"I don't get you at all Leaf."
Green flushed in embarrassment. "Sorry..."
"You steal my bed, I say alright that's cool and let you have my bed and I even go get your team for you while you irresponsibly fell asleep waiting for them."
"I get it Silvy. You don't have to continue," she muttered.
I ignored her.
"But what do I get in return? I get a head full of hair in my goddamn face because you stealing my bed wasn't enough. I take your bed and somehow… somehow, you ended up on that same bed. Wanna run me through that play?" I finished, staring unimpressed at her.
Green curled into herself. "I-I said I'm sorry! I dunno why, but you're a comfy pillow! Your body is really cold and it helps me fall asleep faster!"
I twitched in annoyance. "Anything else you wanna say before I kill you? I've given you enough leeway. It's time to die."
Green squeaked. "Y-You don't gotta do that! At least I didn't squeeze you like Lorelei did! You shouldn't be so upset that a cute girl like me is hugging you!" she tried with a winning smile.
My companion let out a squeal of terror as I lunged, poised to choke her out.
"W-Wait! Before you kill me, d-don't you wanna check out the city?" she tried to persuade me.
"I want to hurt you more," I said bluntly, utterly unswayed by everything she was trying to say.
A bead of sweat fell down Green's head and she sighed in defeat. "Y-You're a very scary person. Okay, I accept my death."
I blinked, taken aback by that. "You do?" I asked in confusion.
"OF COURSE NOT!" she screeched.
Green used my shock to get from under me and the girl began running for her life.
"Clever girl," I muttered, eyes narrowed like a predator as I stalked her rapid footsteps.
"B-Bye Nurse Joy!" Green yelped, rushing out of the Pokemon Center.
The confused nurse waved slowly at Green, watching her exit the building with haste.
"Don't worry, I'll catch her," I said, pocketing the card to our room. "She is not getting away."
"While I wasn't worried before… I'm certainly concerned now," Nurse Joy explained slowly, looking half amused half horrified. The poor lady had already had to deal with us twice now so I couldn't blame her.
I nodded. "Yeah, better that it happens outside the center. I agree with that sentiment."
"That's… not what I said at all."
"S-So you wanna check out the Safari Zone?" Green asked in a way that sounded like a whine, rubbing her head as she winced. "It's not like we have anything else to see and… we have money to spare," she whispered that last part.
We did get a healthy amount of money from our Game Corner heist so it wouldn't really be a hit to our funds.
"We can just sightsee you know? It'll be fun!" Green added, delicately patting her hair.
I sighed. "Nothing else to do in this boring ass city but go to that beach in the south… alright then," I agreed.
Mind made up, Green and I decided to head to the Safari Zone as strictly sightseers.
It was the biggest attraction in, the otherwise boring, city. You were allowed to catch any pokemon in there only if it agreed to go with you. If it didn't want to go with you, that was that and if you tried to capture it, you were going to jail.
The Safari Zone was a place that protected pokemon. Forcefully capturing them, went against the nature of it.
Gold and Crystal managed to get some pokemon to agree to go with them. I wonder who they caught.
Green and I had no interest in catching anything further at the moment. I had my hands full with my current team, not to mention I had this egg that my companion took more care of than I did.
That was 7 pokemon so far and I was still not even fully established as a trainer.
Unless it was a pokemon I desperately wanted, I wasn't keen on catching anymore members.
"Welcome to the Safari Zone!" the receptionist greeted us. "Would you like to enter?"
Green nodded happily. "We're just sightseeing! We don't wanna catch anything!"
The receptionist nodded in return, smiling at Green's infectious energy. "That's rare! Okay then, would you like a guide to show you around? If you don't want to catch anything, you're even qualified to ride around in our vehicles!"
Green's eyes lit up. "That sounds really fun!"
"Sure," I agreed boredly.
She nodded happily, typing away at something. "Okay, as for your guide…"
"If I may?"
The lady stopped speaking and perked up. "Miss Janine!" she greeted. "Fancy seeing you here! Is there something the matter?"
I sighed. "She's been following us this whole time," I grunted.
"So you could still sense me…" Janine mulled, crossing her arms in contemplation. "Sarah, I'd like to be their guide if that's possible."
The receptionist, Sarah, blinked and nodded. "I'm sure that's acceptable."
I thought about refusing but just rolled my eyes and let it be. She'd follow us regardless so who cares.
"Here, some of the pokemon love when you give them treats," the lady beamed, handing us a bag.
Green eagerly accepted it and nodded. "Awesome! I'll feed them all!"
With that settled, we got into a fairly open vehicle that allowed us to view the entirety of the expansive area.
It was really nice. Large trees littered the plains, large areas of grass existed and pools of water were littered everywhere.
