insidious, telling me that nothing good was coming from that scream.

  Gaia let out a shout of anguish, watching as blood seeped under Explotaro. Bisharp stood over it, expression blank as blood leaked from the blades on its arm right.

  I froze at that, a cold feeling welling in my body as the pool of blood grew larger.

  "I warned you didn't I?" Archer said coldly, annoyance on his features even as the Bisharp took its spot back on his side of the battlefield.

  I said nothing at that, watching as tears formed in Gold's eyes. A wave of adrenaline filled me so suddenly, it nearly floored me. My eyes widened and I hissed violently.

  Shit. Shit shit shit. Not like this.

  I grit my teeth, glaring furiously at Archer, and lobbed a pokeball directly at him.

  "Hm? And what is this going to achieve?" Archer raised a brow, before his eyes widened as Bisharp suddenly lunged over to his position.

  The pokeball exploded with concussive force and I took the opening to rush Explotaro, already grabbing at my bag.

  My indecision had potentially gotten Janine's Venomoth killed. I wasn't going to be the reason Explotaro died. Not on my watch.

  I pulled out a Full Restore and gently hoisted the Quilava, spraying it down with the potion and watching as it's wounds began shutting…

  But despite that, Explotaro was still unconscious, breath getting weaker by the second.

  I swore to myself, eyes wild as it refused to get better. If a Full Restore wasn't helping what would? Did we even have enough time to make it to a Nurse Joy?

  Well we'd have to.

  "You'll be alright little man," I snarled, grabbing him and standing up.

  I knew I shouldn't have brought them. I should have been more careful. Goddamnit! Why did I fucking bring them?!

  I huffed, mind rushing with what I could do.

  I'd have to speak to Green through the walkie-talkie. Tell her we stalled long enough so now it was time to go. Hopefully the Full Restore slowed down the bleeding enough for a Nurse Joy to be able to fix Explotaro up—

  I felt a slight tug, that ripped a surprised gasp out of me, and watched as Explotaro let out a gasp himself due to a very sudden and abrupt revival.

  My brows furrowed in confusion before they widened in disbelief, as a white glow enveloped his body.

  I hastily placed the Quilava on the floor and stepped back in confusion, watching as Gold gasped in shock, due to his starter's body changing before our very eyes…

  The Quilava grew significantly, height exploding into something long and agile. The flames on his bottom disappeared, as the ones around his neck grew in intensity, heating up the room with the temperature...

  "What the fuck?" I said for both Gold and I, watching as the light vanished and the metamorphosis ended.

  Explotaro stood on his hind legs, basking in the evolution...

  But he looked different. This was not what the hell a Typhlosion looked like.

  "E-Explotaro? What the hell?" Gold whispered in confusion.

  "Typhlosion?" the Typhlosion muttered, looking decidedly different from the standard Typhlosion.

  It still had the long, agile body and the standard cream colored body of Typhlosion, but the fur on its back was purplish-blue and extended around its neck that looked like a pattern. His ears dropped besides his head too...

  To finish off, those intense flames, that typically rested on the back of its neck only, extended to the collar as well, magenta red (they were supposed to be orange like normal fire!) flames lit up its collar.

  ...What on earth did I do to Explotaro?

  "What?" I muttered in confusion, watching the fire type stand on its hind legs. There was a certain grace to it that contrasted everything I'd apply to a normal Typhlosion.

  This wasn't a Typhlosion that I was familiar with at all. What happened to him?

  Explotaro shuddered, gaze turning towards me… before taking a… reverent(?) look that only served to confuse me.

  Why was he looking at me like that?

  "You're alive buddy," Gold sobbed in relief, pulling the fire type into a tight hug.

  Gaia let out a relieved sob, bounding over to her friend and wrapping him tightly in the hug.

  The Typhlosion looked decidedly confused and I wouldn't be surprised if he truly had no idea what was going on.

  I sighed in relief at seeing him alive, before my features hardened and I released the entirety of my team at once, barring Charcadet. I took a Full Restore out and sprayed down Loki, who huffed in thanks.

  Full Restores, while easily the best potion to exist, were not something you could just spam over and over again. Repeated use in a short time frame, wouldn't result in anything positive so this would be the last potion I used on Loki until this whole battle was over.

  "Look alive Gold. The battle isn't over yet," I hissed.

  Gold stiffened at that.

  "That evolution was much needed but the tides haven't swung at all. Let's just go for all out assault. Be as careful as possible."

  Gold wiped his eyes and nodded, a scowl of fury forming on his face.

  "You read my mind. Let's get that asshole," he snarled, releasing the entirety of his team, excluding Scytaro.

  As the dust settled, we were greeted by the sight of a furious looking Archer.

  His suit had burn marks all over it, his hair was singed and the confident smile on his face was gone in favor of a small scowl.

  A Mandibuzz was in front of him. It threw itself in the way of the attack and there was nothing to show for it. Of course there wasn't, Pokemon were way too sturdy.

  "I'm growing tired of your games… and I still haven't received news yet…"

  His expression turned heinous, before the Executive took a deep breath and sighed to compose himself.

  Then, he noticed the Typhlosion and his mouth dropped open in shock.

  "What in the world is that?" he asked in confusion, gazing at Explotaro up and down. "A variant of Typhlosion? But how? Is such a thing possible?"

  He shook his head. "We will capture that one," Archer ordered, eyes narrowed.

  "But other than that, wrap this up," he ordered coldly.

  That's when all hell broke loose.

  Gaia and Explotaro led the charge. At once the two fired a flurry of flames and leaves that careened towards the 5 of Archer's pokemon.

  "Whirlwind."

  Mandibuzz lazily flew forward and conjured a powerful wind, knocking the moves off balance. The bird let out a mocking laugh and attempted to activate another move, winds forming around their teammates before it spluttered out.

  The bird squawked in confusion as the attempted Tailwind failed and it glared darkly at Loki, who snarled in contempt at it.

  Mandibuzz spread its wings and took to the skies, eyes trained on my Zoroark the entire time, but before it could attempt anything in retaliation, a figure flew directly into it.

  Wartaro the Rufflet chirped aggressively, scratching and pecking at its evolved rival from the Unova region.

  "Wartaro, use Tailwind! Help the team out!" Gold shouted.

  "Freyja, stay by me. Use Icy Wind on the bird up there," I muttered.

  Wartaro flew back and conjured a gale of wind on our side of the battlefield, getting Mandibuzz to let out a furious shriek at having its move succeed on someone else. It soared forward but it's eyes bulged in fury as a gust of cold wind crashed into the bird for its efforts.

  The Rufflet let out a cackle at that, swooping back in and raking its talons against the Mandibuzz with Slash.

  Pangoro snarled, rushing forward again and I gazed warily at it. Even with the claws marks on its face and having its leg cut into, the beast of a bear was still raring to go. To no one's surprise, he rushed Loki, eyes bloodthirsty for revenge.

  As he lunged forward, the bear let out a confused shout as it was wrapped in a sheen of psychic energy of all things.

