Chương 33: Bonds II

Two Island, or Boon Island for the nerds, was far smaller than One Island. Despite that, it was still significantly larger than its counterpart in the games. The island was incredibly peaceful and quiet, immediately becoming my favorite off that detail alone. There was no stifling heat, though One Island and Two Island were really close, so the temperature was still pretty high. Other than that, the island had nothing to note at all.

It was mostly known as a nice spot that Elite 4 Bruno came to but other than that, tourists were few and far between. The Sevii Islands in general were like that. It got a lot more attention in recent years due to Lorelei being born there, but it was a part of Kanto that didn't receive the most love. I'd say Kanto gave more love to their sister region more than the islands. Huh, technically speaking, I should probably show this place a bit more love too. The Sevii Islands was basically my home as well.... Nah.

My group and I entered a Game Corner, package in hand.

"Delivery," I said blandly, only to pause at seeing a man run back and forth in a panic.

"Where is she... where is my little Lostelle?!" he muttered frantically to himself. I ignored him effortlessly.

"Delivery," I repeated slightly louder. The man jumped at that and turned towards our group with wide eyes. He opened his mouth to say something, only to shut up due to me shoving the package in his hands.

"Delivery," I said one final time.

"From Bill!" Green added.

"From Bill? Are you all trainers?!" he asked excitedly.

"Are you willing to pay us for whatever you're about to ask us to do?" I replied boredly.

"Bill is my benefactor, not you." Jasmine palmed her face at my words.

"I will! Nothing is too expensive for my daughter! She should have been home by now but she went to Three Island and hasn't come back today!" he explained, pulling a picture out. I gazed at the photo of the little girl and tilted my head.

"Her name is Lostelle! Please can you save her?" he requested. I mulled his words over and tilted my head.

"You let your daughter travel to another island by herself? Are you stupid?" I asked in confusion. Children of this world were far more independent but this girl still looked fairly young.

"That's grossly unacceptable. You haven't even given her a pokemon to protect her? One that you own?" Jasmine asked, crossing her arms with a judging stare. Depending on what he said, I'm very sure the gym leader was going to come out.

"Do better," Green scolded. The man spluttered at our triple looks of disgust and disappointment.

"Her uncle is on the other island! I don't have any pokemon either!" he exclaimed. He bowed deeply.

"I'm very sorry but please reprimand me after saving my daughter! I'll compensate you greatly!" I snorted and nodded my head.

"Alright then. Let's head out quickly." This was the little girl that was in the forest. I was going to save her regardless but why do something for free when you could get something out of it? I wasn't a hero after all... but I was willing to be a hired gun. We barely stayed on Two Island for an hour and we were already on the move again. Never a dull moment I guess. The final of the first three Sevii Islands, was Three or Kin Island...

"You've got to be fucking kidding me," I said flatly.... And it was by far the worst of the three.

"You might be cursed," Green said idly, laughing slightly at the unamused look on my face. Jasmine tilted her head.

"What's... so bad about this?" she asked carefully.

"Bikers might be the group of people Silvy hates the most, outside of Team Rocket," Green said sagely. All over Three Island, there were bikers terrorizing the citizens. The residents of the island were cringing back, discomfort and fear running rampant through their faces. They weren't doing actually criminal things besides loitering and just being general nuisances because they weren't that stupid (they were definitely stupid)... but they were still really damn annoying.

My eye twitched harshly at that and I felt a growl bubbling, as our group was immediately swarmed by the stupid damn bikers.

"Look what we have here! A couple of newcomers!" A biker leered.

"Buzz off kids! This is our turf now! Come back once we get settled!" another scowled. I stared at them.

"You're claiming this island as your own?" I asked flatly. They all nodded with sinister smiles. It made me nauseous because they had to have stood there and practiced with each other on just how their smiles should look.

"Okay... let's battle then. Loser leaves the island," I said flatly.

"No can do! We won't battle until our boss shows up!" another biker replied. I stared at them with a dead gaze.

"You won't battle? Really now..." They nodded in unison. They were hellbent on causing chaos and in their eyes, there was no way to retaliate unless their boss was here. This was comical. How could bikers be real people.

"Right... Jasmine." She blinked at my tone... before sighing in exhaustion. She grabbed a pokeball from her dress and stared apologetically at both the ball and the bikers. The bikers, and citizens, balked and shouted in utter terror as Rusty made her appearance. The enormous Steelix let loose a cheerful rumble, that sounded more akin to a demonic roar. Steelix were genuinely, one of the most terrifying pokemon to run into appearance wise.

You would rarely ever see one in the wilds too and it wasn't like Gyarados, who were carefully kept away from civilizations... Steelix were just that uncommon. It added to their terror honestly.

"We're your bosses now," I said coolly, watching as the group of bikers attempted to take a step back, only to freeze as Rusty let out another loud noise, akin to grating metals. Everyone covered their ears at the screeching noise but Rusty paid them no mind. The Steelix was gazing at Jasmine with pitiful eyes and I snorted loudly as she whined. Rusty was adorable.

"Oh you're hungry, Rusty?" Jasmine asked in concern. The bikers went pale.

"I don't like being used as your scary bodyguard, Silver," Jasmine scolded, arms wrapped around my waist as we rode my motorcycle. She was facing away from me besides that, legs dangling because she was currently wearing a dress and not expecting to ride a motorcycle.

"You have a very scary Steelix. I'll use it the way you refuse to," I said idly.

"But it's mean..." she trailed off.

"Got the point across. We even got free bikes from it." Jasmine balked.

"F-Free? You're keeping these?!" she asked in disbelief. I nodded like it were common sense.

"You're their boss now. They submitted to you so of course we get these bikes as a gift. I don't know why you said no to yours," I shrugged. My longest friend blushed in embarrassment.

"I'm not their leader! That's not something I asked for!" she complained.

"They do call you big boss," Green mused. She was smiling giddily, having greedily accepted her own motorcycle. They were foldable, which was cool as hell, and could fit into our bags once we were done using them.

"Luckily for you, I accepted a third. We'll give it to you after this," I said smugly. Jasmine waved her hand frantically.

"There's no need for that Silver! I don't even know what I'd do with one! Rusty and Skarmy carry me everywhere!" she tried to say. My poor best friend didn't know who she was talking to.

"Accept it," I bulldozed.

"It'll be fun! We'll let you ride back on your own!" Green agreed. Jasmine's mouth flapped uselessly.

"Will I become a monster if I continue to hang around you two?" she muttered in confusion. Green waved her off.

"You might! You should see it when the whole Color Gang is together!" Our gym leader friend sighed morosely.

"Poor Green doesn't even realize how bad she's gotten," she mumbled. Green blinked in confusion.

"Me? I'm not that bad!" she insisted. Jasmine nodded.

"I know Green... I know." I chuckled. We were currently riding to the Berry Forest, crossing the Bond Bridge in the process. After Jasmine revealed that Rusty was hungry, the bikers completely misinterpreted what the Steelix wanted to eat and began properly treating our entire group like the demon only I was. They conceded quickly after that and immediately began to call us boss, while Jasmine became their big boss, much to my best friends annoyance and embarrassment. Worst, I encouraged it.

Now Jasmine was the leader of a biker gang... well technically she still had to deal with the bikers old boss but he'd show up eventually after we saved this little girl. Speaking of which...

"We're here," I grunted, gazing at the entrance of Berry Forest with a frown. Without much hesitation, I released Oberon from his ball and watched my Ursaring materialize next to me. Oberon gazed down at me with a curious expression and I pat his fur.

"We're in a Berry Forest. Could you collect some for me?" I asked him. His gaze lit up and my Ursaring nodded vigorously, getting a small smile out of me. This place should have some nice berries for me to grow. I hope they had Lum Berries. If I could get that into my pokemon's diets, they'd grow quite resilient. Lum Berries were very rare. Not many places sold them and I hadn't found one yet.

"Oh also sniff around for a human. There should be one in there," I added as an afterthought. Jasmine balked at me, utterly horrified.

"Oberon, please prioritize the human! We have all the time in the world to get berries!" she said, looking completely incredulous. Oberon gazed at Jasmine and nodded shyly. My Ursaring very much liked Jasmine. They were practically the same personality wise, so they got along quite well. We entered the forest and Oberon immediately sniffed the air. Being around humans, allowed him to pretty easily identify how they tended to smell.

He pointed in a direction and I pat him on the skull, before we walked over in that general direction. My gaze lingered on a family of Venonat and Venomoth, before I focused forward once more at the sound of sniffing.

"Do you hear that?" Green asked, brows furrowed. We all paused silently, listening to the sound of sniffing.

"Waaah, I'm scared! Someone help!" a child's voice rang out. My gaze darkened at that and we rushed towards the voice. Oberon's eyes narrowed, bloodlust swiftly filling them, as he dented the ground underneath him with the force of his lunge. His target, was a Hypno standing over the girl with a swaying pendulum. It glanced up, surprise in its glowing eyes that turned distinctly terrified at seeing the giant Ursaring barreling towards it.

It hastily tried to wrap a psychic sheen around Oberon to no success, as my giant bear shrouded itself in the dark energy of Payback. I imagine getting tackled by an Ursaring, was no different from being hit by a bullet train because Hypno's body crumpled from the force of the bear. It slammed into a nearby tree and Oberon snarled in contempt at the blood pooling underneath it.

Let it be known, that Oberon was physically one of my strongest pokemon and it would remain that way for up until Ares became a Salamence and Metang became a Metagross. If you got hit by him, you were going to feel it... or die.

"W-Wow!" the little girl gasped, wiping her tears. She hastily pushed herself up and turned to face us.

"D-Did you come to save Lostelle?" she stammered, eyes glinting as Oberon turned to face her. Oberon nodded meekly, all signs of aggression gone, and the little girl sniffed.

"T-Thank you! Lostelle appreciates you all!" she cried, hugging Oberon's leg happily. I watched with a small smile, as Oberon's eyes widened in awe... before he carefully placed a massive palm on her head. He gently pat her and smiled with a strange glint in his eyes.

"Your dad is looking for you, little Lostelle," Jasmine said softly, crouching down in front of the child.

"R-Really?" she whimpered, clutching Jasmine's dress tightly. As Jasmine soothed the little girl, I stared at the Hypno with a contemplative expression.

"It attacked a human... it'll probably be put down by the league if they find unsatisfactory results," Green informed me quietly. I nodded in agreement.

"Psychics are always regarded with more scrutiny than other types. A rogue one is treated pretty ruthlessly," I mused. Green sighed.

"We'll just leave a report then." The two of us nodded at that, before turning towards Jasmine.

"We're heading back out, Jas," I grunted. She nodded, still holding Lostelle.

"Give me... the bike please. I'll carry Lostelle with me," Jasmine said after a moment's hesitation.

"That was fast," I snorted in amusement, reaching into my bag and pulling the Motorcycle out, along with some pants. Jasmine accepted both with a confused expression.

"You can't really ride a motorcycle sitting sideways," I informed her.

"O-Oh! I have shorts on but... I just can't hug you for too long. I'll get embarrassed," she mumbled. Both Green and I blinked at that.

"You are such a fucking dork, Jas," I chuckled. She blushed in embarrassment.

"Don't say that," she admonished. Lostelle blinked.

"What's "fucking" mean?" she asked naively.

"It's a word that you use to add more passion to the sentence," I replied simply.

"No! D-Don't say that word, Lostelle!" Jasmine immediately said, completely horrified at what she just heard the little girl say. She rounded on me with a glare.

"Stop cursing around the child, Silver!"

"Oops," I said flatly, not at all meaning it.

"You're such a hooligan! How are they calling me their boss when you're so much worse?!"

"The innocent ones are always crazy deep down. They end up being more terrifying than the ones who blatantly show it."

"... It's no wonder Green is always fighting you." Our group watched Lostelle's father pull her into a tight hug with various expressions.

"Thank you three so much! I don't know how I can ever repay you!" he exclaimed.

"I know how... by actually paying us," I said flatly. He nodded eagerly.