"You drive?" I raised a brow, watching Janine take the wheels with familiarity. "Pretty strange for a ninja. Figured you'd be jumping through trees all the time."
There was also the fact she was 14… but I'd seen stranger things... Like leaving the security of an entire city to a 16 year old.
I caught the gaze of a Seaking and took a snack out of the awed Green's bag, tossing it over to the fish.
It easily gobbled up the snack and I watched as Goldeen's popped out of the water next, getting a wry smirk out of me.
I took a handful of the snacks this time and tossed them, getting noises of excitement out of the school of fish.
"Do you realize how offensive some of the things you say are?" Janine asked, watching me from the corner of my eyes. "I know you do. You almost weaponize this form of ignorance."
"You get used to it," Green shrugged, happily throwing out snacks to anything she saw. "So Janine, what are you doing here?"
"I wanted to observe you two further, so that I could learn," Janine frowned. "Father forbade me from my duties until further notice. He informed me that I should relax so I thought it would be best if I sought you out."
"Weirdo," I muttered under my breath, ignoring Green placing a chastising hand on me.
"Am I not making the correct effort?" Janine asked incredulously, looking offended by my words.
"Sure… but there are plenty of better ways to go about it besides stalking someone you don't like," I shrugged.
"That is what I'm trying to learn and unfortunately, you are the only one who I can observe," she scowled.
"I am not the one to learn it from. I have no social skills," I replied in amusement. "I guess Green is good though."
"Thanks!" Green beamed with a thumbs up, ruffling the fur of a Tauros that was nuzzling her.
"T-THEN WHY DID YOU DO ALL THIS?!" Janine shouted, finally losing her composure with me... again.
I shrugged again. "Boredom I guess? Gotta entertain myself somehow when everyone refuses to leave me alone."
Janine looked stunned at my words. "I… but... You're a horrific human being," she said eventually.
"I think so too. It's a wonder people talk to me so much."
Green laughed and scratched the back of her head. "I'm sorry about him Janine… he's difficult to get along with. You might never get along with him. We met a lot of trainers like that."
I looked distinctly smug at that.
"That's not something you should be proud of Silvy. It's hard for me to make friends because of you."
"Stop being so clingy then. You are more than free to go off on your own more. In fact, I encourage you to go make more friends."
"...Anyways Janine, you're better off not engaging with Silvy too much! He's especially good at bothering super serious people. There's a reason he doesn't have many friends! People have actually tried to befriend us but he's too much of an ass and pisses them all off," Green exclaimed, completely ignoring the alternative I gave her.
I snorted and gazed out into the Safari Zone.
This entire thing kind of reminded me of those trips in the Savanna but instead of lions and zebras and whatnot, you instead saw things like a herd of Nidoran and Nidorino being led by a lumbering Nidoking.
Or you saw a stampede of Rhyhorns, being watched over by a beast of a Rhydon that was eyeing you down like it had a personal fucking problem.
I sneered at that one, watching as it snorted and gazed away.
It was fascinating, seeing all the different pokemon lingering about. We were spared a brief glance by some of them.
None were aggressive though. It was forbidden to hurt the pokemon in the Safari Zone. This was a preserve after all. You'd face a lot of jail time if you attacked something in her—
Janine and Green paused in their conversation, as an explosion rocked the area we were in.
My eyes narrowed, hand ducking to my pokeball immediately.
"What…?" Janine's eyes narrowed, watching as the Pokemon jolted in surprise. Soon, a cacophony of noise began filling the airs and I scowled.
Seriously? Could I get a moment's rest? Why did chaos follow me wherever I went?
"Call your dad," I instructed immediately, eyes narrowed as my hackles rose.
We were being watched—
BOOM!
No sooner did I think that, did I stop thinking at all, rational replaced by surprise as I was sent flying out of the vehicle we were in.
I let out a gasp as I hit the floor, body tumbling across the floor rapidly before a tree stopped my momentum.
Pain exploded in my back, amplified by the confusion I was feeling and I hissed, trying and failing to figure out what the hell was going on.
"What the fuck?" I rasped, stars in my vision as I blinked rapidly.
As I began to come to, I alarmingly noted that I wasn't alone and gave off the impression that I was completely incapacitated.
It helped that I was still dazed. I could barely make out that they were saying something.
"... isn't the girl..."
"... was with them..."
"... Petrel said he's going..."
"Just distract this..."
There was a conversation going on between people and I spat out a wad of blood, verifying (and mostly hoping) that nothing was broken.
"He's awake after that?!" one of the voices exclaimed, becoming more clear to me as the seconds passed.
"These kids are made of different stuff I tell ya."
Then, I looked up to see an Arbok looming over me.
The giant snake looked a tad bigger than the one I encountered yesterday and I grunted at the intimidating pattern on its chest.