  Metang's eyes glowed, Miracle Eye in full effect as it lifted up the Pangoro and brutally slammed it to the floor.

  Oberon snarled violently and lunged at its bear, wrapping his tiny paws around the good leg of the Pangoro.

  I watched with wide eyes as my Teddiursa let out a might yell and lifted the 300 pound bear clean off the ground by its leg. He used the momentum to completely flip the Pangoro over his tiny little body, delivering a modified suplex with the Seismic Toss.

  I ignored the ideas running through my head and beckoned Ares forward, who was already pumped up with Dragon Dance.

  At the same time, Gold sent Larvitaro the Pupitar forward and the two launched themselves directly atop the floored Pangoro, forcing the berserker bear back down and knocking the wind out of it.

  At once, the two opened their mouths and fired a Dragon and Dark Pulse respectively, smashing it directly onto the howling Pangoro.

  To my utter disbelief, that still wasn't enough to take it out and I watched the bear shove 350 pounds of Pupitar and 400 pounds of Shelgon off of it. It pulled itself up once more, roaring as it was surrounded by an orange energy.

  "Is that Revenge?!" I thought in disbelief.

  Pangoro rushed forward, intent on wreaking complete havoc no matter how much damage it accumulated. It charged with a single, murderous, thing on its mind...

  Which made it all the more susceptible to the Protect.

  Ares snarled as the Pangoro crashed into it and the bear howled in a mixture of rage and pain but even after nearly concussing itself with the force of the collision, it began battering fist after fist on the green barrier, forming cracks onto it.

  Right before it could fully break the Protect, Oberon let out a battle roar and flew through the air, body glowing pink.

  Pangoro turned around just in time for the smaller bear to crash into it with Play Rough, eliciting a true howl of agony from the bear.

  In a final display of defiance, the panda slammed a fist against Oberon, making the Teddiursa shriek. The force of the blow sent Oberon flying straight towards me and I hastily caught him, skidding backwards from the momentum.

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  I nursed my unconscious bear and raked a hand through his hair proudly, watching as that demon of a Pangoro finally collapsed.

  Archer scowled, brows furrowed as he returned it to the pokeball. At the same time, I returned Oberon, gazing at the battlefield.

  I looked up just in time to see Mandibuzz smash a dark wing against Wartaro. The Knock Off sent the Rufflet plummeting towards the ground and before it could collide, Gold returned it.

  Loki attempted to mow down the vulture with a Flamethrower but he cut it early as the Houndoom standing by Archer finally moved. It blurred across the field, absorbing the flames and letting out a satisfied hum.

  It opened its mouth and fired a massive Flamethrower, dwarfing any I'd seen today. Loki's fur bristled and he dashed away on all fours, blazing across the field.

  Houndoom howled eerily, causing a shiver to shoot down my spine, and rocketed after Loki.

  "Larvitaro! Go help out Loki!" Gold urged.

  The Pupitar grunted in agreement, shooting forward by expelling the gas from its body.

  Explotaro and Gaia were locked in combat with the Bisharp, spitting flames and leaves respectively. Crawdaunt attempted to help, but was intercepted by the combo of Ares and Ataro.

  My Shelgon served as the main hitter, while Ataro supported her with the impressive dexterity of an Ambipom.

  Ataro dashed forward and stopped right in front of the Crawdaunt, making it flinch back slightly and giving Ares the opening to Headbutt it directly in its midsection.

  The Ambipom landed atop Ares shell and delivered two swift strikes with its tailed hands, the Double Hit landing directly on the Crawdaunt's face. The water type hissed in annoyance, pincers clacking dangerously as it lunged and tried to snip the Ambipom.

  The pincers nearly broke as Ares took the attack instead, hard shell effortlessly repelling the attempt. It got another Headbutt for its efforts and the crayfish clicked in annoyance, roaring in pain as Ataro's tails lit up with electricity before the monkey fired the Thunderbolt.

  The Crawdaunt snarled hatefully, rage in its eyes as it recovered from the onslaught.

  Ares had no time to react, as an icy blue beam shot out of Crawdaunts pincer. The Ice Beam hit her head on and she roared, instinctively firing a Dragon Breath.

  Crawdaunt hissed, weathering the Dragon Breath and opening both of its pincers this time. Two more Ice Beams fired and Ataro hastily pulled Ares, managing to avoid one and blocking the other with a metallic tail.

  There was bloody murder in Ares eyes, body icing over from the super effective attack. Her functions were already slowing down, a natural consequence of a dragon being hit by ice type attacks, but she refused to let that deter her, simply opening her mouth and letting loose a torrent of flames.

  The heat from the flames did a good job at heating her back up but they simply brushed against the Crawdaunt's shell. Ataro dashed forward, fueled by Agility, to follow up on Ares attack—

  Only to get snatched out of midair. Houndoom had its maw around the Ambipom's neck and began violently shaking its head, eyes glowing maliciously even as Ataro was hastily returned to the ball.

  The Houndoom hissed, spitting out fire, and turned towards Ares.

  Ares met its violent gaze with one of her own, rushing the Houndoom with violent intent.

  "Ares! Wait!" I shouted urgently, feeling something amiss with the play of events.

  Houndoom let out a low growl of amusement and right before the massive Shelgon crashed into it, a dark aura surrounded the hell dog.

  To my shock, Archer's strongest pokemon blocked the attack to the best of its ability with its horn, before delivering a violent tackle... that did far too much damage to Ares, who was practically impervious to physical attacks...

  "Foul Play," I thought grimly. Houndoom had used Ares awesome power against her to take her out of the battle.

  Combined with taking that Ice Beam... I returned her to the ball and the Houndoom howled once more, deftly dodging the rocks thrown at it and dashing off towards Metang this time.

  The Houndoom opened its mouth and fired a Flamethrower at Metang's spot, growling in annoyance as the illusion petered out.

  It lunged away, avoiding the sweeping claws of Loki, before a psychic sheen covered its body long enough for a rock and two seperate jets of water to crash into it.

  The somewhat unserious demeanor of the Houndoom, immediately vanished at that and it gazed towards Kintaro the Seadra.

  In an instant, it had closed the distance, tearing through the psychic sheen on its body and firing a Dark Pulse into the Seadra's body.

  It deftly leapt over the Rock Tombs, landing on one of them and pivoting on its heel to regard Larvitaro. The dog opened its mouth and fired a stream of flames that the Pupitar hissed at, launching rock after rock.

  While distracted however, two Water Pulses crashed into the Pupitar, courtesy of the freed up Crawdaunt. It clicked menacingly as Larvitaro roared, the super effective attack immediately taking it out.

  Houndoom snarled and launched itself at Metang, flames licking its maw.

  Metang activated Agility, launching itself away. My steel type weaved to the right, avoiding the Flamethrower just barely.

  Archer's fire type was quickly closing the distance, gaining on Metang with a predatory gleam...

  Only to skid to an abrupt stop, avoiding Loki's claws attempting to gouge out its eyes.