"Of course! I will never forget this... but why is there an entire gang of bikers behind you?" he asked in confusion. I jammed a thumb in Jasmine's direction.

"She subjugated them. We encountered their boss and subjugated him too right before coming here actually," I mused. Empy had trashed his team of poison types. After that, he fell in line very quickly with his team.

"I-I didn't subjugate anyone! It was you! Why am I the one being treated as the leader?!" Jasmine asked in confusion.

"Because you are," I said coolly.

"Isn't that right fellas?"

"YEAH!" they roared in unison. Jasmine flinched and jumped, dashing behind me and regarding her new minions with wide eyes. I snorted and sighed in amusement.

"Boss Jasmine says from now on, you'll protect the Sevii Islands in the name of the biker gang. No more acting up, got it? You'll especially protect this little girl Lostelle." They roared in agreement.

"WE'LL PROTECT THEM ALL! YOU CAN COUNT ON US BOSS!"

"You're a demon. A living, breathing, honest to Mew demon," Jasmine hissed in my ears. Her blush nearly reached her ears as she clutched the back of my shirt.

"I know," I replied coolly. Green cackled.

"We believe in you guys! Become the most organized biker gang of the Sevii Islands!" With that, we left one very confused Game Corner owner, with filled pockets and a tight hug from an admittedly adorable child.

"I guess we can go back to One Island now," Jasmine muttered. I shook my head.

"Not yet... there's one last place I want to visit here on Two Island. If I'm right, it should benefit all three of us," I grunted. Both Green and Jasmine stared at me in confusion, before nodding.

"Lead the way!" Green cheered.

"Daddy, I want a fucking Teddiursa!" Lostelle shouted suddenly. There was an eager look in her eye and she completely missed the horrified look her father shot her. I choked on my spit, before erupting into genuine laughter.

"For such a cute laugh, it doesn't make sense how we only hear it for the most demonic reasons," Green said idly. Jasmine held her head.

"I always thought you exaggerated when you called him a demon... I now see that you were being humble," she said flatly. I stopped laughing and stared at them.

"Don't call my laugh cute," I demanded seriously.

"Focus on the more important things, freak!" To the north of Two Island, was an area called Cape Brink. It was the nicest looking part of the island, with tall patches of grass next to a river with a small waterfall. Near the cliff, there was a single house that was my target and with no hesitation, I knocked on it. There was a brief silence, before the voice of a person, who was not all there in the head said, "Come in!"

Jasmine and Green both shot me a wary look, their common sense having grown tremendously since hanging out with me. Before, they would have entered with no hesitation, but now they had valid doubts. I flashed them a simple thumbs up and pushed the door open. Inside, was an older woman in an all white getup. I would have considered her good looking (like 90% of the population in this world), if I wasn't 95% sure she wasn't right in the head.

"Ah young ones! Welcome welcome!" she greeted. The woman pushed herself up, gazing at us with wide black eyes that looked kind of swirly. She kind of reminded me of a Hex Maniac. I wonder if they existed in this world.

"What brings little ones like you here?! Would you like some tea?! It's freshly hot!" she exclaimed. By now, Green and Jasmine were sufficiently hidden behind me and I laughed because we were all basically the same height as each other.

"We'll pass on the tea. I'm here because I heard around the block that you're capable of teaching specific moves," I said dryly. Her wide eyes widened.

"Oh?! How did you hear of such a thing?!" She did not wait for me to answer the question, closing the distance between us with a wide smile. Man, this lady was creepy. But eh, I was used to dealing with psychos. I traveled with one after all.

"I am capable of teaching special pokemon three elemental moves! Yes, yes I am! You require a special bond with them but I can tell you three have that!" I nodded my head.

"Tell me, have you heard of the Pledge moves?! You must have because you are here, yes?" she asked. I paused at that. The Pledge moves? Hm. That's not why I came here. I came here because I wanted to learn the elemental Hyper Beams... But I guess it'd be fairly odd if this crazy lady had all three. Guess my dreams of Gaia learning Frenzy Plant were on hold for now. Frenzy Plant wasn't a move many people knew about... but if it was anywhere near the level of power Hyper Beam had...

Lance's fucking pokemon could spam Hyper Beams like they were normal Flamethrowers. If I could achieve that level of mastery with Frenzy Plant, it would open up an entire new avenue of combat for Gaia and I.

"I've heard of them. Fire Pledge, Water Pledge and Grass Pledge," I listed. While not what I aimed for, that was fairly good compensation I guess. I never used them in game but if they had the team effect in this world... it could be good. Unfortunately, Green and I both had grass type starters. She grinned eerily.

"Yes! I can teach a certain group of pokemon that move! You have them, yes?!" I nodded.

"I have a Meganium, she has a Venusaur and she has an Empoleon." Jasmine and Green were staring at me with wide eyes... and even the lady's smile vanished. She stared warily at me, wide eyes actually wide in confusion now. It must have said something, that I somehow appeared creepy to this creepy ass lady.

"You... are very knowledgeable," she said slowly, eyes staring unblinkingly at me.

"Will you teach us the moves?" I asked. We had a stare off, before the woman nodded.

"I will indeed! Your pokemon care for you so I will do it!"

"Cool. Alright, let's go," I grunted. The woman blinked.

"Go?" I nodded.

"Yeah, we're going to One Island for you to train us." With no hesitation, I grabbed the lady by the arm and dragged her out of the household.

"Wait a moment strange child! You must learn it here! This is kidnapping!" the woman protested.

"No it isn't. You agreed to help us so now you're ours until we learn the technique. We aren't staying here... no offense lady, but you're really creepy."

"You deranged child... what have you been forsaken with?!"

"Puberty." Jasmine and Green watched us go with slack jaws.

"I don't even want to know what's wrong with him anymore," Jasmine said eventually, following after us slowly.

"A creepy ass lady... thinks Silvy is creepy. Maybe we made a mistake befriending him," Green said idly.

"Most wonderful! You three have exceptional pokemon!" The lady clapped eagerly. I ran a hand against Gaia's scales with a small smile, watching how she puffed up. Grass Pledge was a good move to own. Considering how often I duo battled with my other allies... You: Visit the Sevii Islands when you get the chance. Go to Two Island, go to Cape Brink and tell the lady Silver sent you. She'll teach you both good moves. Catcher Girl: Okay! If you're suggesting it, then it must be useful.

Hatcher Boy: Sevii Islands is far though. You: There's a game corner on Two Island. Hatcher Boy: I'm sold. I snorted and pocketed my Pokegear, turning towards the maniac tutor with an appraising eye.

"How much do you charge?" I asked, pleased by her teachings.

"I do not charge! The bond you three have is enough for me!" the lady exclaimed, eagerly patting Empy, Gaia and Saury on their heads. The three simply accepted it and I snorted.

"I'm sending two more your way eventually then." The maniac had an excited gleam in her eyes, before they turned wary.

"Are they as bad as you are?" she wondered.

"Nah. I'm the worst of the bunch," I said blandly. She nodded in some relief.

"Good. I cannot deal with another like you," she said truthfully. I blinked.

"Huh. Weird. A creep is calling me creepy?" I mused, rubbing my chin. The lady huffed.

"It is rude to kidnap a maiden, young man," she scolded. I tilted my head.

"Bah, whatever. You needed the human interaction anyways. I bet you don't leave that dingy old house of yours." Her wide eyes twitched a bit and she took a deep breath.

"Well if that is all... I will be off! I do not feel well being outside my home for so long!" I shrugged.

"Sure." Green and Jasmine waved happily.

"Bye Ms. Cherie!" they beamed. She waved exuberantly, before departing from our home. I stared in confusion.

"Her name was Cherie?" I murmured.

"You didn't know?" Jasmine replied with far more acceptance than was usual.

"Nah. I will never speak to that lady again," I said bluntly. They shook their heads in amusement, used to my antics.

"Well I've at least never heard of Water Pledge so I'm thankful Empy was capable of learning a new move," she smiled, hugging me thankfully. I grunted at the action, not phased as by being eventually jumped by Green.

"It's good... but honestly, I wanted us to learn a different set of moves," I said honestly. Green gazed curiously at me.

"Which ones?"

"Frenzy Plant and Hydro Cannon," I replied easily. Jasmine blinked owlishly.

"The ultimate water and grass moves?!" Green stared at me with suspicious eyes.

"Silvy do you have an informant or something? Was it that girl at Cinnabar? The one who watched your gym battle?" she questioned. I blinked.

"No. I have no informant." Green crossed her arms.

"You know way too much Silvy. Especially for someone with amnesia," she stated bluntly. Jasmine blinked.

"Silver has amnesia?" she asked in concern. My travel partner nodded.

"He doesn't remember much of anything before he took Gaia from the lab." My gym leader friend went pale in horror.

"W-What?!" she hissed in disbelief. I scratched my hair with a frown.

"... It's about that time for Oberon's meeting with Aunt," I said eventually. My attempt to dodge the conversation was so blatantly obvious, that it made them drop it. I wasn't the type to do something so clear after all.

"Ms. Lorelei is going to visit?!" Jasmine asked in surprise. I nodded, avoiding the way Green stared a hole into me.

"Jynx is Oberon's therapist. She helps him out with his issues. He evolved earlier than I would have liked," I explained. Jasmine nodded along with my words.

"I wasn't expecting to see her. I'm nervous..." she stammered.

"Is my presence that daunting to you, Jasmine? I would have thought we'd gotten along well since last meeting each other." I watched in some amusement (and relief as Green finally tore her gaze off me) as Jasmine jumped in surprise and turned to face Lorelei.

"O-Oh! Ms. Lorelei!" she squeaked.

"Just Lorelei is fine, Jasmine. Silver makes me feel old enough," she said in mild amusement. Jasmine squeaked and nodded rapidly.

"I-I didn't mean to imply your presence makes me nervous. I just um... you know, you're an Elite 4 Member!" Lorelei placed a hand on Jasmine's shoulder and smiled reassuringly.

"Don't worry. I understand that my presence may be imposing but I'm simply here to visit my nephew and his dear friends." As my aunt reassured Jasmine, Green idly stepped next to me.

"When the time is right, you'll tell me, okay?" Green whispered to just me. I stared at her.

"After I deal with Team Rocket and get my answers," I agreed. She nodded with a pleased smile and immediately leapt atop the surprised Lorelei.

"Hi Lorelei!" Green beamed. Lorelei recovered and caught the short girl with a smile.

"I always appreciate how excitable you are, Green." She laughed in a carefree manner.

"What's not to be excited about?! So many people I'm happy to see!" My aunt sighed fondly, raking a hand through her hair. Green accepted it with the spoiled smile of a girl who was way too used to getting what she wanted. It was hard to not like Green. She was just a cheerful girl. Lorelei finally released my companion and used her long legs to reach me instantly. I never mentioned it, but Lorelei was pretty tall.

Not a 6 foot giant or anything like that, but she was a solid 5'9 which meant she basically towered over our group. I didn't flinch as she dragged me into a hug.

"You should be more excitable like Green," Lorelei murmured.

"Nah, only she can pull it off," I replied shortly, returning the hug.

"You never know until you try," she tried.

"I know without trying," I said flatly. She sighed, squeezing me thoughtfully.

"One day." I snorted. She was very optimistic.

"Just because we're awake, doesn't mean you can just hold me like a doll," I informed her.

"When you get uncomfortable, you are free to push me," she said with a small smile.

"Wow... Silver is just letting her squeeze him," Jasmine whispered to Green. Green nodded happily.

"Lorelei gets away with a lot of stuff. We all can really because Silver most of the time doesn't care enough to protest. You just have to know what annoys him... I think you can mostly get away with anything, Jas," she said matter of factly. I twitched at the look of wonder on Jasmine's face. I really hated how well Green knew me. It was very annoying.

"You're lucky I don't get embarrassed," I said flatly, glaring at my aunt with no heat.

"Maybe if you acted more adorable, I wouldn't feel forced to do things like this," Lorelei retorted, turning up her chin. I twitched. Since when did my super serious aunt get so snippy and spoiled? Was this really the effect I had on people around me? She traveled with us sure, but already?!