"Bok," it hissed menacingly, violence in its unfocused and furious gaze.
I stared at the snake, slightly unfocused gaze becoming clear and as I came to, I took the time to appreciate just how tall an Arbok truly was when it was looming over you.
"You're gonna need a bit more than that to scare me, snake," I rasped, sneering at the thing as I clutched my ribs.
"Is he nuts? Talking to Arbok like that won't be good for him," the female voice scoffed.
"Who does this kid think he is?" the male voice agreed.
Arbok clearly didn't appreciate my words, it was hissing with so much vitriol, actual venom was leaking out of its mouth, melting the ground around it.
I stared fearlessly at it and sighed, before leaping to the right without hesitation.
At the very moment I leapt, a shriek of terror rang through the clearing and temporarily distracted the Arbok... but it didn't register it for more than a few seconds, immediately turning towards me again.
With the size and speed of this thing, one lunge would be all it took to close the distance between us and then I'd be food... but that didn't matter to me because right as it geared up to lunge at me, my pokeball snapped open and Metang burst forth.
My psychic rumbled in a rare fury, crashing into the snake with ruthless precision as his dome shone blue with the effects of Zen Headbutt.
I ignored the fact that he used his incredibly sharp horn for that and stood up, spitting out another wad of blood.
Gaia immediately hissed in worry as she released herself, heal pulsing me and as she patched me up, I glanced up to see a livid Ares bulldozing a Mightyena.
I winced as she shot a point blank Dragonbreath in its face, burning the thing with the sheer power behind it.
"No wait! Please stop!" A wail of terror caught my attention just in time to see red claws raking against a female human body, hot rage palpable from the attacker.
I watched numbly as the body dropped next to another that had been the source of the initial scream, head throbbing something fierce.
The two who were talking were unconscious on the floor, blood seeping underneath them as Loki, who had been tailing us in his illusion, snarled down at the bodies.
His sharp fangs were bared to the world and there was a surprising amount of venom in his eyes, fury reaching levels I didn't know my calm first pokemon was capable of.
The anger vanished, replaced by worry as he immediately crossed the distance between us.
He contemplated grasping me but thought better of it due to the red liquid seeping off his claws. Instead, he settled for a pensive look, just allowing Gaia to do her thing.
I huffed and took a deep breath, wincing at the slight pain in my ribs, before taking out a rag.
Gingerly I wiped his claws clean, staring at the darkening cloth with a blank expression, even as Gaia stepped back.
The situation felt eerily similar to the S.S Anne after I got attacked. I didn't like this one bit.
"Nothing's broken I think," I said aloud, patting Gaia's yellow-green scales as my expression never shifted. "Just a pain on my sides. Maybe a bit of internal bleeding but I should be fine."
It was a miracle that nothing was broken with the trip I just fucking went on...
I gazed once more at the prone bodies to get a good look at them and felt my body go cold.
The giant red R on the one who's outfit didn't get shredded, filled me with far more dread than I would have liked... dread strong enough, to overwrite the nausea I was feeling staring at them.
But this dread wasn't for my sake.
No it wasn't for me at all.
"...isn't the girl..."
I had managed to pick up snippets of their conversation while I was coming to and that was something I caught.
Isn't the girl.
Isn't the girl...
Isn't the girl.
Petrel.
Team Rocket was after a girl.
Team Rocket was targeting our vehicle because of a girl.
Fucking Petrel was here as well and he was probably targeting the girl too.
My eyes flew open at that and I hastily released Oberon from his ball, feeling a strange vertigo hit me that transformed into something primal.
"Oberon, you know how Green smells right?!" I asked wildly, feeling my body enter a rare frenzy.
Oberon looked rattled by my wide eyes but he nodded quickly.
"Tell me! Show me where she is!" I demanded.
There was a manic feeling coursing through me. Everything was heightened to levels that didn't feel normal and my distress must have shown through because Oberon sniffed the air twice and hastily pointed me in a direction.
"You believe they are targeting the forest human?" Metang questioned, even as I hastily wiped the purplish blood off his horn.
"Yes. She's in trouble," I hissed.
I huffed wildly, returning the rest of my team to their ball, barring Loki.
Without any hesitation, I rocked off in the direction Oberon pointed me at, completely ignoring the pain in my ribs as I did so.
The speeds I was currently running at, reminded me of my encounter with Fraxure but this time I wasn't running away from something, I was running towards it.
I wouldn't. I could not let Team Rocket get Green. Not if I could help it.
Chaos was currently taking place in the Safari Zone. I'm sure Team Rocket was all around but I didn't give a damn about any of the wild pokemon that may have needed help right now.
"Ursa!" Oberon warned me, notifying us that we were close to her location.
I pressed on as I heard the sound of action and I made Loki set up an illusion preemptively.