  Almost as soon as the Zoroark revealed himself, a figure darted through the sky, glowing a brilliant shade of white and I clenched my jaw as Mandibuzz let out a victorious shriek, slamming into Loki with the Sky Attack.

  My first pokemon's eyes widened and he howled as he was launched back from the dreadful attack. I returned him mid flight because I knew he was not taking a Sky Attack with how much energy he had been expending.

  Hell, even fully fresh, I think he'd be hard pressed to tank that. Sky Attack was dreadfully strong.

  Without the Illusion to shield its position, Metang was relentlessly pursued by Houndoom, who bathed it in a Flamethrower.

  I grit my teeth and returned Metang to the ball, stunned by how swiftly the tides had turned. From a numbers advantage... to having three to his four. The Houndoom had completely changed the tides of battle and even with how mediocre his teamplay was compared to Gold and I, Archer made up for it with brute strength.

  He was even stronger than Petrel and Green and I stood no chance against the ghost man before. Even with how much our power jumped from back then, this still wasn't close.

  Gold and I were very much out of our depth against an Executive.

  And it showed in the battle here.

  We were being made a mockery of. Most of my team had already fainted. I only had Freyja and Gaia... who was still teaming up with Explotaro to deal with the Bisharp.

  Despite the numerous burns and dents on its body, Bisharp was handling the both of them still, keeping them locked in combat while the rest of Archer's members picked off our team.

  Explotaro huffed, noticing the numbers disadvantage. The strange Typhlosion snarled, flames burning even brighter.

  With a furious roar, the magenta flames around its neck exploded, forming into numerous wispy balls of fire.

  Everyone paused at the strange technique, before Explotaro fired the attack.

  None of Archer's pokemon were spared from the attacks and I watched as Crawdaunt, Mandibuzz and Bisharp's bodies ignited with burns. They all let out respective noises of pain but other than that, they seemed mostly fine from the onslaught.

  Not even the adrenaline rush of evolution, would help type disadvantage and if I wasn't sure before, I was now positive that Explotaro gained some ghost type properties.

  "Damn," Gold grit his teeth, returning his exhausted Typhlosion before his evolution could get jeopardized.

  "..." I frowned, returning Gaia to her ball as a flamethrower floored her.

  It didn't faint her just yet but it was damn close and there was no way she was going to fight 4 of Archer's pokemon.

  Archer rubbed his nose in annoyance, letting loose a sigh of aggravation.

  "Capture Silver. He has a lot of explaining to do," Archer ordered calmly.

  Houndoom growled in affirmation.

  "Gold, make a run for it. I won't die," I assured calmly, hiding the way my body screamed. "Get outta here before they kill you."

  "What?! Hell no, Silver!" Gold snarled in fury.

  Before he could even contemplate taking a step though, the battered Bisharp stood in front of him.

  "Rest assured, I won't be killing him. He will make a fine addition to Team Rocket," Archer muttered. "As for you... well let's see what your father has to say about this rebellious streak. I'm sure he'll be glad to hear how you've completely derailed this mission."

  I glared at him and clenched my fist, eyes darting in every single direction.

  What could I do? Was there a way out? Not likely. I doubted I could outrun a Houndoom, Gold was being blocked off by Bisharp and Mandibuzz was idling about in the air still.

  I twitched, body thrumming as my anxiety began steadily rising.

  I couldn't go back there. I wouldn't go back to Team Rocket. Not on my life. Not on my life... Not on my life!

  Right as my anxiety seemed to reach its peak, I noticed Archer's eyes narrow in concern and froze.

  ...But it wasn't just my life on the line here. They didn't have to kill me to make me submit. They just had to attack my allies.

  ...

  "...Fuck," I deflated, returning Freyja to her ball.

  It was over. I lost. I just needed to accept that or else Archer would start making an example out of my allies.

  "I'll get you out of this, hero. Don't worry about me," I muttered to him, even as the footsteps of Houndoom got progressively closer.

  As Archer's ace approached me, a sudden spray of water crashed into it.

  I felt a well of terror at that spray of water, body completely icing over.

  Freyja glared at the Houndoom, protective fury in her eyes as she summoned a small amount of rain over her and stood directly in front of me.

  "Freyja. What are you doing? Get back in the ball!" I hissed, eyes wild as she threw herself into the lion's den for no reason at all.

  Why would she do that? Why did she release herself from the pokeball?!

  Freyja shook her head in determination and I shuddered at that.

  "Now's not the time to be a hero! We lost! Get back here, now! You aren't strong enough for this!" I said harshly, putting a steel in my voice that I wanted to apologize for.

  Freyja turned to me, some hurt in her eyes... before they hardened as she took a good look at my face.

  "Fee! Feebas!" she announced.

  I froze at that.

  She was doing this... because I was afraid?

  I tried to move my hand to forcefully return her, but my arms felt like lead. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't move it.

  Was... I really that afraid?

  Houndoom snarled in some annoyance but at seeing who had done it, amusement swiftly took place.

  "A Feebas?" Archer asked incredulously. "You of all people are capturing a Feebas?"

  "Shut the fuck up," I snarled furiously.

  Houndoom began chuckling. The gritty barking noise, filled the air for a long while, only for it to be replaced by a gag of surprise, as a sharp beam of water slammed into its mouth.

  It began hacking at that, murder filling its gaze.

  The fire type snarled furiously and lunged, capturing Freyja in its flaming jaws and biting down.

  At the first cry of pain, I immediately returned her to the ball. Not wasting anytime, I released her next to me and hissed, digging into my bag and pulling out the first potion I could find.

  Archer scoffed. "Ridiculous. What goal do you have capturing such a worthless pokemon? Is this a test to your abilities on whether you can turn trash into gold?"

  My eyes took a notably murderous glint. "I'll kill you. You're dead and nothing's going to save your life. Enjoy the rest of your miserable days because when I get my hands on you, you'll regret all your decisions," I swore, snarling at him even as I cradled Freyja to me.

  Archer looked decidedly unintimidated by what he assumed were my empty threats. "You are offended because you chose to rely on a Feebas? I fail to see why. You signed up for disappointment."

  "Followers should shut their fucking mouth about my decisions! You've got his dick so far down your throat I'm surprised you can even speak!" I scowled furiously.

  Archer twitched, a visible vein of annoyance forming on his face.

  "You're saying the same things he's saying. Someone who doesn't have a single independent thought in their head, should never judge another's decisions. The fact that a human like you could exist, makes me sick to my stomach," I hissed.

  "Silver," Archer warned, face turning red in his anger.

  I ignored him, glaring hatefully at the man. "I don't care what any of you have to say about Freyja because this Feebas you all scorn, is better than any of you lifeless idiots with no purpose but to stroke someone with the first different thought. I made the decision to capture her of my own free will, something you know nothing about. Freyja is my pokemon. Your worthless opinions don't mean shit to either of us. She already knows I accept and love her."

  "That's enough!" Archer shouted, fed up with what I was saying.