"Whatever you say, spoiled princess," I grunted, allowing her to rake my hair. She huffed. Jasmine gazed at us with wide eyes.

"So I can do that?" she asked quietly. My best friend yelped as I bared my teeth at her.

"Don't worry! Silver is all bark to people who he likes! He'll bare his teeth but he won't bite you actually. It's just a way to get the weak willed people to back off... which honestly works," Green said thoughtfully. She let out a wheeze of surprise, as I lunged and tackled her to the floor.

"Stop revealing this stuff you little rat!" I hissed, trying to wrap my hands around her neck. Green let out a panicked yell at that, struggling in my grasp before I could throttle her.

"No! I refuse!" she denied, hissing as one of my hands reached dangerously close.

"Let me teach everyone how to tame you!"

"Not a chance in hell!"

"Have you been enjoying your time with Silver and Green? I know you missed them," Lorelei asked with a small smile. Jasmine nodded happily.

"I'm so glad I get to see them again! They're my best friends and I appreciate them very much!" she gushed giddily. Lorelei smiled.

"Of course. I actually approved for you to take your vacation. I knew exactly why you wanted one," she said softly. My gym leader friends eyes lit up at that.

"It was you? Oh thank you so much Lorelei!" she exclaimed, abruptly hugging the woman. Lorelei's eyes widened at the action and Jasmine stepped back in horror.

"O-Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hug you so abruptly—""Seeing as Silver is occupied... I would appreciate if you finished his hug," Lorelei interrupted her apology, dragging the gym leader into a tight embrace.

"O-Oh... okay then," Jasmine whispered, a tiny sniff escaping her. Green and I immediately paused in our squabble, at hearing the small sniff that left Jasmine. The two of us shot up, protective glares on our face before we took stock of the scene. Seeing how tenderly Lorelei was hugging her reminded me of a very important detail. Right... Jasmine didn't know her parents. She only had her grandfather. Lorelei looked helplessly confused, as Jasmine began crying and I laughed fondly as she shot me a look for help.

I just gave her a thumbs up.

"You got this," I mouthed with an insufferable smirk. My aunt shot me a dirty glare, before hesitantly patting Jasmine's back. I chuckled and held my hand out.

"Green, let's go cook." Green grabbed it easily and nodded happily.

"Kay!"

"So Jasmine knows everything?" Lorelei asked. I nodded.

"I didn't want her to think she was feeling neglected so I told her everything." Jasmine nodded, eyes red rimmed as I wiped her face.

"They were just trying to protect me... but I don't want that type of protection. I'm a strong trainer so it's my job to protect them!" Jasmine said fiercely. Lorelei smiled softly.

"I told you there was nothing to worry about, Jasmine. These two truly cherish you. I've seen Loki transform into you multiple times just to get them to stop fighting," she mentioned. My first friend nodded in embarrassment.

"It's just... I knew he wasn't telling me everything because I wasn't there. I felt like I was being left behind by them." I paused and tilted my head.

"It's just difficult to communicate through phone. I wouldn't want anyone to track what I'm saying... and you had a high ranking position that I didn't want to incriminate," I said honestly. Lorelei nodded in agreement.

"Silver believes we will uphold our duty without understanding his side of things. I cannot fault him for thinking such a thing because you are a gym leader and I am an Elite 4 member. We are the protectors of two regions and what he did was rather... criminal." I snorted.

"I accidentally attacked the leading professor of Johto. It's a little more than a crime. That's why I'm surprised you guys are actually willing to not arrest me."

"Accident?" Jasmine and Green asked.

"So it was an accident," Lorelei mused with a frown.

"I was having an off day... I didn't mean to encounter anyone really but I ended up screaming because my body felt... wrong," I said slowly. They all tensed up at that, reminded by the fact that I mentioned being experimented on by Team Rocket.

"After screaming, that professor showed up and I panicked and attacked him because I hadn't finished my mission yet. Afterwards, I nabbed some supplies and Gaia before leaving." Lorelei nodded thoughtfully.

"Why did you only take one pokemon?" she asked curiously. I shrugged.

"I only needed one. I more or less had a team planned out anyways."

"Oh that's why you went to Hoenn!" Green exclaimed. Jasmine blinked owlishly.

"You went to Hoenn?" she asked. I nodded.

"Remember when I almost got killed by that Sharpedo? That was in Hoenn," I informed them. Her mouth opened in shock at that.

"Oh! I thought that was Kanto! That makes so much more sense!"

"Pardon me. What is it you said about nearly dying to a Sharpedo?" Lorelei asked in confusion.

"I got attacked by one while fishing for Freyja. Managed to beat it," I said smugly.

"You fought it?!" my aunt hissed.

"It was my spot first. I wanted Freyja," I said stubbornly. Jasmine held her head.

"Don't bother. I tried to tell him in the moment and he hung up on me," she stressed.

"Silvy is psychotic," Green awed. I shrugged.

"I was confident I could beat it... and I got Freyja out of it. I wouldn't want any other Feebas," I decided. Lorelei sighed fondly.

"You fool... I'm just glad it paid off so well. Freyja is truly magnificent." Green and Jasmine nodded eagerly.

"Actually! You already mentioned it... but just how did you get Ares and Metang?" Green asked curiously. I huffed in amusement as all eyes locked on me.

"You guys sure want to know everything now do you?" I asked rhetorically.

"Yes." I paused at the completely serious answers and just nodded slowly. That was kind of creepy.

"I stole Metang from the Stone Family," I said bluntly. I watched the color drain out of all three of their faces.

"The..." Green croaked.

"S-Stone..." Jasmine stammered.

"Family?" Lorelei finished, voice barely above a whisper. I nodded easily.

"I snuck into their estate and took a Beldum."

"Steven Stone?" Jasmine hissed.

"Surely you don't mean the Champion of Hoenn's estate, correct?" Lorelei questioned slowly. I nodded.

"Silvy... Steven is one of the strongest trainers in the world. When it comes to sheer influence, he might be the most powerful trainer ever! He practically fully runs the Hoenn region! Even more than a Champion normally does!" Green exclaimed in horror. It was true. Steven was very exceptional. His team outside of Metagross wasn't all that impressive (in comparison to other champions) but that more spoke to the sheer power behind his ace.

But it was his influence over the Hoenn region as a whole, that was truly formidable. Steven was a person who encompassed both the strength and intelligence, when discussing his rule over Hoenn. Most champions didn't have as much influence, trainers were battlers after all, not politicians. Steven Stone was both. He practically ruled Hoenn unlike Lance's reign over Kanto and Johto, or Cynthia's domination of Sinnoh.

The one who came closest to having his level of influence over a region, was Alder of Unova and Alder was not a politician. He was just universally loved by his people. He had been the champion of Unova longer than all current champions after all. Alder was the oldest champion by a fair bit. But regardless of all that...

"I really wanted a Beldum," I said calmly.... I wanted a Beldum.

"In hindsight, I suppose I should feel flattered that you risked angering our monarch, for the sole purpose of capturing me."

"Don't flatter yourself too much. You were just more antisocial than other Beldums somehow. It made you an easy target."

"Hmph. You should be grateful. You happened to capture the Beldum most willing to put up with your nonsense."

"We all know you actually love me. Any Beldum would be swayed by my charisma."

"The first time you would hear laughter out of me, is if misfortune fell upon you. The second time, is after you would dare to compliment yourself to me." Dick... but touche. Jasmine's mouth opened and then closed.

"You raided the Stone Estate, only because you wanted one?" Lorelei groaned and held her head.

"It makes so much sense and I hate that I can even understand why you did it."

"Ditto," Green said flatly. Lorelei rubbed her forehead.

"You mean to tell me, you managed to escape Hoenn after taking a Beldum?" she asked.

"Yeah. I'm sure he knows now... he might even already suspect me, but I got away without being detected by them," I confirmed.

"Avoiding the detection of a Metagross... how is that even possible?" Lorelei muttered to herself with a disturbed expression. Green nodded in agreement.

"Psychics hate you, Silvy. How did they not feel you?" I grunted.

"I never used to be this bad. Back when I met Jasmine, Bronzy was talking to me just fine. It started getting way worse after I entered Kanto." It might have even been before that. Back in Meteor Falls, Lunatone and Solrocks had been avoiding me mostly. I didn't encounter a single psychic after I had that dream with Red Eyes... but maybe it had to do with when I encountered Registeel... but even then that was before I raided the Stone Estate. Lorelei pursed her lips.

"A steadily growing psychic and ghost deterrent. I couldn't possibly hope to decipher what that is." This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. I nodded in agreement.

"Well what about Ares? Did you steal her too?" Green asked. She was the least horrified by my tales. In fact, she looked rather invested. I opened my mouth to confirm it, before shutting it in contemplation.

"Technically... no now that I think about it?" I mused.

"Explain," Lorelei said immediately. I blinked in confusion.

"You have like no faith in me at all, Aunt." She stared at me. I let out an exaggerated sigh.

"Well I was planning on stealing Ares from the the Draconids... or well just a Bagon in general but I got interrupted by a Fraxure that tried to kill me—""WHAT?!" Lorelei and Jasmine shouted.

"I know. It was bad. It wiped my whole team out. Gave me a nasty scar too," I grunted, pulling up my shirt to showcase the scar. Lorelei gasped in realization, while Jasmine gasped in horror.

"So that's what attacked you? A Fraxure?" Lorelei whispered in disbelief.

"How could you be so reckless?! Did Sharpedo teach you nothing?" Jasmine asked in concern. I blinked in surprise, as she closed the distance between us, immediately raising my shirt up higher and inspecting the injury. She poked and prodded it in a move that was decidedly not Jasmine. I grunted at the cool feeling but just let her be.

"No, Sharpedo didn't. That's why I approached Ares' situation so stupidly," I admitted.

"Almost dying taught me valuable lesson though… and humbled me too much for my liking."

"So Ares saved your life?" Lorelei prodded.

"Yep," I popped the p.

"Right before I died, she showed up and we wrecked the Fraxure. Then, she asked to join me. I never even entered the Draconid Village beyond scouting it from their outskirts," I explained. Lorelei sighed in relief.

"The Draconid are one who follow tradition. If Ares chose to go with you, there is nothing they can do about it. That is probably why there isn't an uproar about you having both a Metang and Shelgon." I mulled it over.

"That makes sense. I bet that Steven probably suspects me but if the Draconids didn't report me, he has no real reason to think I got Ares from them. She chose to join me too so it's even better." My aunt nodded.

"That has turned out to be a small blessing... and I can't believe I'm thinking like a criminal. What have you done to me, Silver?" she moaned miserably, holding her head. I watched as her arm instinctively reached for her cup of lemonade, before she gulped it down.

"My bad?" I tried. Lorelei glared at me.

"No more large scale crimes. If Steven hasn't already come for you, it's likely because he has no proof. If you are caught doing a single crime, that will suddenly put every action you've ever done, under heavy scrutiny." I was honestly impressed that she said that.

"You'd be a good criminal. That's exactly why I didn't want to trust anyone. If even one crime got out, my team of rare pokemon would be accused of being illegally obtained," I complimented.

"Do not compliment me in such a way. Really." I laughed at that.

"It's only a matter of time before Steven approaches. While powerful, his social skills are very... abrasive. He will think carefully on how to approach such a situation and I will do my best to navigate the issue," Lorelei explained. My eyes softened just a tad and I pulled my surprised aunt into a hug.

"Really, my bad for putting so much stress on you. I appreciate it," I said truthfully. Lorelei sat there stunned, before I watched as the ice queen practically melted in my grasp. I didn't even mean too, but my aunt was so whipped.

"That's okay, Silver. You made reckless decisions for your own protection. Now, I will protect you to the best of my abilities... so long as you do nothing so crazy again," she assured, returning the hug. Jasmine sighed and pinched her nose.

"At least you're still alive." I smiled.

"It taught me a valuable lesson so I'm only slightly less reckless."

"But still pretty reckless!" Green cackled.

"Far too reckless," Lorelei agreed, holding a hand over her heart. There was not a hint of disagreement from me.