As I entered, I saw Saury tying up two unconscious grunts and felt such a surge of relief, it froze me in my spot. Pained breaths left me and I clutched my ribs again, before surveying the scenery.
A Golbat was unconscious on the floor, Vee's eyes glowing menacingly as his gem shone brightly. A little further away, Togee, Dree and Larvee were making sure the Raticate didn't wake up, strings from the Larvesta tied firmly around it.
Lapee was crooning in concern. She was currently directing spraying droplets of water on a furious Green, who was clutching her broken arm tightly. There was a panicked look in her eyes and as I dropped the illusion, her eyes darted over to mine.
Her pokemon stiffened but at seeing who it was, I heard them all make palpable sounds of relief.
Cold fury made way for sheer relief and Green let out a weak cry.
I'm sure it matched the look in my eyes because I was pulling her into a hug before I even registered that I moved.
"Silvy..." Green whispered. "I'm glad you're okay!" she cried, hugging me to the best of her ability with her good arm.
I said nothing just letting out a rattled and pained sigh as I stared at her broken arm.
"That's not good," I muttered, releasing Gaia from the ball. "Gaia can you...?"
Gaia nodded immediately, flashing with Heal Pulse as she directed as much as she could to Green's arm.
I didn't have the slightest clue about doctor shit but I'm pretty sure she needed a cast for that. I reached into my bag and took out my gauze, gingerly wrapping it around her entire arm.
The appendage was limp but I needed to make sure she didn't move it too much, tying it to her sides by looping a rope around her sides.
It was shoddy and definitely not approved, but it would be good enough for now.
"We need to get you checked out. I think we stopped the swelling but we need professional help."
"Silvy...?" Green muttered in confusion, noting the state I was in. "Are you okay? Your breathing a little rough. I thought that you..."
I shook my head harshly. "I'm fine. But we need to get you out of here. I think Team Rocket is targeting you."
"Me?" My companion frowned at that. "I thought... they were targeting you? I heard them mention a Petrel and assumed that was someone strong. Since he wasn't here, I thought he was after you."
"The Rockets that ambushed me mentioned that the target was a girl," I denied, gaze wild as they flitted around for any more attackers. "Petrel is an Executive. You didn't encounter him?"
Green shook her head slowly. "N-No? I just faced two grunts—"
We both stilled at the same time.
"Janine," we said in unison.
Green wasn't the girl they were targeting...
They were targeting the Gym Leaders daughter and they were using an Executive to do it.
"We have to go help her," Green said immediately, eyes wide in worry.
"Absolutely not," I denied harshly.
Green stilled at that, whirling towards me with wide eyes. Her mouth opened at my face and I shook my head.
"You have a broken arm and that's an Executive out there. We aren't ready for an Executive, Green," I informed her coldly.
"Neither is Janine!" she exclaimed in shock. "But she's close enough that maybe we can swing the tides in her favor! She's going to be a Gym Leader soon! If we just help her, I'm sure we can win!"
My eyes were wild as I glared at her. "And if we can't? Do we just die?! We can get help for her but going out there ourselves is suicide!" I exclaimed.
I was not going to let her kill herself for the chance to save someone else. That wasn't going to happen. I already had the scare of my life when I thought she was being targeted by an Executive.
"Silver that's not fair to her! Help won't arrive in time if he's attacking her right now!" Green shouted in return. "We can help! We have to! Why don't you want to help her?!"
I clenched my jaw at that. "Because she's not as important to me as you are. I'm not putting your life on the line for a sliver of a chance to save someone else," I said coldly, no hint of remorse in my gaze.
Green froze at that, a small shudder ripping through her body, as she gazed at me with wide eyes.
I stared right back.
She had a broken arm, there were Rockets out in the Safari Zone and there was an Executive here that she wanted to directly attack.
Not a chance. Not a chance in hell. Janine's importance to me, didn't even come remotely close to Green's.
Green was player one. Her life was far too important to be thrown away like trash.
"Silvy... please. I can't... we can't just let her die. That's not fair to her. That's not right," Green said quietly, looking heartbroken at just the idea that we wouldn't help.
"I don't care about what's right," I wanted to say but I couldn't.
Green and I stared at each other instead, her desperate forest green eyes clashing with my cold metallic silver.
Then I sighed in defeat.
"Okay. We'll help. Follow my lead. We need to handle this carefully," I grunted.
Green sagged at that and pulled me into a tight hug.
"Thank you," she said.
"Thank me by staying alive," I muttered.
I went stiff, a shudder of familiarity coursed through my body, as I stared at the lax man out there.
He was tall, taller than Proton by a fair bit, with bright purple hair that was cut short at the sides. There was a large curl on the top that matched his purple beard and purple eyes.