  He took a deep breath to compose himself. "First Fuchsia and now Saffron. You will be answering for this—"

  "Shut the fuck up," I sneered, watching as he nearly lost his cool again.

  "I'm growing tired of this. We've run out of time. Quickly now, let's be done with this—"

  Both Archer and I paused as Freyja gasped loudly. I gazed down at her, harsh expression melting immediately at seeing the burns she was suffering from.

  Did I not grab a Full Restore? Son of a bitch. My head was all over the place.

  Freyja was panting, burns marring her body and I grunted in concern.

  "You don't gotta fight anymore girl. Hold on, let me get you a Full Restore," I muttered.

  Freyja took a deep breath and gazed at me, tears in her eyes.

  "Fee," she said quietly.

  Much to my immense surprise, she wiggled out of my grip and landed on the floor, wincing at the pain she was in.

  I sighed at her determination and shook my head. "You've done enough girl. You tried your best and I'm thankful for that... but understanding your limits is important. You've reached your limit."

  I ran a hand against her burned scales, ignoring the scalding sensation. "Don't worry Freyja. We'll get out of this. We got out of the situation with Fraxure remember? Just trust me."

  Freyja said nothing for a long while, staring at the ground in what I assumed was defeat…

  And then she looked up at me, nothing but love in her gaze. There was no defeat, no doubt... just pure, unadulterated, love.

  "Feebas! Fee Feebas!" she told me.

  I blinked, still floored by the look in her eyes. "No… just trust you this time? You... want to thank me for always believing in you when no one else would?" I translated.

  That was when I noticed the steadily growing intensity of every one of her scales glowing, shining like a rainbow.

  Before I could even register what it was that I was looking at, a brilliant white light engulfed Freyja and I stepped back in shock.

  "What?!" Archer shouted in shock, taking a step back as Houndoom and Bisharp did the same in surprise. "But that's impossible?! A Feebas is evolving?! This can't be!"

  "Holy shit," Gold gasped, eyes bugging at the incredibly rare evolution taking place right before his eyes.

  A thrum of raw excitement, coursed through my body and I felt a new surge of adrenaline, at the sight of Freyja's body lengthening dramatically.

  I watched with wide eyes as she began to positively eclipse her previous form.

  But that wasn't all. Her body went from a light brown to a primarily cream color, lower half covered in blue and pink diamond-shaped scales, that split off into a tail that was four large blues fins with pink ovals.

  Red eyes stared at me with pure adoration, none of it vanishing from when she was just a small Feebas. There were long, pink antennae above them and she had ridiculously long eyebrows that extended far past her head.

  "Milo?" Freyja mused, blinking in shock at the deep and soothing noise that just emitted from her. It was a far cry from the raspy (it was cute!) voice she had before. My body relaxed just from a single note and I felt pride swelling at just how impressive she looked.

  She looked down in confusion, before those red eyes went wide.

  "M-Milotic?!" she gasped, deep voice laced in disbelief.

  "Holy shit," I whispered in awe, gazing at Freyja with wide eyes and catching her attention.

  I ran a hand against her body, gingerly avoiding the black dots on her neck.

  "Look at you girl… you're huge," I mused, watching how she practically eclipsed me in size. "Would you look at that… you finally see that deep down, you're amazing all on your own."

  "Mi…" Freyja murmured in realization, tears pricking her eyes as she digested my words. If possible, the love in her eyes deepened before she rubbed her face against mine.

  I smiled, before my expression turned serious. "I'll admire you at a later time but listen to me. We've still gotta get outta here, yeah?"

  Her expression shifted and turned into one of disgust.

  "Freyja," I murmured, shooting Gold a subtle glance.

  "I need you to flood this room."

  Freyja gazed at me with wide eyes, listening to my blunt command with complete disbelief.

  "Listen to me girl. You've trained yourself to the limit as a Feebas. Your control is the best on the team and you know what you're capable of doing... as a Feebas. You aren't that adorable little Feebas anymore… you've got the power now to match the control you've been honing. Show them the fruits of your labor," I muttered, grabbing her cheeks and squeezing them.

  I was satisfied to see the determination come back... no, not just that. The raw confidence in her eyes, made me smile proudly.

  Freyja concentrated deeply, ignoring the burns on her body. A rain cloud was summoned over her body... but it continued to grow and grow.

  I watched with wild eyes as it began pouring. The Rain Dance was dropping so much water, that I was instantly soaked to the bone.

  Archer watched on in confusion, attempting to shout and having his voice get drowned out by the heavy rainfall. His eyes widened at that.

  He didn't realize Rain Dance was one of Freyja's most trained moves.

  I was going to make him regret everything.

  Unfortunately for Archer, he just didn't realize how much of a psycho I was. I tried to warn him at the start of this... but you couldn't convince the villains who loved the sound of their voice.

  "NOW!" I barked as loud as possible.

  I grabbed a Dusk Ball and launched it towards Archer, drawing the attention of every single one of his pokemon for a moment.

  At the exact same time, Gold took advantage of Bisharp's distraction to lunge directly at me.

  Archer saw the ball flying towards him and had his Mandibuzz fly in front of him to protect him…

  Only for them to start hacking as smoke erupted from it instead of an explosion.

  I grabbed Gold and said, "Brace yourself," moments before Freyja erupted.

  Houndoom howled, charging a truly fierce amount of flames, and fired a gargantuan Flamethrower... only for it to let out a confused noise as it bounced harmlessly against Freyja's scales.

  It suddenly began swaying, eyes glowing with the same hue as Freyja's, but before the Hypnosis could fully put it to sleep... Freyja struck.

  My Milotic glared at the Houndoom in raw unadulterated fury, opened her mouth and fired.

  A giant wave, boosted by Freyja's evolution, adrenaline and the rain, suddenly spilled out of my water type and she continued to shoot, seeming to have an endless reserve.

  The attack looked more like a surf (I could teach her Surf!) and I watched with a maniacal gleam, as the closed off room, instantly began flooding with the help of the rain and Freyja's attack.

  Houndoom howled, as it was blasted backwards from the heavy water, struggling to stay afloat as it was submerged underwater. It raised its head once more, before it lost the height to do so, water filling the room past his head.

  I took a deep breath, right before I was submerged and clutched Gold tightly.

  My fear of drowning didn't flare up this time because I had absolute faith it wouldn't be for long and I was right. Freyja swam towards us at incredible speeds, practically gliding through the water with gorgeous grace.

  I grasped her and she rushed us straight to the door, bursting through without hesitation and revelling in her newfound power.

  I inhaled the air greedily as the water exploded out of the room, bowling us over, before the giant size of Silph Co leveled it to a breathable amount.

  Gold and I shakily pulled ourselves up, coughing out water.

  "Sick idea dude," Gold complimented, trudging through the water and taking off his soaked hat.

  "I'm surprised you caught on so quick," I returned, wiping my mouth and smiling at the concerned Freyja. It was surreal to see her be so much bigger than me but here she was, a Milotic idling about in the pool of water.

  Gold and I stopped, as a strangled snarl met our ears, followed by erratic coughing.