"I sought out a fast method to get Freyja, Ares and Metang. Freyja was being gatekept by a Sharpedo, Ares was being gatekept by the Draconids and Metang was being gatekept by the Stone Family… so the choice of what I had to do, was obvious." Jasmine stared at me in some disbelief.

"Your desire for things, trumps your rational mind. You're incredibly logical and you use that logic… to fuel how illogical you can be."

"He is a paradox," Lorelei stated for all of them.

"If I want something, I'm going for it. It's their fault for hoarding them," I said coolly.

"It's nothing personal against Steven Stone. I'm sure he's a swell dork... but those are just pokemon I wanted and that was the most normal way to get it."

"I kinda get what you mean in a messed up sorta way," Green nodded along with me. Jasmine sighed.

"I also see why and that's only because I know you. You didn't do this out of maliciousness… you did it because that was the fastest and most efficient way to get what you wanted."

"Fast and efficient... scary traits for someone with your talents in stealth to have," Lorelei praised reluctantly. I smiled at the three.

"You all know me so well. If they were easier to get, obviously I'd do it that way. That's why I only took one Beldum. I'm not interested in profiting off them. I just have a vision for my team that needed to be fulfilled." Lorelei shook her head with a small smile.

"You have the mentality of a madman."

"Guilty as charged." I held my hands up in surrender. They all gazed at me, before we all let out tiny chuckles that devolved into full laughter.

"Please Silver don't stress me out this much anymore. I've not been so stressed by one person in far too long," Lorelei stressed.

"No promises at all, but I won't go out of my way to commit serious crimes," I said honestly. She smiled at me, before it was quickly wiped off her face.

"Define serious," my aunt demanded suddenly. I simply smiled.

"Silver, answer the question!"

"Are you impressed by Green and I's cooking? We got really good because of Jasmine."

"Silver!"

"Before I leave you three to enjoy yourselves once more, Silver... would you like to visit the island I was born at?" Lorelei asked curiously. I tilted my head at that.

"You want me to meet your parents or something?" I replied. Green and Jasmine instantly perked up at that.

"Your grandparents... yes," she added. I shrugged.

"Not really, no. Why would I want to meet them?" I asked in confusion. Lorelei shook her head in amusement.

"Because they are your blood relatives," she explained slowly. I grunted.

"Eh. If you really want me to meet them I will... but I really don't care if they're family. I'm fine with just you," I said matter of factly. A long time ago, back when I first met Ash, I thought to myself that I had no useful family members... and Lorelei proved me wrong. She was the only one I cared about so she was the only one I needed. Lorelei stared at me with wide eyes and I tilted my head in confusion as I heard Jasmine and Green coo.

A confused hiss escaped me as I was strong-armed into a way too tight hug, courtesy of my Aunt. I could only regard her in confusion as she practically throttled my entire body.

"Thank you, Silver. That... makes me happy," she said eventually.

"Are you stupid? Why are you reacting like I said some grand thing?" I questioned. Lorelei had a tendency to have the strangest reactions to certain things I said. Most of the time, I just chalked it up to her being painfully awkward. It was probably the same this time too. Lorelei was a dork like that.

"You're just sweet without realizing it. That's all," she murmured. My aunt released me with a small smile.

"Very well. Let's go visit them. It won't be for long and I am not expecting you to act any certain way," she said. I shrugged.

"Sure. Green and Jasmine are coming though." Lorelei let out a noise that almost sounded like a scoff, but was a bit too refined for it.

"Of course they are. You wouldn't come otherwise." I shook my head in amusement.

"I don't like this character study of Silver you all have been doing. You all seem to know me too well."

"It wasn't easy," Jasmine said truthfully.

"I'm never giving up this skill! I got flipped too much on my back to do that," Green huffed. Lorelei nodded in agreement.

"It's difficult to pry info out of you. That makes information more vital." I snorted.

"Freaks." Four Island (or Floe Island), unlike the first three islands, was actually fairly cold. In terms of its sister islands, it was fairly isolated from them, not being all that close to five or the first three islands. Much like Two, the island wasn't nearly as big as the others, being the smallest one yet. Granted, that was still pretty large because it was an island... but unlike the much larger One Island, it was very quaint. Hard to imagine that Lorelei was born and raised here.

She was quite the princess after all. Our group departed from the ship easily and inspected the simple island with varying expressions.

"Is that huge house over there yours?" I asked randomly, pointing at it. It was hard to miss, standing tall above much of the other buildings there. It looked like a standard Victorian house that a noble would love to show off. Lorelei followed my finger and shook her head with an exasperated expression.

"That... belongs to my parents. My house is a little less noticeable and further away from my parents. I prefer to live more humbly," she said. I could tell she was resisting the urge to hold her face and it made me snort. This was surely going to be a fun meeting.

"So you have a house here?" Green asked curiously. Lorelei nodded.

"I hardly visit it. It is mostly used to store my collection of Pokedolls," she explained. Green squealed excitedly.

"You have to show me them!" My aunt nodded.

"I've recently bought a new one. I tend to buy things when I am stressed... and Silver has left me stressed." Jasmine cringed back.

"I'm sorry. It must be inhospitable now." I snorted loudly as my aunt nodded slowly.

"By the way, do you have a pokemon that knows Hydro Cannon?" I asked Lorelei curiously. She jolted at that question and turned wary eyes towards me.

"First year trainers shouldn't really know about that move... but you have an unnatural amount of knowledge," she sighed. Lorelei pinched her nose at my shameless expression.

"To answer your question. I do. My Lapras knows it." I nodded my head at her response, before pausing in confusion.

"Your Lapras?" I asked in confusion. Lorelei nodded.

"It is a very difficult move to learn, one that requires an immense amount of energy... Few water types can learn it. Some have an easier time. Research has shown that pokemon such as Blastoise, Feraligatr, Empoleon and others have an easier time learning it." I nodded thoughtfully at that. That... honestly made sense. What did the starter pokemon share with their other type brothers that would make them eligible to learn the elemental hyper beam moves? The answer, was probably nothing.

They were all very different species of pokemon after all so I doubted it was their build... and the term "Starter Pokemon" wasn't exclusive to them in this world. Any pokemon could be a starter. It would be more accurate to label them as the leading professor's preferred pokemon. I guess it actually made sense that the Elemental Hyper Beams weren't gated to just them. The starter pokemon weren't extremely special in this world. They were just the pokemon that professors preferred to give out to their sponsee.

Wait, did that mean the Pledge Moves weren't unique to them either? Did that maniac only know how to teach them to the starters because they had an easier time learning it? Hm... I bet Freyja could probably learn Hydro Cannon. Maybe Charcadet could too if he evolved into Armarouge. But if he became Ceruledge, it would probably be impossible or very difficult. As for Green, I bet Lapee and Larvee could learn it. Damn that would be crazy to witness.

"I guess powerful Water types who specialize in emitting can learn it? Same with Frenzy Plant and Blast Burn?" I asked. Lorelei nodded with a small smile.

"That is correct for the most part. There are pokemon of that type who aren't specialized in emitting, that can perform it however, such as Swampert. So long as they have the sufficient stores for it, the pokemon may be capable... whether that be on evolution or well into its adulthood." Okay, that made sense. So the Starters could probably learn it the moment they evolved while others needed to wait a little longer?

"You should help Empy learn it," I said bluntly. Jasmine jolted in surprise at that, eyes going wide.

"Ah! That's not necessary! Lorelei is a busy person—""I do not mind. I'd be glad to help you, Jasmine. Growing your power, would be only beneficial to Indigo," Lorelei interrupted. Jasmine paused at that and then nodded.

"Right... okay then!" she said. There was a determined, albeit nervous, look on her face but my friend looked pleased. I nodded myself, pleased by the outcome. While Green and I wouldn't learn Frenzy Plant here... this had been very valuable information. This aligned well with the way I had Freyja learn her own version of Snipe Shot as well. Move modifications were real but they just required intense control if a pokemon couldn't naturally learn it. I'd have to explore that later.

As for the Elemental Hyper Beams... Well, Erika did tell us to visit her after evolving Saury and Gaia. I'm sure the grass gym leader would know a thing or two about Frenzy Plant. There was something else I wanted to ask her about too.

"Is that Lorelei?!" someone shouted in immediate recognition. We paused, as an average man approached our group with wide eyes.

"Oh, hello..." Lorelei waved.

"Guys look! It's Lorelei!" another said. That seemed to cause the hoard to perk up and soon enough, I watched as person after person of all ages showed up"Oh dear," she muttered, glancing back minutely at me before the swarm arrived. Considering Two Island wasn't very large, I was fairly sure just about the whole island, was about to swarm us.

"Loki," I grunted. He phased into existence for but a moment, before wrapping our entire group in an intricate Illusion. The excited chatter of the crowd, transformed into one of confusion, as our group vanished before their very eyes. In complete unison, we all simply made our way to the biggest building of the island.

"In hindsight, someone with your talents owning a Zoroark, almost feels illegal," Lorelei muttered to our group. She was speaking low enough that only we could hear her, as we navigated our way through Four Island.

"Loki is the reason I get away with so much stuff," I admitted shamelessly, reaching out and patting my disguised Zoroark.

"It's definitely cheating. A Zoroark fits you way too well. I'm jealous of how useful he is," Green laughed. I snorted in amusement. Green being jealous of one of my captures was rich, considering how batshit insane her team was that she just happened to stumble upon. Let me have my own batshit insane member too that I happened to stumble upon. Can you believe that Green's luck would have given her Charcadet too if she didn't give him to me? Some people I tell you.

Gold and Crystal also had pretty solid members they happened to stumble upon. Guess this was what it meant to be the protagonist instead of just a protagonist. Bah, my way was more fun anyways. Lorelei rang the doorbell of the gray and blue house, a single time and patiently waited for someone to answer. It took far longer than I would have personally liked but my aunt seemed to be unfazed by it, just standing rigidly. If it were me alone, I'd have already left.

My grandparents were already making a terrible first impression on me. Eventually, before I could start getting very vocal, the door finally opened. I paused for a moment, blinking at the sight of my mother on the other side of the door. It only took me a moment to realize, this person was older and had some differences. She aged gracefully, still wielding the beauty my aunt and mother both possessed. Like how I had previously observed, her resemblance to Ariana was uncanny...

she even had the goddamn cowlick that both my mother and I possessed. Hers was more refined, slicked back to blend a bit with the long red hair Lorelei, Ariana and I all inherited. Similarly, her red eyes was another thing both my aunt and mother seemed to get. They were narrowed in some confusion, her refined features morphed into confusion. Goddamn, did she self produce? My grandma's genes were tough. Her confused gazed widened in recognition and she gazed at Lorelei in shock.

"Lorelei? Is that you?!" Lorelei nodded.

"Mother," she greeted stiffly. I perked a brow at how odd my aunt was acting but my grandma didn't seem to notice.

"It's been ages since you've last visited!" the woman who answered exclaimed.

"Ages?" I mused.

"I have been dealing with affairs. I'm quite busy," Lorelei informed her calmly. My grandma pursed her lips.

"It's bad enough that your sister has not visited in years... but your visits have been growing more infrequent as well," she observed.

"Mother," was all Lorelei said. She was ignored.

"We raised you into an exceptional young woman. We do not expect to be repaid in ungratefulness like others have," she stated bluntly, crossing her arms in clear disapproval. Lorelei stared at her mother with a flat expression and didn't say anything... not that it looked like my grandma minded. It honestly looked liked she was gearing to go into a tirade, if not for the fact that her red eyes shifted and finally took in the little detail, that they weren't alone.

I watched in disinterest, as my grandmother's eyes honed in on me with pretty impressive speeds. I don't know how old she was, but Lorelei was 28 and apparently my mother was 30... so honestly my grandma was probably in the very upper 40s to lower 50s which wasn't that bad and wasn't easily noticeable either.

"... Wha," my grandmother trailed off, gazing at me with wide eyes. I couldn't say I was too surprised. I probably looked like a male version of her older daughter as a child... which meant I looked like a male version of my grandma. From the corner of my eye, I actually saw Lorelei roll her eyes and I would have chuckled if not for my desire to win this stare off.