I knew this slimy looking bastard… that was Petrel alright and across from him, a tear streaked Janine was facing off against him. Her outfit had tears from the ambush and with how she could barely stand upright, I hazarded that something had happened to her leg too.
The reason for her tears was made abundantly clear because laying there, completely unmoving, was a familiar Venomoth.
Green let out a quiet gasp of horror at that, covering her mouth at the sight.
I stared grimly assessing the pokemon on field and picking out which pokemon belonged to Janine.
Crobat, Nidoqueen, Ariados, Roserade… and what was that last one?
It was dark gray and looked like a salamander, with a thing body that had a purple underside with several wavy dark pink markings.
A Salazzle. That's what it was. It was from the Alola region I'm pretty sure.
And the pokemon they were facing off against...
Ditto, Swalot, Dusclops, Banette, Jellicent…
And a Gengar. An honest Gengar.
Fuck.
Gengars were rare. They were really damn rare and it was a good thing they were because no good was happening with a Gengar prowling around.
The ghosts and Petrel looked totally at ease, a far cry from Janine's distress.
I clenched my jaw in annoyance as the ghosts suddenly froze up, before at once they all turned towards my direction eyes wide for an unexplainable reason.
"Hm?" Petrel muttered, following their gaze. "Mind coming out? I don't really feel like going over there, so I'd have to send something after you and none of us would like that option."
"Don't move," I grunted, stepping out into the clearing without any hesitation.
Petrel froze, eyes widening to match his ghosts as we locked eyes with each other.
"Ah shit," he said without meaning to.
I watched as his eyes roved over my injured body, a bead of sweat forming on his features as he saw the tears and cuts littering me.
Judging by how nervous he suddenly was, I imagine that either my dad or my mom would kill him if he revealed he caused these injuries.
"Team Rocket," I said grimly, watching as Janine stared at me in shock. "You've got a lot of balls attacking in broad daylight."
Petrel recovered quickly. "Nothing personal at all," he shrugged, deciding to play dumb for now. "Wrong place wrong time... but I'll let you go since you haven't gotten in my way just yet."
"No."
Petrel blinked owlishly, before his mouth opened in shock at the sight of a Tyranitar lumbering out to the clearing.
"What?! A Tyranitar?! But how?!" he balked, even as I released the rest of my team.
"You think you can attack me and get away with it? Fuck off," I snarled truthfully. "Get your head in the game, Janine. We gotta win this battle."
Janine nodded shakily, wiping her tears and testing her bad leg before wincing.
The ghosts looked like they wanted to be anywhere but here and Petrel took notice.
"Be wary of the Tyranitar," Petrel warned, thinking that was why they were suddenly afraid. "Avoid it and target the others."
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Unfortunately, that seemed to somewhat snap his team out of their daze and they prepared to resume the battle.
I huffed. "Careful. Ghosts are tricky. Do what you can to support Janine," I instructed.
Gengar regained its bravado, cackling as it charged a Shadow Ball and fired it at Crobat who flitted out the way, only for a psychic sheen to cover it from the Ditto who had transformed into a Mr. Mime.
The normal type of Petrel's team had an empty smile on its already disturbing face, dragging Crobat out of the sky and towards the ground, only for its powers to falter as a wave of dark energy crashed into it, courtesy of the Tyranitar.
Crobat hissed and immediately charged forward, sinking poisonous fangs into the Psychic/Fairy and dumping as much venom in it as possible.
The Ditto shrieked at the super effective attack, cells shifting until it transformed back into its default blob state and Crobat began ragdolling it with pure venom, before a spray of steaming water crashed into it.
Crobat shrieked as the Scald struck true and a shadow loomed over it... turning out to be the gaping maw of a Swalot.
Before the bat could be swallowed whole, a strong beam of psychic energy slammed into the Swalot, sending the poison type skidding back with a cry.
Petrel sucked his teeth, gazing at my Metang in some confusion.
He immediately covered his eyes though, as the sun brightened above him unexpectedly.
The executive wasn't able to dwell for too long as a spray of leaves soared towards Jellicent, courtesy of Gaia.
From a different angle, Roserade began glowing before it instantly fired a giant beam of green energy.
As it careened towards Jellicent with pinpoint aim, Dusclops stepped in front of the attack and opened its mouth very slightly, dragging in and absorbing the Solar Beam.
Everyone that wasn't Dusclops, let out a startled noise as we began being pulled towards it and I hissed but before I could order Tyranitar to hit it, a weak ball of murky energy crashed into the ghost from behind.
Gengar hissed warningly at Dusclops, smile gone as it cowed the ghost into shutting its mouth.
My eyes narrowed slightly at that, gears turning slowly but I went on high alert as Banette burst from the left, grin mocking as it appeared directly next to my team and I.