  We saw Archer, soaked and decidedly unrefined, grasping his Crawdaunt. It was the only one not returned and he was glaring at us like we had personally offended his existence.

  His burned suit was now soaked and stuck to his body, his perfectly neat hair was matted to his head and his face was red as he coughed out globs of water.

  "I don't know how you managed to evolve a Feebas… but this changes nothing. You will not win. I will make sure you are captured," he hissed, grasping one of his pokeballs.

  "What do we do now?" Gold asked.

  "What do we do? That's easy," I said confidently.

  "We run like hell of course."

  Gold whistled. "Janine might have been onto something when she mentioned we're bros in another universe. I was thinking the same thing."

  At once, we both turned on our heels and rocketed off, jumping directly onto Freyja.

  "Swim girl!" I shouted urgently.

  Freyja didn't even doubt my call. Utilizing the latent Swift Swim from her previous form, my Milotic was off.

  "AFTER. THEM!" Archer barked violently.

  Gold and I blinked, as we swam right past an Alakazam floating over the water only seconds into our plan to get out of dodge.

  "Hold on, Freyja," I commanded, watching as she skid to a stop.

  Archer and his Crawdaunt were hot on our heels, but given our headstart it took him a while to catch up. Almost as soon as he did though, an intense psychic wave of energy crashed into his Crawdaunt, sending it flying back into the wall.

  "A mission utilizing both ghosts and dark types… you must greatly underestimate just what I'm capable of. To think I haven't had my members learn Miracle Eye, is almost offensive," Sabrina intoned, appearing next to her Alakazam with glowing eyes.

  She glanced down at the pool of water that reached her knees, before glancing at me.

  "Trainer Silver. Trainer Gold," she greeted.

  "Took you fucking long enough," I snarled.

  "Hmph," Sabrina scoffed.

  Archer stiffened and grit his teeth, gazing at the gym leader with blatant annoyance.

  "You should consider yourself lucky of the circumstances," the psychic gym leader scoffed, even as the Male Meowstic next to her, caged Archer into a barrier.

  The Executive sneered and released his team of dark types, breaking through the psychic sheen with no effort. Houndoom was soaking and furious, spitting out smoke as it glared hatefully at us.

  Sabrina didn't even bat an eye at the arrival of the types that countered her the hardest. "Embarrassing. Gallade, Close Combat. Hatterene, Dazzling Gleam."

  Gallade teleported from its spot, appearing directly in front of the Bisharp and cut through the steel type in a single slash, not even bothering to strike more than it had to, which Close Combat normally entailed.

  That troublesome Bisharp let out a single rasp, collapsing onto the floor and being returned to the pokeball by the shocked Archer.

  Houndoom howled and fired a torrent of flames that Gallade easily weaved. At the same time, Mandibuzz squawked in fury and launched itself towards the male evolution of Ralts, intent on crashing into it with a deadly Sky Attack...

  Only for Gallade to Teleport away, appearing next to Sabrina once more. The neutral fighting type spared Archer's team nothing, returning itself to the Pokeball.

  In its place, Hatterene, whatever the hell that was, began glowing before firing off a massive Dazzling Gleam that crashed into the rest of Archer's teams with crushing force.

  Just like that... the Houndoom, Mandibuzz and Crawdaunt all let out piercing cries, before collapsing onto the floor.

  Archer watched, stunned silent as the rest of his team was dealt with in a quick fashion.

  "A futile attempt," Sabrina intoned.

  A psychic sheen wrapped around Archer, forcefully returning the pokemon for him and I tensed up.

  That wasn't Sabrina who was doing that. I seemed to be the only one who realized that Archer was not voluntarily returning his team. The panicked confusion in his eyes, gave that away.

  "Attempting to escape?" Sabrina asked. She realized almost instantly that a psychic was at work.

  "Wait, Sabrina!" I barked suddenly, eyes wide in horror at seeing the icy blue aura. "Don't try to override that!"

  Sabrina jolted at my command, and the fact I said her name, and immediately held out a hand, stopping her Alakazam before it could permanently ruin itself.

  We watched with bated breaths as Archer vanished, unable to do anything to stop it.

  "Good. I'm glad you got away," I thought darkly.

  "I suppose you have a good reason for stopping me?" Sabrina asked, turning towards me with a frown.

  "Your Alakazam would have become a vegetable," I replied calmly.

  The Alakazam next to her nodded, eyes flashing as it quickly communicated something to Sabrina.

  "I see. You have my thanks. Alakazam is my first pokemon you see. I would be... devastated if such a thing were to happen," she murmured.

  I grunted. "Don't think about it too much."

  I let out a strained gasp, as I was tackled to the floor and engulfed tightly.

  "Leaf?" I murmured, hugging the girl back.

  "Gold!" Crystal shouted in concern, rushing her soaked best friend with wide eyes.

  Gold smiled shakily at her and began messing with his drenched quiff. Crystal must have sensed something was wrong with him because she immediately began fussing over him.

  "Hey Crys, man do I have a story to tell you guys," he said lamely.

  "Our opponents got away," Green frowned. "They weren't strong but they just kept stalling us and then as soon as Janine showed up to support us… they teleported away."

  "Same as us then, except our opponent was strong. Really strong," I replied softly.

  Green must have sensed something in my tired voice but before she could press me for details, she froze at feeling a heavy stare on her person.

  My companion hesitantly looked up, meeting the gaze of Freyja herself and feeling her jaw drop.

  "H-Holy shit…" Green trailed off, gaping in awe. "Freyja, is that you?! Is that really you?!"

  Freyja continued to stare at Green with an inscrutable expression, before her eyes finally curled up and a smile formed on her face.

  She nuzzled my companion happily and Green squealed excitedly.

  "Oh my goodness! You evolved! Look at you!" she gushed happily.

  "Milo," Freyja crooned, eyes turning back towards me with pure adoration.

  "Woah!" Crystal gasped in disbelief. "You managed to evolve girl?"

  My Milotic let out an excited noise, red dusting her cheeks as Crystal and Green began fawning and gushing over her body.

  "We have to admire her later. She still has burns and I want to take her to the Center. We all need a trip there I imagine," I sighed tiredly.

  "Y-Yeah," Gold sighed in agreement.

  Our companions gazed at the two of us in blatant concern. We just got out of an encounter with Archer and the two of us had held him off for quite a bit so naturally shit had to have gone down...

  But for now, they'd have to hold their curiosity. I wanted to get out of these clothes.

  I smiled and returned Freyja to the ball even as she nuzzled me.

  "Trainer Silver, while I appreciate your warning, that doesn't explain how you could possibly know something would be that detrimental to one of my pokemon," Sabrina informed me, eyes narrowed slightly as she immediately closed the distance between us.

  I looked up at the tall lady, dissatisfaction on my face at how close we were to one another.

  "You're not the only one repulsed by someone's presence. I can't much stands yours either so back the fuck up," I lied through my teeth.

  I raked a hand through my thoroughly soaked hair, trying to unmat it from my head and failing miserably.