"As I was attempting to say. Silver, this is my mother and your grandmother, Atenea. Mother, this is my nephew and your grandson, Silver," she introduced. I nodded my head in greeting, never taking my eyes off of her.

"Pleasure to meet you, grandma," I said politely. Lorelei jolted at that, gazing at me with wide eyes. Similarly, Jasmine and Green turned towards me, mouths agape.

"Grand... son?" Atenea muttered, finally averting her gaze from my own as the intensity of my silvers won.

"That's correct. He is 12 years old," Lorelei explained, crossing her arms as she shot her mother a judging stare. I watched as Atenea mouthed the number 12 to herself. She probably realized that 12 years was a really long time to figure out that you had a grandson. They probably realized it had been even longer since they saw their daughter.

"You are Ariana's son?" she asked in disbelief.

"Mhm," I confirmed. Atenea continued to stare at me, before shaking her head to snap out of the daze she was in.

"You must come in for dinner!" she demanded, beckoning us all forward. Before we could accept or deny, the woman turned on a sharp heel and briskly walked away. I watched her regal blue dress flutter with her movement and simply tilted my head.

"Primo! Leave your studies this instance! We have a grandson!" she shouted. I distantly heard a man's shout, before Atenea vanished further into their household.

"..." Lorelei exhaled with a shake of her head.

"This is gonna be fun," I said dryly, already seeing how south this was probably going to go.

"You were nicer than normal," Jasmine pointed out immediately. I shrugged.

"Figured I'd spice things up this time around. This seems important to aunt and I'm not that much of a dick."

"Yes you are," Green interjected seriously. I thought about it, then nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, you're right. I definitely am." Lorelei laughed softly.

"I won't tell you how you should act. Just be yourself." I stared at her curiously, before snorting.

"Whatever you say. Hopefully it doesn't crash and burn during dinner. I wouldn't wanna throw down near tableware." My grandfather, much like my grandmother, aged quite gracefully. He was a pale, tall and handsome man with a few gray streaks going through his shoulder length, neat black hair. He seemed to naturally look like things were beneath him with his resting bitch face, a trait that once again, the three of us seemed to inherit.

Huh, I was beginning to realize how similar Ariana, Lorelei and I were when it came to certain things. His stern black eyes landed on me and widened in surprise, seeming to pause. I watched as he began evaluating me from head to toe and just stared a hole into him the entire time.

"It's rude to stare," Atenea chastised me. There was clear disapproval but she didn't seem to carry that same energy for her husband.

"I only retaliate," I said coolly, utterly uncaring of her words. She bristled slightly but I ignored it.

"Father," Lorelei greeted stiffly.

"Lorelei," the man replied slowly, gaze still trained on me. He almost seemed puzzled but eventually, his expression smoothed over.

"Silver, this is my father, Primo. Father, this is my nephew, Silver," my aunt introduced. Primo immediately spoke up.

"Primo Canna," he said, holding his chin up while extending a smooth hand. It was a classic pompous noble move and it perfectly fit my overdressed grandparents. He was dressed in a black and gray yukata, that looked as if it were made of some expensive fabric that they were itching to brag about. In comparison, Lorelei and I looked rather underdressed. My aunt had a simple all black dress that reached her knees, along with heels and brown tights. I was simply dressed in my black coat and violet pants.

I raised a brow at his words and just mentally shrugged.

"Silver," I said easily, capturing his hand for a second and immediately releasing it. My grandfather blinked once, both at my actions and my short sentence, before he bristled. Surnames weren't a big deal in this world. They weren't nearly as mandatory either. There were some people who just outright didn't have a last name. Naturally, some people would introduce themselves by their full name... but in this world, as long as your first name was known, it was fine.

Funnily enough, the Pallet trio all introduced themselves by their whole names, while my Johto trio didn't. Gold, Crystal and I had last names but we never once referred to them. Clearly, Lorelei's parents were uptight enough to use theirs. They also clearly didn't like the fact that I refused to divulge my own. As I stared unapologetically at my grandfather, meeting his disapproval with apathy, he eventually turned towards Lorelei once more.

"It has been far too long since you've last visited, Prima," he scolded. I could tell Lorelei wanted to sigh but was just holding herself back from doing so. It was easy to understand why she was so overbearing now because her parents were pretty damn ridiculous. This must have been the norm. I guess I could sorta bail her out.

"Prima?" I asked, raising a brow. Lorelei turned towards me and flushed in embarrassment.

"Prima is my middle name. My full name is Lorelei Prima Canna. When under disguise, I may on occasion, use the name Prima," she said eventually. I nodded thoughtfully at that. For all her classy and uptightness, Lorelei was actually fairly humble. She rarely flaunted her status, didn't refer to herself by full name every time and wielded a good heart that I was mostly subjected to—"Do not interrupt a conversation, boy. Have you no manners?" I paused at that and regarded my grandfather with an almost nasty look.

At the same time, Green palmed her face. Atenea huffed in agreement.

"I noticed earlier, but he's very unrefined. Clearly, he takes after his mother." The next person to sigh was Jasmine. Primo pursed his lips.

"So I did hear correctly. Prima referred to you as her nephew and not son. That means you are Ariana's child..." My grandfather looked me up and down, utterly unimpressed.

"Callous speech, horrible manners and a wardrobe that needs refining... You are still young so it's only right that I warn you not to grow up to be like your mother. Be more like Prima," he advised sternly. Finally, Lorelei let out the sigh she had been withholding since this entire meeting started. Funnily enough, I sighed at the same time as her.

"I even tried to be polite. I thought with how it was headed, dinner could even be peaceful... but we didn't even make it there," I informed my aunt, completely ignoring my grandfather and turning towards her. Naturally, that didn't go over well with him. He bristled once more, gaze narrowing.

"You have done it again, boy. Unbelievable, it's as if I'm looking in yet another mirror—""Quiet down old fart," I interrupted rudely, turning towards him with a cold glare. Primo abruptly shut his mouth. The look of clear surprise on his face was great and I relished it greatly.

"Let's get some things straight, yeah?" I continued unimpeded, holding up a finger.

"One. Do not tell me what to do. I don't even fucking know you and you damn sure don't know me," I sneered. Atenea gasped in horror.

"You! Such foul language is not accepted in here—""Two." I bulldozed whatever my grandmother was going to say, by holding up a second finger. She spluttered in surprise, before it settled into a firm glare of disapproval. Not like I cared.

"You don't get to judge me without being judged yourself. I don't give a damn if you're 5, 20, 50 or dead. In my eyes, the both of you are stuck up idiots who like to pretend like they know what they're doing, when they really don't have the slightest clue," I said easily.

"I expected this," Jasmine whispered to Green.

"Silvy told me back at Fuchsia that he's always the one getting harassed... I kind of believe him now," she whispered back.

"... Technically, I did refuse to leave him alone first," Jasmine confirmed with a disturbed expression. Lorelei watched the exchange with an unreadable expression.

"... And last but almost certainly not least, Three," I said, completely overcharging the visible anger of my grandparents with my own explosive temper. They flinched back in surprise at the raw fury being emitted from me. It bowled over theirs almost effortlessly because of course some pampered old rich idiots would never be angrier than me. I glared darkly at them, a scowl firmly on my face.

"Don't you ever and I mean ever try and compare me to someone else. Don't act like my mom? Act like my aunt? I am not Lorelei, I am not Ariana and I'm damn sure not some little fucking toy that you guys can mold into your image."

"I'm Silver. Just Silver. I'd tell you to try that again, but I've seen everything I needed. I won't be coming back here and you won't be speaking to me ever again." With that simple declaration, I turned on my heel and stomped away. Useless. Just like I figured, I only had one useful family member.

"Lorelei! You'd just let him talk to us like that?!" Atenea cried out in distress. My grandmother was holding her head with the back of her hand, face red in humiliation at my words.

"Discipline him right this instance! That boy has no manners whatsoever!" Primo scowled, anger roaring back after my tirade, little cowards they were. I paused at that and turned a hellish glare towards them.

"How bout you discipline me yourselves, you stupid old fucks?!" I snarled loudly, stomping over to them to show them what my definition of discipline was. They both flinched back at my seething stare, horror on their faces at my actions. Before I could make good on kicking the ass of both my grandparents, Lorelei stepped in front of me and placed both her hands on my shoulder. Oops. I kinda forgot that she was their daughter. I glared at her, only to blink owlishly at the proud smile on her face.

"Thank you, Silver. I knew you would give me the burst of confidence I need and... this showed me everything I needed to see. Your complete lack of tolerance at this injustice, is envious. I wish I was more like you," she murmured, standing tall to face her parents.

"Mother, Father, I too believe this will be the last time I visit you. I've put up with you far more than I should have... but you've crossed the line." I paused in surprise at that.

"Pardon?" Primo questioned, eyes wide in shock.

"W-What?!" Atenea cried out, far more distressed than her husband. Lorelei shook her head.

"You two... you chased your oldest daughter away and have not seen her in years but despite that, you have not undergone any sort of self reflection. In your eyes, you two are completely incapable of doing wrong but Ariana and I's childhood is proof that you've been nothing but wrong," she said firmly, crossing her arms in disappointment. Now... this was a development I was not expecting but very gladly willing to witness.

"I cannot believe, how self centered you two are. Here I am, introducing you to your grandson, the one who you didn't know existed until just now! The grandson of your estranged daughter who you ostracized her entire life and the first thing you do, is immediately ostracize him as well!" she shouted. Both my grandparents flinched back at the genuine anger on Lorelei's face.

"Disappointed does not even begin to describe how I feel towards the both of you. A part of me hoped that you would take one look at Silver and realize all that we missed because of your attitude but clearly I was mistaken. You took one look at him and attempted to treat him the same idiotic way you treated Ariana!"

"Now wait Lorelei. Please just hear us out!" Atenea tried to say, alarm on her features as it dawned on the woman, that she was truly about to lose both her daughters.

"I will not hear anything out! You said all you needed to say! This was your last chance to earn my forgiveness and you failed with flying colors! I will not allow myself to tolerate anymore of your injustice!" Lorelei denied firmly, grabbing me by the hand.

"I for one, have no interest in alienating myself from the only family member who cares about me as a person. For you to even suggest I discipline him for your follies, shows me all that I need to know! You two do not deserve to speak to your grandson and you don't deserve to speak to me either!" With that final and damning statement, Lorelei dragged my complacent body out of their home.

"Wait, we'll be better Lorelei! Just give us one last chance!"

"Prima hold on! Surely you jest?!"

"Don't deprive us of seeing our grandson! Please listen to us!" Their pleas fell on deaf ears. They tried to continue but Lorelei steadfastly ignored them, up until she made it through the door. My aunt patiently waited for Green and Jasmine to step out, before slamming it shut. She huffed and sagged slightly.

"I cannot believe their gall," she muttered to herself. Lorelei took a deep breath and turned towards our group.

"What do you think? Was my reaction acceptable?" she wondered.

"Definitely!" Green exclaimed cheerfully.

"I would have gotten more offended, if not for the fact it was Silver they were talking too. He can handle himself very well," Jasmine agreed. Lorelei nodded at their words, before turning towards me. I caught her gaze and snorted in amusement.

"It was good entertainment. Forcing them to self reflect isn't bad either... but you shoulda cursed more," I said. What I didn't say out loud, was that I appreciated her efforts. To me... this even went beyond, above and beyond. I for one, have no interest in alienating myself from the only family member who cares about me as a person. I pat my aunt on her head with a smile.

"You're a good aunt. For what it's worth, I have no intention of alienating myself from you either." My smile turned into one of amusement, as Lorelei gazed at me with a genuinely surprised expression. Then, she turned away in embarrassment.

"Of course... being honest, seeing your complete refusal to be controlled, filled me with the confidence needed to do such a thing. It is... difficult to stand up to figures you looked up to," Lorelei admitted quietly. I stared at her.