It charged a Shadow Ball and lobbed it, hissing in annoyance as it collided with a Light Screen conjured by Gaia. The Banette shrieked mockingly, vanishing in plain sight in time to avoid Ares' dark maw.
As Banette vanished, Jellicent immediately took its place, firing an icy white beam that crashed into Ares side.
Ares hissed in agony, eyes bulging in rage as the Ice Beam crashed into her from the much stronger pokemon. She opened her mouth, already enhanced by Rage, and fired a hellishly large Dragonbreath that crashed into the Jellicent.
It blubbered in surprise, before glowing white and patching up its wounds, floating away hastily as Tyranitar focused onto it.
As it floated away a large barrage of leaves soared towards it, only for Dusclops to once again get in the way, weathering the attack incredibly well.
Janine's pokemon were standing next to mine, taking the time to regroup with us in order to better have each other's back and Gaia crooned, firing a Heal Pulse that washed over all of them.
I grunted with a frown, as Ditto gurgled and transformed into a Chansey. Almost as soon as it did that, the egg in its patch began glowing gold before it was doused in its own aura.
That Ditto was transforming at speeds that were completely unnatural. It didn't care whatsoever about the accuracy of how it looked, just intent on becoming the pokemon of its desire.
But that wasn't the issue. The issue was that a Ditto couldn't possibly transform this much. It's cells weren't built to be morphed this much, no matter how exceptional the pokemon was.
While a Ditto's biology allowed it to morph into a perfect replica of a pokemon it was looking at, they could not constantly transform like this.
Not only was it taxing, it was dangerous if done too much. A Ditto could permanently jeopardize its cells if it didn't give itself a chance to rest.
Troublesome. Taking it out of the fight would have been useful.
Banette popped back out of the shadows, hissing as it summoned a ghostly flame. The Will-o-Wisp spun around its body and it launched them forward, grin vanishing in annoyance as Salazzle leapt in the way of the attack.
She hissed in annoyance as the strange flames brushed against her and spat out an enhanced Flamethrower that collided with the weakened Hydro Pump.
The Hydro Pump quickly overpowered the Flamethrower and careened towards Salazzle, fizzling completely right in front of her for strange reasons.
Ariados skittered about, spitting out Sticky Webs that wouldn't do much to the Ghosts... but it managed to land around the already slow Swalot.
A shroud of psychic energy surrounded Swalot and nudged it over ever so slightly, tangling it up further and leaving it open for the roaring Nidoqueen.
The ground underneath Swalot glowed before it erupted underneath the monster, launching it upwards.
Salazzle opened its mouth to capitalize on the opportunity but was completely unable to as Gengar appeared in front of it, eyes glowing pink.
The salamander swayed at that, eyes glazed over before they began drooping.
Gengar cackled in amusement, eyes continuing to glow menacingly as it shot a shadow of itself that lunged through the sleeping Salazzle.
The Ghost didn't even acknowledge the unconscious salamander afterwards, turning on a dime and conjuring a massive Shadow Ball.
My eyes widened as it launched the gigantic Shadow Ball at a random bush and the Gengar cackled victoriously at landing a direct hit on the hidden Vee.
"Oho! So that's what it was!" Petrel crooned, watching as the Espeon immediately collapsed from the super effective attack. "Sneaky sneaky! I was wondering why some things were happening that didn't make any sense..."
"There's at least one more trainer here... but they could be gone now," he mused. "I guess I have to speed things up."
"Gen!" Gengar agreed, summoning a Shadow Ball in each of its hands.
He lobbed one directly at Gaia, who hastily threw up a Light Screen but Banette burst from the shadows behind her, tackling her with a full powered Phantom Force.
It attempted to push his advantage but with the jig up, Saury sent out a litany of vines, wrapping them around the surprised ghost.
Crobat hissed and immediately flitted over, fangs dark as it soared at immense speeds.
Only for Gengar to pop in front of it with a menacing grin, second Shadow Ball still in its hand.
Without any hesitation, it crashed the giant murky ball in Crobat's face and immediately halted its flight.
Crobat cried out in pain and tried to direct the Bite towards the Gengar, but the ghost suddenly lunged forward, attacking Crobat before it could even think about attacking.
The Sucker Punch launched the bat backwards and Gengar finished it off with a final Shadow Ball, sending the bat careening towards the floor where it landed with a thud.
I grit my teeth at that. We were quickly getting picked off like flies and it was getting bad. Petrel was picking up the pace of things and the Gengar was making it look easy.
We had a far greater advantage in numbers but Petrel's ghosts were tricky and hard to catch.
"The Tyranitar. Get rid of it. Too troublesome and its playing guard," Petrel decided, seeming to finally decide that his mission was more important than whatever relationship we had.
Jellicent blubbered, wrestling control of the weather and causing it to rain, before it fired off a gargantuan Surf.