  Infuriatingly enough, my cowlick was still standing proudly.

  "I just happened to realize that the presence around that Executive, was even more repulsive than yours. It was so jarring, that I knew nothing good would come from it. I'm more surprised you couldn't tell."

  Sabrina stiffened at that. "A powerful psychic? One that can cause such damage to even Alakazam?" she muttered to herself.

  "If I were at normal capacity, I would be able to tell. However, your presence muddles with my ability to sense what is happening around me," Sabrina said stiffly.

  I rolled my eyes. "Is that your excuse for taking so long to show up. First Koga, now you? You gym leaders have horrible timing. You should be glad nothing truly terrible happened because I'd be trying to take your head off otherwise."

  "The reason I took so long, is because of you," Sabrina stated bluntly, narrowing her eyes at me.

  "Oh wow. You're so afraid of a 12 year old, you can't even show up to the most important location. Some protector of the city you are," I huffed, watching thankfully as Larvee squeezed up against me with her hot body. Just to double up on it, I released Charcadet and let the little guy latch onto me in concern.

  Sabrina fully turned to face me, eyes glowing dimly before they finally spluttered out.

  "Do not speak so confidently with the knowledge that what you're saying is ignorant, Trainer Silver. You and I are both aware of the effect you have on me," she scowled, flush of exertion already forming on her cheeks. She idly leaned against a Slowking who was basking in the water.

  My brow shot up. "Woah slow your road old lady. I get people consider you one of the hottest people in the region but I'm not into you and I never will be," I sneered.

  Gold nodded in agreement at the hottest in the region statement, only to let out a faux gasp of pain at the sight of Crystal glaring at him.

  Sabrina tilted her head, expression slightly puzzled. "I do not see how what you just stated, pertains to what I said. I do know however, that you called me an old lady. I've grown quite sick of you in the timeframe you have been in my city."

  I blinked. "Right, I forgot you have the social skills of Janine," I sighed.

  Janine, who had just shown up, blinked at the immediate stray thrown towards her and settled for a simple glare towards me.

  "I've checked the perimeters, Gym Leader Sabrina," she saluted, stifling her annoyance at me. "The injured are accounted for, the rockets are detained and the citizens are safe. My Crobat has returned to inform me that reinforcements are detaining the rest of the rockets that remained in the city."

  "Excellently done, Gym Trainer Janine. I would like to also thank you for your assistance with the other Executive. I was not prepared for a battle against such a formidable foe so you saved me valuable time," Sabrina thanked, smiling at the girl.

  Janine looked embarrassed at that. "It's Silver you should be thanking. He's the one who spearheaded the plan."

  Sabrina twitched at that, smile vanishing as quick as it came. "Is that... so?" she asked slowly.

  I rolled my eyes.

  "We'll debrief you later. I'm tired," I told Sabrina, turning away and walking off with Green right on my heels.

  "Understood. I will handle the rest. You four exceeded my expectations," Sabrina praised awkwardly.

  I grunted. "Maybe give me the TM I rightfully deserve after I kicked your ass. Holding it against me because of personal bias isn't a good look, old lady."

  "Why do you need it from me? You've already utilized Green's no doubt," Sabrina intoned.

  "Because getting a gift from you fills me with joy," I sneered in contempt.

  "…Disturbing child." Sabrina scoffed and turned away. She began walking to the room where Gold and I battled Archer, Alakazam dutifully trailing her.

  It turned towards me and curled its eyes up in thanks, getting a nod of respect out of me.

  Guess we knew why the woman child was so competent.

  I watched Sabrina go with thinly veiled disgust, before stomping out of the place.

  "You and Sabrina truly do hate each other, huh? It's even worse than how I feel for you." Janine pointed out.

  "She's a freak," I said blandly.

  "Normally, that comes off as very offensive… but I don't even think you're talking about the fact she was born a psychic," Crystal chimed in, amusement set on her tired features.

  "I don't care about what she was born as. I'm more of a freak if that's what we wanna talk about… I just think her mentality, makes her a sick person," I retorted easily, lifting Larvee out of the grabby Gold's reach.

  "Dude, share some heat! I don't wanna release Explotaro right now and you have Charcadet too!" Gold complained, looking outraged by my actions.

  "No," I grunted, watching as the bug happily snuggled her warm body into me.

  "Asshole," he sighed, closing the distance regardless.

  "What happened with you guys up there?" Crystal asked worriedly. "Fighting an Admin couldn't have been easy."

  Gold and I sobered up at that.

  "It's a long story," we both sighed at the same time.

  Crystal and Green tried pestering us as we trailed off to the Center, but Gold and I refused to budge.

  To be honest, I don't think explaining was on either of our minds right now. The events that just happened, were too much to digest and we were probably sorting through them all.

  Not to mention we were tired and soaked to the bone. We would have gotten strange looks from the citizens of Saffron but the streets were filled with League officials instead and they just spared us a glance, before going about their business.

  "Trust me, you'll want to see it first," Gold told them both placatingly because I had ignored them from the moment we stepped foot out.

  "Tell me now!" Green barked annoyance peaking. She was scowling at us now but I was used to her tantrums.

  "Have you never learned what patience is?" I retorted in annoyance.

  "I've learned patience from having to deal with you everyday for the past few months!" she snarled.

  I twitched. "You had to deal with me?! Are we rewriting fucking history now?!"

  Janine sighed. "You're both insufferable to each other. No one is at more fault than the other. Green, they both look exhausted so let's give them a bit of leeway just this once."

  Green straightened up at that. A guilty look made its way to her face and she bowed.

  "Sorry guys. I was so excited to learn that I ignored that you guys went through a tough battle," she said glumly.

  I sighed and pat her messy head. "It's too much to say while walking. I wanna get comfortable and get my team checked up on."

  "Same here. My team took a beating and... something weird happened to Explotaro. I think it's best if we get it sorted first," Gold muttered, shooting me a strange look.

  The two calmed down at that and we walked in silence, carefully inspecting the city.

  Despite the invasion, there didn't seem to be too much property damage. A beaten up house here, some burn marks there… buildings were made of tough stuff so they were quite resistant to basic pokemon.

  "How did it go on your end, Janine?" Crystal asked softly.

  Janine's features darkened immediately. "It was a squad of Dark and Ghost type rocket members, led by Executive Petrel. They attacked the Gym while Sabrina was battling someone and she didn't have her entire team... else she wouldn't have needed my assistance."

  I grunted. "That's why it took so long for you guys to show up?"

  "She keeps them in another room of the gym. With my help, we managed to ward them off and I even managed to throw a shuriken at Petrel... but he owns a Dusknoir and a Gourgeist now," she muttered.

  I grunted. A Dusknoir to replace his Gengar as an ace and a Gourgeist for his last slot...

  Dusknoirs were terrifyingly more competent and dangerous in this world compared to their game counterparts. In fact, they were probably the rarest ghost you could encounter, next to like a Spiritomb, that wasn't an outright legendary.