"I get that. It's hard to imagine that they're wrong... after all, they've raised you to think they're always right. If I gave you the confidence to realize just how wrong they were... then that's good." Lorelei shook her head in exasperation.

"You truly are too mature... I truly am thankful. I'm satisfied so long as I have your support." I mulled that over before nodding in agreement.

"Yeah, I think I'm the same. I don't need another family member so long as I've got you," I said truthfully. My family may have been useless but I was fine if even just one was good. I wasn't that greedy of a person. Life was all about being satisfied with the small things... and as my aunt finally pulled me into a tight hug, tears falling from her eyes at my words, I realized I was perfectly fine with this.

"Alright Jasmine. We're going on a trip," I grunted. Lorelei had left earlier, claiming that she had intruded enough on our time. Despite the fact that none of us would have minded if she stayed as long as she wanted, my aunt insisted that kids should be kids and we couldn't really enjoy ourselves with her around.

"That does not mean you have free reigns to be reckless, Silver. They will tell me," she had warned. Heh, silly aunt. Didn't she know by now that I was going to do what I wanted whether she was here or not? My poor innocent aunt. Jasmine perked up at my words and nodded eagerly.

"You guys are always on an adventure! What are we going to do this time?" she asked excitedly. I felt a small well of annoyance.

"Something I don't really wanna do… but never hurts to try I guess." She nodded curiously.

"Wear clothes that protect against the heat and stock up on a lot of water. We're going to Kindle Road and Mt. Ember," I informed them.

"Oh! Okay!" they both nodded in unison, trusting me without a second of hesitation. The great thing about this world, was that the technology was super quality of life. I was allowed to wear my long sleeved shirts because since travel was so encouraged, there were clothes that handled different situations in troves. Case in point, I put on a long sleeved cotton gray shirt that instantly chilled me.

I sighed in content and repeated the same with my pants and shoes, securing all my articles of clothing and finishing it off with my signature gloves, but these were equipped to cool me down. To be honest, much like Seafoam, I doubted this was going to help me very much but it was better than nothing. At least the hot didn't make me comatose like the cold did. I took my shoulder length hair and quickly wrapped it in a ponytail, watching the spikes at the bottom jut out in every direction.

"Hm, not bad," I mused, inspecting the ponytail. I idly flicked my cowlick and scoffed.

"U-U-Uh," Jasmine stammered, staring at me with wide eyes. I raised a brow.

"You've watched me change like how many times now? Grow a pair and get changed," I grunted.

"S-So shameless. This isn't something a person gets used to," she mumbled.

"You get used to it!" Green laughed, already having swapped her outfit to something else at the same time as me. She was wearing a sleeveless black dress with a bit of cyan on it, along with a pair of cyan shorts underneath. My companion skipped over to me with an infuriating amount of audacity and I rolled my eyes as she turned around expectantly. I grasped her jungle mess of a hair and brushed it, before tying it into a long ponytail with a green scrunchie.

"You're not gonna put on longer pants and a shirt? It's going to be very hot so you might get sunburned," I questioned.

"Can you put some sunscreen on them?" she asked cheerfully. I sighed.

"You're so useless," I conceded, reaching into my bag and pulling out the sunscreen in question. Green beamed at me.

"You too Jasmine! You got some leg and arm showing so get over here!" My eye twitched.

"Are you guys serious? There's only so much audacity I can handle from you in one sitting," I pointed out incredulously.

"You torment and help us! We help you and get tormented! It's a pretty good balance, no?" Green laughed, watching as Jasmine tentatively sat next to her.

"I'm in your care," Jasmine bowed. My eye twitched even harder.

"You are an unreal human being, Leaf. I wish I could understand how one person could be so audacious," I grunted.

"Love you too!" Green beamed. I abruptly shut up at that and gazed strangely at her.... That might have been the first time I heard someone say that to me. It made me feel all fuzzy and stuff.

"Say it back!" Green demanded suddenly. I scoffed at her.

"You said "too", moron. That implies that I already said it. Why would I need to say it again?" I retorted. She glared at me.

"Because I wanna hear you say it! C'mon Jasmine! If you say it, he'll definitely say it back!" Jasmine jolted at that and waved her hands frantically.

"I-I'd rather not. I can't muster the courage to say it out loud..." she admitted quietly. My gaze shifted over to her this time and I blinked. Huh. She basically just admitted it too. Pft... My friends were so ridiculous.

"Both of you say it! Say it now!"

"No."

"P-Please don't make me."

"Say it or I'll start crying!"

"How do you know how to make ponytails so fast and good?" Jasmine asked curiously, testing her own ponytail with a noise of awe. She had opted into wearing a silver and green sundress for our trip. For once, her pigtails were nowhere to be seen and the orange beads that held them together, were instead used to maintain her ponytail. I could see why Bill was crushing (it was never going to happen) on her. Jasmine was objectively, pretty damn adorable.

"Dunno. A skill I just happen to have," I shrugged. I actually didn't know the reason why. Probably a trait my half from the other world picked up. Our group was currently making the trek through Kindle Road. Much like One Island, it was scalding hot. The heat clung to me like a relentless odor, a bead of sweat forming the moment I took my first step outside.

"The Sevii Islands aren't always this hot! It just randomly dials up!" a local had explained.

"One moment the heat will be cool then for a random amount of time, it'll just spike!" another informed us. Apparently this was one of those random times it could spike. Those moments could go from months on ends, to days, to even a year. Fun stuff. I'm glad I overpacked on water. I even had a canteen strapped to my bag.

"Wow," Jasmine said. She wiped a sheen of sweat off her forehead and sighed, grabbing at her own canteen and taking a tiny swig of her water.

"It sure is steaming!" Green exclaimed, leading the charge. On her shoulder, Charcadet was cheerfully seated.

"Tell me about it," I muttered. For once, Loki was in his ball and Gaia was out. She trotted right next to us, poised to carry us at a moment's notice.

"Do you travel on Rusty?" I asked randomly. Jasmine blinked and nodded.

"Yes. My forms of travel are Skarmy in the air and Rusty on the land... only if I'm not in a very populated area. She can cause messes," Jasmine explained. I nodded thoughtfully at that and idly took a swig of my drink. Kindle Road was fairly muted. The Sevii Islands weren't really a place you'd find trainers at, especially during the gym circuit challenge. Most of the residents of the islands, were normal citizens. That didn't mean we didn't run into any trainers.

I huffed in annoyance as I returned Metang to their ball, gazing at my opponent and their Nidoking with a firm scowl. The trainers encountered on the Sevii Islands, were the ones who already collected their 8 badges and just wanted a vacation or training spot.

"Not bad, kids! For a seven badge battler, you're both pretty good!" the guy I battled praised. I twitched harshly at that. He had used that Nidoking against Metang. It hadn't been all that close, the poison type wielding extraordinary control over Earth Power. Our opponent beat Green as well, utilizing an Emboar of all things against Saury. Despite that... I could see myself surpassing that power before the league arrived.

If that was all this guy had to show after already establishing himself as a trainer, then I was going to crush him on our next encounter. But losing still sucked. Being called a kid, sucked even more. Being told I'm "pretty good", was terrible.

"You still haven't battled our last friend," I said peacefully, pushing Jasmine forward. She yelped in surprise and glanced incredulously at me.

"Silver, I'm not going to just crush a trainer that beat you!" she chastised. I sighed in defeat.

"Fine... you're right. Sicking you on trainers who you can easily beat wouldn't be very cool of me," I conceded. Jasmine smiled warily, a hint of confusion in her eyes.

"You gave up far too easily. What's worse, is that you said things in a very suspicious manner—""Woah hold on. Easily crush?" our opponent interrupted, brows furrowed. I smiled. Jasmine turned to face the guy we fought. He looked slightly older than her but the way she bowed would have had you thinking otherwise.

"I'm a little out of your league. Sorry but I don't think we should battle," Jasmine said politely. Green and I both snorted at that. It was incredible how bad Jasmine was at being social. You don't just tell a person you're out of their league, especially when you were cute and of the opposite gender. Our poor best friend didn't realize she was picking up both our manner of speech and we were definitely not great people for a nice girl like Jasmine to be mimicking. The guy spluttered.

"Two on two. I can take you!" he growled in protest. Jasmine blinked in confusion.

"Um... sure?" she trailed off.

"You're such an ass," Green whispered to me, even as Jasmine sent out Empy. I smirked.

"I'm good at instigating. If there's one thing you can always rely on, it's a guy's ego biting him in the ass."

"Speaking from experience?" she asked in amusement.

"Yup. The difference is, my ego check was nearly dying. Nothing phases me anymore," I said blandly.

"Don't say that so casually, Silvy." I chuckled as Empy laid waste to Nidoking with a well practiced Water Pledge, watching as the guy who beat me, gazed at the Empoleon with wide eyes. He fumbled for a pokeball and sent out an Ampharos next, making Jasmine's eyes light up.

"Oh an Ampharos!" she exclaimed, no doubt remembering her friend from Olivine. Even despite having fond memories of Ampharos, that certainly didn't help it evade Empy's wrath. The Empoleon was a menace, easily Jasmine's most troublesome pokemon personality wise. The battle was swift despite the random's best efforts. He couldn't match up to the Sinnoh starter even with a type advantage. Empy was made of tough stuff, even weathering the powerful Thunderbolt from the Ampharos...

before countering with a giant Hydro Pump that consumed the electric type completely. Our opponent stared at the Empoleon with an open mouth, stunned by the quick battle. Empy nearly looked annoyed... but he was as petty as me and realized exactly why I made Jasmine battle him. I nodded in approval. Jasmine was a damn powerful trainer. I wasn't expecting her to lose this battle.

"Good battle! You're strong!" Jasmine praised cheerfully, patting Empy on his shoulder. The guy's mouth flapped uselessly, before he mechanically returned his Ampharos to the ball. Without saying a word, he marched off in the direction of One Island, likely to heal his members. Jasmine's brows furrowed.

"Was it something I said?" she wondered. I chuckled, patting her on the head.

"Well done, Jasmine. Let's keep going." She tilted her head in confusion.

"But... what?" she trailed off. My friend turned an accusing stare to me.

"What did you do?! I don't know what but you did something!" I continued patting her on the head.

"Nothing at all."

"Tell me Silver!"

"No."

"Don't worry Jas, I'll tell you later."

"Why won't you just tell me now, Green?!" Charcadet's eyes were narrowed, no signs of the happy go lucky fire type there. Without wasting any time at all, he conjured a flame onto his stub and launched it forward. Tiny jumped, scrambling away from the weak Ember with wide eyes. The little fairy conjured a pink wind and launched it towards the fire type.

"To the left," I instructed with narrowed eyes. Charcadet took a second longer than I would have liked to follow my order, causing him to get slightly grazed by the Fairy Wind. The little guy winced slightly but stood tall.

"Astonish," I said after a moment of thought. His aim wasn't the greatest just yet and he didn't have enough power to sustain his long distance moves.

"You too Tiny! Astonish!" Jasmine shouted in return. At once, the two babies charged each other, shrouded in ghostly energy. Neither were very fast, but Tiny did reach Charcadet first and the opponents crashed into one another with great (for their level) force. They both winced in unison, stepping back from one another with slightly pained cries, before recovering from the blow.

"Rock Smash!" Jasmine shouted as soon as Tiny gathered herself.

"Will-O-Wisp!" I grunted in return. Charcadet let out a cry as Tiny smashed her rattle directly onto his helmet. His eyes narrowed, a burst of anger erupting from him that caused his flames to burn brighter, and he summoned ghostly purple flames. It was Tiny's turn to cry out, as she was immediately struck by the close ranged flames. Her body ignited and the little gal let out a shrill shriek that made me feel pretty bad.

Charcadet was clearly as ruthless as I was though because without any hesitation, he surrounded her in a ring of fire that kept her rooted to her spot.

"Oh dear," Jasmine muttered, mulling over her options.

"Ember, keep it up," I pressed. The fire in Charcadet's eyes burned bright and he fired off the pellets of fire, far more accuracy this time as he properly got into the flow of battle.