My eyes widened and I hissed as I was submerged for a moment. Memories of nearly drowning on the S.S Anne surfaced and my gaze turned into pinpricks.
But as soon as the attack came, it ended and I coughed as I was dragged out of sight momentarily.
All around, my, Green and Janine's team was splaid about and I coughed at seeing Janine prone on the floor.
"That's that," Petrel shrugged, before his expression turned wary. "Now, what are you doing here kid?"
I glared at him and stood up. "Don't call me kid you annoying fucking pest."
Gengar's smile was gone, regarding me with a wary expression.
Similarly, all his ghosts were doing the same. They looked at me warily and I felt my gaze dart around.
Petrel shrugged. "Well, whatever. I've done enough damage. Dusclops grab the girl. That Koga should be on the way and that's not something we need."
Dusclops eyes glowed and he lumbered over to the unconscious Janine, hand reaching out to grab her.
The ghost paused in confusion, as his hands went right through her body.
"Huh?" Petrel mused in genuine confusion, before having his attention grabbed by a Pokeball rolling to his feet, button already pressed down.
"...What?" he scratched his head. "What is this—"
The Pokeball exploded.
Yellow smoke filled the entire area around Petrel, catching the Executive completely off guard as he shouted in surprise.
"W-What the hell?!" he coughed harshly, eyes watering intensely as his limbs locked up.
Pokeballs were storage devices. While their main purpose was to hold Pokemon... they could store other things as well because this world had advanced technology with space to an enviable degree.
The technology for Pokeballs, Bags, all sorts of storage
For whatever reason, despite not being secret, not many people seemed too interested about that, but I began tampering with it when I remembered that in the games, items you found were almost always stored inside Pokeballs.
I did like that this world found a way to explain these things.
The results were desirable. It wasn't perfect but it accomplished exactly what I wanted from it...
Aka, creating even more of my own weapons.
I filled that pokeball with Gaia's stun powder and turned it into a makeshift stun bomb. Sure it was a use of a Pokeball... but it's not like I was a catcher. I had a bunch of extras anyways.
I never had any intention of fighting this guy fairly. Not even once.
When Janine's team had converged on my area, that was because the illusioned up Green had grabbed her and dragged her to somewhere safe.
The only real person here was me, my pokemon, Green's invisible team and Janine's team.
Loki was the only member of my team who had not actually been completely there. The only time he had been there, was when he attacked the Ditto with Snarl.
Afterwards, we gambled on the fact that they'd do everything to avoid Tyranitar's attacks and had him stand back to focus hard on the Illusion.
Someone had to be the sacrifice for a play like this to avoid suspicion and I chose myself for obvious reasons...
Though, I wasn't expecting to get submerged by a Surf. It brought up terrible memories and my fight or flight, was at its peak now.
There was true blood in my eyes now as I glared ferociously at the coughing Petrel.
I lunged forward, sprinting full speed at him, ignoring how my soaked outfit slowed me down or how the rain above splashed against me repeatedly.
Petrel's eyes widened. "Stop the kid!" he demanded, struggling tremendously to move his body and only managing to successfully move his arms.
Swalot, who was the least affected by me, lunged at me, mouth open wide to swallow me whole.
"D-Don't kill him dumbass!" Petrel shouted in a panic, but it was too late.
Swalot shut its giant mouth around my body, to no effect at all as the illusion of me faded out.
That's why I didn't bother making all of us illusions... for this one chance to get one over them all.
From the moment I threw that explosive ball, I had been wrapped in an illusion. When my illusion began running, I ran too...
But I was in the complete opposite direction of where Petrel's team was charging...
Right behind him.
There was a manic gleam in my eyes and I actually hissed violently as I seized the opportunity.
Without any hesitation in my bones, I pulled out that handy dandy knife from the Game Corner and stabbed Petrel without any hesitation.
Petrel let out a shriek at the feeling of the knife sinking into his back with far too much ease.
"You're going to return all your pokemon or I dig the knife deeper into a fatal spot," I whispered dangerously.
He sucked in a deep breath of shock. "Kid? What the hell?" he rasped in surprise.
My eyes narrowed in hatred and I bared my teeth.
This guy must have been the reason I hated being called a kid.
"You think I'm joking. You just tried to drown me. I will kill you," I snarled.
"H-Hold on. Let's talk about this. What do you think your da—"
"5, 4, 3," I began counting, ignoring what he was saying.
This was a bluff. I wasn't too keen on killing a person but I had already stabbed him like a maniac so it worked out well.
Too well.
Petrel began shakily returning his team. Banette, Jellicent, Swalot and Dusclops went into their ball.
Right as he aimed the ball at Gengar though… things quickly took a turn.