  I wasn't surprised it was causing Sabrina some issues without her full team. I guess I could cut her some slack for showing up so goddamn late.

  We entered the center and immediately made our way over to the bustling Nurse Joy. The pink haired woman was giving out commands in a surprisingly strong voice, as the center thrived with the aftermath of the Rocket's attack.

  She gazed at our group of 5 and noted Gold and I's state of attire. Her features contorted in concern and the nurse beckoned us closer.

  "Did you five assist with Team Rocket?" she asked softly, expression worried. It was probably due to how young we all were as a collective.

  Janine was the oldest and she was only 14 after all.

  "We did," Janine stepped forward with a serious look on her face. "We assisted against the two Executives who led the charge for this attack and our members are not in the best condition. We'd appreciate if they were checked on."

  "And something strange happened to my… Typhlosion," Gold said slowly.

  I didn't miss how Crystal and Green's eyes widened in confusion. We didn't even mention Explotaro evolved after all.

  The Nurse's eyes widened. "Oh dear! Please, right this way! Is anyone hurt? Executives are dangerous. Chansey, with me! I'll personally deal with this group," she exclaimed, ushering us all to the back.

  I sighed.

  This was going to take a while.

  "W-W-What is this…?"

  Nurse Joy stammered in confusion.

  The reason why?

  Because of Explotaro of course.

  She stared at the recovering Typhlosion in disbelief. Her eyes were wide in confusion as she assessed the new version of him, stepping back as she helplessly opened and closed her mouth.

  "What the hell happened to Explotaro?!" Green shouted, eyes wide.

  "That's… not what a Typhlosion is supposed to look like," Crystal said slowly, blinking owlishly as she gazed at Gold's starter. Her eyes were getting progressively wider as she digested his full appearance and she let out a confused noise.

  "Gold what did you do?!" she eventually hissed.

  Gold looked deeply offended by her accusation, towel slung over his shoulder that he used to dry himself. "I didn't do anything! I'm just as surprised as you!"

  "He doesn't look as fierce as a normal Typhlosion! He actually looks really peaceful!" Green added with wide eyes, running a hand against the fur and watching as the Typhlosion purred.

  "I'm not sure what happened," Gold shrugged helplessly. "He evolved after taking a bad blow from that Executive… but he ended up like this instead."

  Nurse Joy looked hopelessly lost and clearly out of her depth. "I've never seen a Typhlosion with this appearance. I apologize but this is far out of my expertise… I've run a checkup, ran many diagnosis and he seems completely fine but other than that…"

  "You can't explain this," Gold said understandingly. "Hey no biggie! I'm sponsored by Professor Elm so I'm sure he'll be interested in finding out what's going on."

  Joy nodded, relief on her features at that. "Please let your Scyther and Ambipom rest for a little longer, Gold. Light training, no battles for at least 3 days."

  "Awesome! Alright, thanks Nurse Joy!" Gold grinned.

  She smiled softly at him, before turning towards me.

  I caught her gaze, rubbing the towel against my hair idly and leaning slightly forward.

  "Now let's discuss with you Silver… your Milotic —Congratulations on achieving such a momentous evolution — has gone... through strange changes as well."

  I raised a brow in some concern. "What do you mean strange?" I asked warily.

  She waved her hands hastily. "Rest assured, it's nothing negative... in fact, it's quite positive... I think? She truly did undergo quite a set of strange changes," Nurse Joy explained.

  I frowned and nodded. "Can you explain?"

  She nodded, pulling out a clipboard. "Well to begin. Your Feebas evolved with quite some extensive burns on her body."

  "Yeah, from a Houndoom."

  "From a Houndoom... well, if you didn't know, your Milotic has an ability called Marvel Scale."

  "It strengthens her scales when she suffers from a status ailment," I explained easily.

  Nurse Joy looked impressed, smiling at me. "Yes, exactly! Well... during evolution, the burns of your Feebas, seemed to have interacted quite strongly with the addition of Marvel Scale. To be blunt, her body evolved rapidly to combat the burns."

  "So her Marvel Scale is stronger than normal?" I asked.

  Nurse joy put up a hand, an exhausted expression on her face. "I haven't finished just yet... but yes you're on the right track."

  I remained silent and nodded, beckoning for her to continue. Everyone else was completely invested in our conversation, wanting to hear about Freyja's changes as much as I did.

  "While I don't have much expertise with Milotic, no one does really since they're so incredibly rare... I do believe that wasn't the end of her changes."

  I hummed in acknowledgement.

  Nurse Joy sighed. "Your Milotic has an abnormal amount of Dragon type energy. I have no idea what happened so you'll have to speak to an expert I fear... but your Milotic's scales are incredibly dense... almost as if she were a pseudodragon. Think Gyarados or Charizard as an example."

  I froze at that. "What?"

  "I'm just as confused as you. She likely had a Kingdra as a parent and I imagine you've trained her in dragon energy quite a lot... but the burns resulted a mixing of freak accidents and now you have a Milotic with incredibly tough scales," she explained.

  Fascinating. Freyja was filled with that much dragon energy? That probably explained why her and Ares argued so much.

  "How about the burns? Have they been dealt with?" I asked in concern.

  Nurse Joy nodded with a small smile, much to my relief.

  "So her scales are that tough without Marvel Scale?" I whistled.

  Tank was one way to put what she had just become.

  "The rest of your members are mostly fine. The fractured injuries have been dealt with but let your Zoroark rest for a little."

  I nodded at her words and Nurse Joy smiled at us all, a thankful look on her face.

  "I can't thank you all enough for the contributions you made in protecting Saffron. I know you must be exhausted so please follow me and I can give you your keys to the rooms. Stay in as long as you'd like," she bowed deeply.

  "We will," I grunted tiredly, eyes threatening to shut.

  At least I wasn't injured this time around. I was getting tired of being injured.

  "I need to take a shower."

  "Same," Gold sighed, returning the relaxed Explotaro to his ball.

  "I'm going to contact my father and finally inform him of what I've been doing," Janine said, frown on her face. "It's unfortunate that Petrel managed to escape once more… Let's meet up again tonight? Silver's room?"

  "No," I said flatly.

  "Yeah!" Green, Crystal and Gold agreed.

  I sighed as Green immediately began dragging me away to our room.

  "I'm showering first," I said firmly.

  "Kay! You did amazing so I won't complain," Green laughed.

  I rolled my eyes, hiding my smile with a scowl.

  "We didn't win. We probably weren't going to win either if not for Sabrina showing up… and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth."

  Green's positive demeanor didn't damper at all.

  "We're punching above our weight class for now! Once we get stronger, they'll tremble at hearing we're in the vicinity!" she encouraged.

  I snorted in amusement. "Good job, Leaf."

  She grinned brightly and yanked me into a hug. "Great job, Silvy!"

  "So Explotaro… took an almost fatal attack?" Crystal asked in concern, sitting on Green's bed.