"Rock Tomb!" Jasmine countered. Her brows were furrowed and she looked more focused than I've ever seen her. Tiny winced from the burns but fought through the pain. She took her rattle and slammed it against the ground, summoning a single rock. Charcadet's eyes bugged in pain, as Tiny smashed the rock with her rattle, sending it flying towards him with increased momentum. It crashed directly onto his midsection and launched the fire type backwards. He panted, pulling himself up slowly and glaring at Tiny.

To my surprise, the little fairy was glaring at him too, eyes burning with a surprising amount of fierceness. That was the only warning I got that something amiss was happening, before she began glowing white.... Damn, how many pokemon were going to evolve while battling me? The little fairy grew, looking like a teenage version of its previous form. Her little tuft of hair grew into a ponytail and she gained an extra "tooth".

What changed most notably, was the expression on her face, a small scowl instead of the nervous energy. She still wielded that little baby rattle instead of the hammer that Tinkatuff's tended to wield, but that would change soon enough. Eventually, she would begin making a proper hammer that fit her form.

"Let's call it here," I said, nodding in satisfaction. Jasmine was in full agreement. She rushed her newly evolved Tinkatuff and hoisted the little girl up, a beaming smile on her face.

"Nicely done, Tiny!" she praised cheerfully, spraying down her pokemon. I hoisted Charcadet up and did the same, smiling in satisfaction.

"Not bad, bud. We've got a lot of work to do though don't we?" I questioned. Charcadet grumbled, staring at the floor.... Ah he was a sore loser huh? Despite the results being inconclusive, Charcadet was probably realizing that even without evolution Tinkatink would have won against him.

"Don't sweat the details. It was just a spar against a stronger pokemon," I assured, patting his skull. I twitched violently as I realized Lorelei tried to explain that to me as well.

"You did pretty good for your first battle against a pokemon outside of me and Green's team," I muttered, grabbing a potion. Charcadet's eyes lit up and he beamed at me, gloominess forgotten at my praise.

"Char! Char Charcadet!" he exclaimed suddenly. I blinked.

"You want to discuss which form you want to evolve into? You're all fired up all of a sudden, huh?" I asked in amusement. He nodded eagerly and I laughed, pulling out my pokedex once more.

"Armarouge is a Psychic and Fire type. They specialize in long ranged attacks using their cannons. Something that might matter to you is that Armarouge's personality is noble. They fight fair and are very loyal. Think of this as a mage," I explained to him carefully. Charcadet nodded eyes glinting and I continued.

"Ceruledge is a Ghost and Fire type. They are close combat specialists who use blades. While Armarouges are noble, Ceruledge are pretty cutthroat. They're ruthless fighters and achieve victory by any means. This one's more an assassin." Charcadet frowned at that and I laughed.

"That's just their standard personality. Not all of them are destined to act like that. Charcadet's are fairly serious pokemon and you're nothing like that," I explained easily.

"Char... charcadet!" he explained to me. Loki sidled up, already transformed into the clone of me.

"He likes different aspects of both of them. He loves the psychic aspect of being a Armarouge and the cannons, but like the fighting style of Ceruledge a little more... and he's really not a fan of Ceruledge's personality." I nodded thoughtfully. To be honest, I assumed Charcadet would immediately have picked Armarouge. As he encompassed Green's personality, the psychic type was more up his alley for sure. Green herself, preferred Armarouge and Charcadet adored my companion.

I didn't prefer either but I would definitely say my personality was more inline with a Ceruledge... which was completely opposite of Charcadet's personality. Charcadet seemed to confirm my thoughts because after a war of epic regards, he eventually nodded and pointed towards Armarouge. I nodded thoughtfully.

"Reasoning?" I asked. He waved his arms around animatedly, speaking in his tongue rapidly.

"He only likes Ceruledges fighting style a little more. He still likes Armarouge's too and he says we have enough closed ranged specialists on the team. He also says, I already fulfill the role of assassin," Loki explained in amusement. I blinked in surprise, gazing at Charcadet with a surprised look. He had a very good penchant for battle. I imagine it was because of being around Green and I for a majority of his life but the little guy definitely had the talent... and that analysis sure did make that clear to me.

I laughed and pat him on the skull.

"Sure thing little fella. Feel free to change your mind at any point but for now, we'll focus on making you an Armarouge." He nodded cheerfully, snuggling into me with a content sigh. A snort escaped me, only for a confused noise to replace it, as a little pink blur happily tackled me.

"Look at little Tiny," I praised, crouching down to lift her up.

"Tinka!" she cheered, preening in front of me. I chuckled and raked the little weird tuft of hair on her head.

"You gotta finish your hammer now. Soon, you're gonna become a real menace yeah?" She nodded eagerly, a malicious gleam entering her eyes. So I had maybe been corrupting Tiny during her stay here, much to Jasmine's immense disapproval. Case in point, she was glaring at me with her arms crossed, even as Tiny sat proudly on my shoulder. Her and Charcadet were chatting about the spar, no animosity between either of them despite my baby's mood earlier.

We made eye contact, before I looked away and wiped the sweat from the heat off my head.

"D-Don't just ignore my judging stare after making eye contact with me!" Jasmine protested, closing the distance and poking my chest.

"You've been corrupting little Tiny here the entire time!" I nodded in agreement.

"Yeah... I have."

"Y-Yeah?! Why are you agreeing with me?! Defend yourself!" I smiled in amusement.

"You've been getting so bold lately, Jas. I'm proud of you." Jasmine puffed her cheeks out.

"Let's just keep going!" I huffed in amusement as Green cackled in the Ember Spa with a vast majority of our teams as well. We were at the breakpoint now, Mt. Ember being just a little up ahead. The trek had taken quite a bit so we stopped at the spa that sat between Kindle Road and Mt. Ember. It was very nice, ran by an elderly couple that awed at seeing our team of soldiers. Unlike the games, the Ember Spa had lodgings where we could stay the night. It was something we greedily accepted. The area was very nice.

It even had a place where we could train a little. All in all, very nice to somewhat combat the inordinate, dry, heat. We had spent the night here just to ease our bones for the trek up Mt. Ember but now it was time to go... Just as soon as Green stopped being a lazy bum. Seriously, when did she even enter the water? When the hell did my team join? Gaia and Freyja and even Ares and Oberon were having a blast in there... I sighed. Fine. 5 more minutes for them.

If Kindle Road was named that because it was hot, they should rename Mt. Ember to Mt. Blaze. It was scalding in here. This was some unreal levels of heat. I had swapped to something more loose and cool, allowing as much air to flow as possible. I wasn't sure if it was worth it, considering the air flowing was hot as hell... but I guess it was better than the other option. The three of us were walking with handheld fans. It hardly counteracted the insane heat but it was better than nothing.

"Let's not stay in here longer than we have to," I grunted. I idly wiped the sweat off my head and watched the droplets steam once it hit the floor.

"Straight to the summit, then we're outta here." Green and Jasmine readily nodded. Mt. Ember was barren of human life. When the island got its random bursts of heat, this place became practically impossible to visit. Not only that, the fire type pokemon came out in troves, all far more aggressive. The worst were the Magmar, who could and would go on as long as they could move. Empy and Ares took on their challenges with malicious glee. Mt.

Ember while definitely huge, had far less traversible areas than Seafoam, which made reaching our destination easier. We could definitely travel this area in one day if we just focused on the task at hand.

"If you didn't have Charcadet, would you have caught a fire type here?" Green asked curiously, watching as Freyja bathed a Rapidash in water. I grunted.

"Probably one of the Magmars. It's a cool fire type." Green nodded.

"If I didn't have Larvee... I don't know what fire type I'd go for! Maybe I'd try to get a Scorbunny cause they're so cute!" she gushed. Jasmine giggled.

"There's no Fire type I want... because none of them have the steel type. I do like Arcanine however. I think they are very... brave," she mused. I raised a brow.

"Yeah... the only Fire and Steel type, is Heatran as far as I know," I mentioned to them. I idly wiped more sweat off my brow and sighed, only to realize Jasmine and Green were staring at me.

"What?" I asked in confusion.

"What's a Heatran?" Green asked curiously, brows furrowed. I tilted my head, before realization hit me. Ah damnit. I forgot that legendaries weren't well known in this world. Ehhh.

"Heatran is a legendary. It's a Fire and Steel type. They tend to live in volcanoes," I explained to them. Green nodded thoughtfully at my explanation.

"How do you know the type of a legendary and it's location...?" Jasmine asked in confusion.

"I don't know it's exact location... but you'd probably find one in Sinnoh," I said, cupping my chin.

"And it's type?" she pressed. I shrugged.

"I know the type of a lot of legendaries."

"... How?"

"I'm not sure. In exchange for amnesia, I seem to have a mystical amount of knowledge regarding pokemon," I explained, tilting my head. Green slammed a fist against her palm.

"Maybe it's the Mew cells! They say Mew has the DNA of every pokemon so maybe that's how it affected you?" she said.... That was actually a pretty good explanation. I'm not sure it was right, but if I didn't know any better, I'd actually agree with that.

"You might be onto something. I don't know what the cells did to me but knowledge seemed like it could be the answer." That would at least explain my suspiciously good memory with everything pokemon related. Green's mouth opened in shock.

"THAT'S WHY YOU WERE SO DISGUSTED BACK ON THE S. S ANNE!" she suddenly shouted. I blinked at her shouting.

"Huh?"

"Do you know how the legendaries look too?! Is that why you didn't like that statue of Suicune?!" she asked excitedly, closing the distance between us with a gleam in her eyes. I opened my mouth, before shutting it and just nodding.

"Yeah, I do. Suicune looks way more beautiful than that statue," I explained. Green squealed in excitement.

"That's so cool!"

"That's incredible! Do you realize that you have knowledge that people would kill for?!" Jasmine asked, eyes going wide. Green nodded eagerly.

"Legendaries are so ultra rare and you just know how they look and their type!" I rubbed the back of my head. Yeah, that was pretty impressive I guess.

"Oh do you know anymore Steel legendaries? Is Heatran the strongest?" Jasmine asked curiously. I shook my head.

"Not even close. There are definitely more. The strongest is probably Dialga?" Jasmine froze at that.

"D-Dialga? Do you mean the legendary of time that the Sinnohans worship?" she asked. I nodded in confirmation.

"Does that mean it exists?!" Green hissed in disbelief, eyes going wide. Oh right... Green didn't say "Oh my Mew" for no reason. In regions like Kanto and Johto, people considered Mew to be the original pokemon. In Hoenn, Rayquaza was the most worshipped pokemon and in Sinnoh, it was Arceus. Someone from Sinnoh would probably go "Oh my Arceus". I wonder if Unova worshipped Zekrom or Reshiram... or was it Kyurem since it was the shell of the original dragon?

Did people even know that Kyurem was what was left of the original dragon? Hm... For a Kantonian, they probably believed that the one who had dominion over time, was Celebi and not Dialga.

"Dialga should exist, yeah," I confirmed.

"I actually encountered a Steel Type legendary." Jasmine's jaw dropped.

"YOU DID?!" I scratched my head.

"Well, I didn't see it face to face... but yeah. It was Registeel. It was sealed away but it's pressure nearly overwhelmed me regardless." Jasmine began shaking me insistently.

"Tell me all about it!" she demanded. I sighed as Green joined in the shaking just because it looked fun... It was also because of the natural cool I seemed to emit. Jasmine and Green didn't step very far from me at all because of that little detail. They were all so demanding. At least this would fill in the time while we traversed this boiling cave.

"So why are we at the summit of Mt. Ember?" Jasmine asked curiously, inspecting the night sky with an awed expression. That was one of the nice things about Jasmine. She was very easy to impress and despite her experience, she still treated the simple things like they were new. Green was the same, just a person who lived for the moment. I wasn't the same... but I could at least make sure the moments they lived for, were worth it and well, the night sky was beautiful today.

"Hey Jasmine, you know Green, Lorelei and I went to Seafoam Islands and encountered Articuno a little bit ago?" I mentioned randomly. Jasmine's eyes widened and her mouth opened. She ripped her gaze from the sky above to regard me and I idly wiped the bead of sweat off her forehead.

"Y-You ran into what?!" she asked in shock, expression shifting only momentarily to thanks at my action. I huffed.

"Articuno. They're a bitch. Very rude pokemon who probably wants me dead."

"T-The legendary? You ran into another?" she stammered. Both Green and I nodded.

"Oh so that's why we're here!" Green exclaimed in realization.

"T-That's why we're here...? Wait a second..." Jasmine trailed off.

"Moltres! Come out! I'd like to speak to you!" I shouted abruptly.

"Wait Silver! Hold on!" My first friend shouted a second too late. Her horrified eyes, somehow widened, as the lifeless and dormant volcano, suddenly lit up as if it were about to erupt and lay waste to Mt. Ember. In the night sky, it did it's very best to mimic the sun and the somewhat cool air, was instantly replaced by a scorching heat. The effects were almost instantaneous. At once, Jasmine, Green and I began panting. The beads of sweat on our bodies, multiplied and dried up in the same moment.

My heat resistant outfit was nothing in the face of this overpowering, dry air. I'm sure Jasmine and Green were in the same boat, if not suffering even worse. The three of us looked up in awe, as we heard a brilliant shriek and the volcano boomed. Jasmine, whose hands were already on the both of us, with Skarmy out of the ball, froze as the "eruption" took shape of a large avian. Once the brilliant glow settled, the three of us gazed at the pokemon in total awe.

A long, flowing head, a billowing tail, wings shrouded in fiery plumage. The bird reared it's long and thin neck, aiming a pointed brown beak at us. Instead of a violent shriek, the bird let out a questioning noise… that was still pretty damn loud. Two triangular eyes, with gray orbs in them stared at us and I felt a burning hot pressure wash over us. It almost didn't even look like it was night time anymore, sky lit up with an ethereal orange glow. I had to look back just to see if I was seeing things right...

and found myself stunned. It was as if I was in between night and day. Every legendary, seemed to have a different type of pressure and Moltres was no different, seeming to bare fire itself onto us... Humanity burns with a tiny ember. A spark that guides them in the most dire moments. A spark that allows them to persevere. This spark allows them to strive for a bright future. One that allows them to achieve their mortal limit. It is this spark that makes the humans so interesting. Yes, this tiny ember...

this spark, was what made the humans worth protecting. The spark called hope.... But despite that, I confidently stepped up to the bird that embodied the element of fire.

"Moltres," I greeted with a stiff and respectful nod. Just speaking felt like a tall task. My throat was dry as all hell and I idly grabbed the large canteen at my side. I removed it from the holster and easily drained the bottle to about halfway... before deciding I had enough in my bag to safely finish it. But much to my displeasure, that didn't seem to appease the heat at all. The dry weather was clawing at me and I felt myself hissing in discomfort, as the sweat made my outfit cling to my body.

Moltres stared down at us, cocking its head to the right. Despite the safe distance it kept from us (the volcano was fairly far from us), it was hard to not feel it. The god probably didn't even mean to impose its presence onto us like this. It was just an inevitable.

"Humans... I heard mention of my sibling," Moltres greeted kindly. When it said humans, it shot me a questioning look... but that was all it offered for now. Jasmine and Green both gasped at that and I turned towards them in some confusion. Could they understand Moltres? I would just question them later. For now I had more important matters to focus on. My gaze met the bird once more.

"I encountered Articuno earlier, yes," I confirmed.

"For what reason? To capture? I imagine not. The sibling wreathed in ice embodies their element well. Any who dare to approach them with such intentions, find themselves added to the unsavory collection they have amassed." I grunted in agreement.

"I have no interest in trying to forcefully capture any of you. I'm just here to ask for help."

"Help?" Moltres questioned in some surprise. The bird seemed to take a deeper look at me and its head cocked to an unnatural degree. The phoenix's eyes occasionally lit up orange, power surging through it effortlessly. I wondered if it's power was so great, it could accidentally sear us all through. We watched in some trepidation, as the bird spread its wings and glided down from its perch atop the giant volcano. As it landed in front of us, I realized that it was significantly taller than Articuno.

The ice bird had been taller than me, but shorter than Lorelei. That didn't change the fact that it's wingspan added greatly to its size, making it far larger than its height. Moltres was just tall. It towered over the three of us and despite being completely surrounded in flames, I didn't get any hotter from it closing the distance. In fact, Moltres seemed to temper the heat, as if realizing we were not equipped to deal with this for prolonged amounts of time.

The pulsing heat was replaced by something warm and our group of three let out triple sighs of relief as it enveloped our very being.

"How odd. You are a strange one," was all Moltres said.

"Tell me about it," I sighed. The bird seemed to be amused, albeit wary, at something.

"What is it that you need help with, fledgling?" Moltres asked calmly, banishing most of its flames. All that remained, were the natural flames that surrounded its body, that we were all familiar with when thinking of Moltres. The legendary landed on the hot stone of Mt. Ember and curled its wings, staring at us. I took a deep breath (I regretted it. The heat clung to my lungs like a disease) and stared evenly at it.

"There is a man made legendary created by a group of humans who wish to maliciously take over the world," I explained.

"In their pursuit of world domination, you and your siblings are in danger. I imagine that your danger is more immediate than others." Moltres listened intently.

"I already attempted to reason with Articuno but I was denied quite vehemently… This legendary has more power than one of you individually. If you could seek out and speak to Zapdos, it would be extremely beneficial. This legendary and their creator cannot succeed. It will cause untold mayhem that Kanto will suffer for," I said patiently. Jasmine stared at me with wide eyes, stunned silent whether by my words or by Moltres' presence.

"The sibling wreathed in ice is difficult," Moltres agreed.

"But… their denial is not wholly incorrect." I furrowed my brows, confusion coursing through me.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"You do not seem completely aware of what you represent. To be frank, we cannot help you. You deal with forces out of my realm of jurisdiction," Moltres explained patiently. My brows furrowed in disbelief.

"Out of your realm of jurisdiction? Because of me? Then we don't have to team up. You and your siblings don't need to ally yourselves with me. I just want this massive threat to the world dealt with," I explained, brows furrowed. Teaming up with a legendary wasn't something I desired. If I could solve this without using them, I would have. But legendary threats could only be dealt with by other legendaries. Articuno, and now Moltres, made that clear to me just off their presence. Moltres looked conflicted.

"I understand but I cannot take your word for it and immediately begin an attack. Attacking the humans without true reason, is antithesis to what I represent. Hope is something every human carries, good or bad. If time comes where the threat surpasses what the humans are capable of, I will attempt to gather my siblings and deal with it but for now, I am not allowed to overstep my boundaries. I'm sorry, fledgling." I took a deep breath, composing myself to the best of my ability.

So it didn't believe me and not only that, Moltres wasn't the type to neutralize a threat before it actually acted. It was the opposite of me, who would stamp out the idea of something before it was even conceived. Moltres didn't have my foresight. A god didn't have the knowledge that I wielded....

"Alright," I said bluntly. That wasn't it either. Pussies. Articuno was just putting up a front because it was prideful but that's why it had been so wary. Fear. I scratched my matted hair and huffed. Guess I really did have to take matters into my own hand. I knew this plan was going to be a longshot but it had been one of my best bets if it succeeded.

"Thank you for actually speaking to me about it," I grunted, scratching my head.

"I guess that means there's no point in seeking out Zapdos." Moltres truly did look apologetic in that moment.

"It would be a fruitless journey. The sibling cloaked in thunder is like their element, fleeting and unpredictable. They are even less likely to listen to reason than the sibling wreathed in ice." I sighed in exhaustion.

"I get it. No sweat. I'll just stick to Plan A," I grunted. I bowed respectfully, dark thoughts rolling through my head the entire time.

"May a safe journey lie ahead of you all. Farewell, fledglings." Moltres let out a shriek, before vanishing in a burst of flames. Before we left, I watched with furrowed brows, as an orange feather floated downward, landing in a stunned Green's hand. My companion let out an awed noise, holding the fiery feather up with wide eyes. I didn't really give a fuck about a feather. A feather wasn't going to stop Mewtwo.

"C'mon guys lets go," I said tiredly. They both nodded and we began our trek back down.

"Did you guys understand Moltres?" I asked quietly. They both nodded in awe.

"It was a kind and warm voice. It filled me with warmth the entire time," Jasmine explained, cheeks flushed from the entire thing.

"It made me feel safe... but it did kind of suck being told no. No wonder you got so mad at it," Green muttered. I shook my head.

"No point getting bent out of shape. In the first place, this was a plan I thought of on the fly. It was never my only hope." They nodded carefully, staring at my expression with a soft gaze.

"Silver… do you know where Zapdos is located too?" Green asked curiously, inspecting her feather with a fascinated gaze. I grunted.

"There's an Abandoned Power Plant in Route 10. I think Zapdos likes to nest there on occasion. But there's no point in going there. By the sounds of it, Zapdos won't even bother hearing me out." What a mess.

"Most people only hear about legendaries in tales… yet you've encountered three and give up the opportunity to meet a fourth. This really is all business to you, isn't it?" Jasmine asked softly, staring at me in sorrow.

"I just want my freedom. The freedom to make my own decisions. If I have to use legendaries to get it, then I'll try. I don't want the power of a legendary just to have fun," I said truthfully, gazing into the night sky. It was hard to think that just a few minutes ago, I almost believed it was day time. The sky was dark once more, moon pulsing in the sky as I idly released Oberon.

"I can make it to the top with my team. Legends are just a means to an end, no matter how important they think they are."

"Thanks so much for having us, Bill!" Green gushed, bowing gratefully. Bill rubbed the back of his head.

"Aw it was nothin! If you ever find yourselves at the Sevii Islands, feel free to use that house to your heart's content," he grinned. I raised a brow.

"Giving us unlimited access to that house? Bit generous aren't ya?"

"Well, consider it part of your rewards! Whenever you plan on going, just say the word and I'll have it replenished in a heartbeat!" Bill assured. Huh, getting favors from rich people, sure was nice.

"We accept that. It will be a good spot whenever Green and I want downtime," I said, nodding thoughtfully. Green nodded happily.

"That's awesome! We basically have our own place already!" Jasmine smiled.

"I hope you don't mind if I visit as well. This was nice!"

"We'll get you a key," I replied easily.

"Leave it to me!" Bill interjected hastily.

"Just have mine! I won't be using that place much anyways!" Wow. This guy seriously was too generous for his own good.

"You're not all bad, Bill." I nodded in approval. He was still never getting a chance with Jasmine though. Bill laughed at my words. He probably realized that was the closest thing to a compliment he was going to get from me.

"So what do you guys plan on doing now?" he asked.

"We'll take the ship back to Cinnabar and then surf to Pallet Town. I really want Silver and Jas to meet my mom!" Green exclaimed. I snorted.

"That's the plan. Then we'll travel around and get our last few badges." Bill nodded curiously.

"You want to go to Pallet? We'll just drop you off there straight away! Let's not waste anymore time!" Green cheered.

"You're the best Bill!"

"Thank you!" Jasmine bowed cheerfully. He waved his hands frantically.

"Aw stop that! You're embarrassing me! That's what friends are for!"

"Let's not waste anymore time," I interjected, already marching towards the boat. I didn't even flinch at the figure launching themself on my back.

"March forward minion!" Green cheered.... Nevermind. Green let out a shout of distress, as I grabbed her arm and attempted to flip her onto her back. She hastily clasped her legs around me to make sure I couldn't dislodge her and I twitched in annoyance.

"Let go or we're both taking a swim," I warned.

"N-No! We'll drown then!" Jasmine slowly palmed her face and sighed.

"I know I blame Silver most of the time, but Green is just as problematic." My gym leader friend didn't even flinch at the splashing sound, just slowly releasing Empy from the ball.

"Please save Silver and Green. They're in the water," she said dryly. Empy chortled in amusement, before diving in the water.

"They sure don't ever stop, huh?" Bill mused.

"Quite literally never," Jasmine sighed forlornly.