  Gold nodded with a frown and ran a hand against the relaxed Typhlosion. "I was terrified. I didn't know what to do and I froze up. If it wasn't for Silver… I don't know what would have happened…"

  I sighed as all eyes turned to me. "I didn't want him to pay the price of a war I'm waging. You guys are helping me… so I have to extend the same courtesy," I said stiffly.

  Gold gazed at me. His molten gaze were wide and he ducked his head.

  "Silver… thanks," he said truthfully. "You saved Explotaro's life… and I don't know what you did or why he looks like this… but he's good now and that's all that matters."

  I shuffled uncomfortably. "I don't know why he looks like that either but I know it has something to do with me."

  Explotaro gazed at me with a faraway look in his eyes. He was tinkering slightly with his small and uniquely colored flames, making sure not to burn anything around him.

  "Explotaro," I said slowly, watching as he lit up and turned towards me. "Are you a ghost type?"

  The Typhlosion mulled my question over, before nodding his head leisurely.

  "Ty," he replied in confirmation, holding up a hand and summoning a flame too.

  "So you're a Fire and a Ghost type," I observed carefully, watching as Misteree inspected her fellow ghost.

  I sighed at that and absentmindedly rubbed a hand against his head, watching as the supposedly aggressive pokemon leaned into my touch.

  Explotaro didn't hate me like Totoree did but he certainly didn't like me all that much. He was far less ignorant too, willing to give me a chance.

  But now it was almost like he adored me…

  Which went against literally everything I thought I knew. Ghosts didn't like me at all. Becoming one, should have made the Typhlosion actually hate me.

  Not only that, now Dree and Misteree could actually tolerate my presence.

  Ugh. Whatever. I'm positive now that I had a solid lead... but getting to that lead was for a later time.

  "Why did Team Rocket even attack, Saffron?" Janine mused. "This was far more coordinated than the attack on Fuchsia. They were here for something."

  "Whatever it was, I don't think they got it," Gold added, frowning as he crossed his arm.

  "But what could it have been?" Crystal pondered.

  "Something important enough to risk the wrath of Sabrina over. She's the last gym leader someone would want to attack," Green muttered.

  I blinked slowly. "Oh right. They wanted this," I informed them, pulling out a purple ball with an M adorned atop it.

  My group blinked slowly.

  "It's called a Master Ball. Catches anything without fail allegedly. I think this was the only one in production, since I imagine the resources needed to make a ball that never fails, is steep," I explained slowly, noting their confusion.

  They blinked again.

  "A Master Ball?" Janine croaked in disbelief.

  "T-That's what they wanted?!" Crystal shouted.

  "Was it to catch a Legendary?" Green wondered.

  I nodded my head, confidence in my musings from long ago, swelling.

  I was right. Team Rocket didn't have Mewtwo fully under control. Their relationship was strenuous, one bad thing needing to happen to shatter it.

  That's why they wanted the Master Ball. So they could elicit total obedience. The resources needed to manufacture a ball that allowed you to control something...

  "When the hell did you snag that?!" Gold asked in disbelief, jaw dropping as he gazed at the ball.

  I snorted. "A master doesn't give out his secrets for free. Actually, that reminds me..."

  Gold watched with wide eyes as I pulled out a Metal Coat from my bag and tossed it to him.

  "There, that should help Scytaro feel better. Use it whenever she's ready."

  My counterpart gazed at the Metal Coat in disbelief. "Holy shit... you're even more skilled at taking things than I thought! After our first encounter, I thought there's no way you were that good but damn did you prove me wrong!" he gaped.

  I grunted. "It was an off week for me is all. That's long past me... but that's not all."

  I ruffled in my bag some more.

  "Silph Co was working on something very interesting and while I don't really need it... I figured you guys could use some," I grunted.

  Crystal, Gold and Green all hastily caught the object I threw at them with wide eyes.

  The marble sized object gleamed unnaturally, matching the one I already took ages ago back in Johto.

  "I think this is a good reward for stopping Team Rocket. Enjoy. It's called a Key Stone," I explained, leaning back.

  "A Key Stone?" Crystal asked in fascination, gazing at the stone with wide eyes.

  I nodded. "You won't find much use for it now... but in the future, you'll eventually access something called Mega Evolution. It allows certain pokemon to temporarily evolve further."

  My group perked up at that, eyes going wide in unison at the knowledge I was feeding them.

  "You mentioned certain. Not every pokemon can Mega Evolve?" Crystal asked certainly, digesting the information greedily. She was a real nerd alright.

  I nodded. "This is a secret by the way. Don't reveal that you know this information."

  They seemed to all be used to me having secrets so my group just nodded.

  "You have to find a Mega Stone for that pokemon. I won't go through a list of every pokemon that has one... but for you guys specifically..."

  I pointed at Crystal. "Khanaree can Mega Evolve."

  Crystal's eyes widened. "Wow!"

  I pointed at Gold. "Larvitaro and Scytaro can Mega Evolve."

  Gold grinned. "What? Two of them?!"

  I pointed at Green. "Saury can Mega Evolve."

  Green's grin widened widely. "Seriously?! That's so awesome! So we just have to find the Mega Stones?"

  "That's easier said than done," I snorted, reaching into my bag and tossing another Key Stone to Janine.

  She caught it with surprise, eyes wide in question.

  "You don't have anyone that can Mega Evolve. The only poison types I'm aware of Mega Evolving are Venusaur, Beedrill and Gengar," I grunted.

  "Then... why are you giving me one?" she asked in confusion.

  "No reason," I said easily.

  She stared at me for a long while before nodding. "Right... no reason. Okay," she said.

  "Alright, we've discussed enough. I'm tired," I sighed, laying back and shutting my eyes…

  I didn't even grunt as a figure threw themselves on the bed next to me.

  "Sleepover! Woohoo!" Green cheered, leaping on my bed and jumping up and down repeatedly in her excitement.

  That made me shoot my eyes open and I glared at the excited girl.

  "No," I hissed violently. "Out. Now. Go to your rooms and let me sleep in peace."

  "We're all tired as hell Silvy. Let's just sleep," Green demanded, shifting her body in midair and landing flat next to me with a beaming grin.

  Crystal looked as if she were about to deny out of the niceness of her heart but Gold nodded in agreement with Green and landed on the opposite bed.

  "Sounds good to me," he yawned, shutting his eyes and instantly falling asleep.

  "Wait Gold we should leave them... and you're already asleep," she sighed, pinching her nose.

  I bared my teeth and lunged at Green without any hesitation, trying to choke her with all my might.

  "Agh!" Green let out a strangled yelp and we began rolling around the bed.

  "I'm going to my room," Janine said flatly. "All they've done since I've met them is fight and fight. How do they not get tired of it? The Color Gang is too much for me."

  "I'm not sure how they fight so much… but I do know I'm tired and my room is quite far so I'll sleep here too I guess," Crystal sighed.

  Green and I didn't hear them because we both fell asleep seconds into our brawl, snoring in a tangled mess.

  At the realization that we were asleep, Janine smiled fondly and pushed the blanket over us.

  "Hopeless," she exhaled.