Gengar moved faster than I could ever hope to react, big red eyes glowing with malice as it lost the mischievous glint in them.
I watched with wide eyes as it lunged towards me with murderous intent…
Only to let out a horrifically loud shriek as it was unexpectedly slashed into with claws of dark energy.
Loki snarled violently, clawing away at the Gengar with repeated use of Night Slash.
The sounds of the ghost shrieking, served as sufficient distraction and I watched with a clenched jaw as an Abra grasped him.
Without any hesitation at all, the man teleported away, leaving me to stare at the spot where he had been, knife dripping with his blood.
I watched with a scowl on my face, wiping my knife as Gengar blew away Loki.
The ghost looked shocked, probably not expecting to be left behind by his trainer. It looked significantly smaller, likely due to getting slashed with dark energy and the powerful ghost gazed at us with a malevolent glare.
"Snarl. Don't let it use its ghost moves," I hissed.
Gengar was clearly Petrel's strongest pokemon. It would be good to get rid of it now.
Loki snarled in affirmation but before he could attack, the Gengar let out a yowl as the air shifted around it.
It only took me a moment to realize the air shifting, was due to a Pokemon moving.
A Crobat sunk its fangs into the Gengar with ruthless precision, the Crunch making the ghost shriek as it was instantly dealt with by the giant bat.
I watched in shock at the speed of how swiftly that troublesome Gengar had been dealt with, turning my head to regard the owner of it.
"It appears I was too late to avoid travesty…"
Koga's neutral expression was gone for once, a look of slight sorrow in his eyes as he gazed at his daughter weeping over the body of Venomoth.
Next to him, Dree and Oberon were gazing at the wreckage of the battlefield with wide eyes, having been instructed to find and help anyone get here.
All around, the sounds of action grew more intense and I imagined that Team Rocket, whoever hadn't already escaped, were currently being apprehended.
I sighed tiredly, running a hand through my soaked hair. "Your daughter needs you. I can debrief you later. She's in no condition to do it herself," I said simply.
The Gym Leader gazed at me, noting my soaked and bloodied attire, before nodding his head.
"Very well… thank you for your assistance, trainer Silver. Truly, I have no way of knowing how to repay you," he whispered, walking towards his daughter to offer his presence.
I sighed, returning my team to their balls after making sure they were all fine. "We can discuss rewards later... and don't thank me, thank Green."
With that, I made my way over to my injured companion.
"How's your team?" I asked quietly.
"Bad, but not as bad as…" Green trailed off, limping slightly as she attempted to stand upright.
I noticed that her eyes were glued onto the scene of Janine's quiet sobs that broke out into something louder, the moment Koga wrapped her in his arms.
A sigh left my mouth again and I shook my head, grabbing and placing my equally soaked companion on my back.
It wasn't all that easy, considering we were the same height but she wasn't really heavy at all.
"S-Silvy?" she asked in confusion, instinctively wrapping her good arm around my neck.
"You're in no condition to move so freely," I grunted, beginning to trudge out of the Safari Zone.
"But you're hurt too..." Green whispered.
"I'm fine," I replied bluntly.
I could practically feel Green's judging frown as she stared at the back of my head but I simply ignored it and kept walking.
"C'mon we need to get everyone, including ourselves, checked out," I muttered.
Green nodded hesitantly and tiredly dropped her head. "Yeah…"
We walked in silence. I was carefully avoiding where it was loud and just listened to the sounds of battle taking place.
"Silvy… did we do good?" Green asked quietly.
"...Yeah, we did the best we could given the unfavorable situation," I replied truthfully.
"...So why is Janine crying? I-If we really did good… why did someone still get hurt?" she asked, voice cracking slightly.
I sighed. "No one leaves a war unscathed. Some costs are greater than others… but some outcomes are more favorable too. Better to lose one than to lose all, right?"
Green flinched at that. "We can't save them all?"
"…" I said nothing for a long while, not willing to shatter Green's innocence any further.
It wasn't something I was willing to do with my own hands. It would probably not be possible for it to stay the same as this journey progressed but I wouldn't be the main catalyst if I could help it.
But if I left it at nothing, it'd be even worse wouldn't it?
"We can't save them all no… but we can get stronger to save as much as possible if that's what we want to do," I told her quietly.
"R-Right..." she nodded softly. "Thank you, Silvy... and I'm sorry you got even more hurt helping me."
"Don't worry about it. This is the best outcome I could have asked for," I sighed, watching the droplets of water that fell off my hair.
I barely flinched as an Arcanine suddenly appeared in front of us, staring lethargically at the absolutely giant dog.
The Officer Jenny atop of it, stepped off and regarded the two of us with pursed lips.
"Can you make this fast? My companion needs medical attention," I said gruffly, staring at her with a half lidded gaze.
This was actually the first Jenny I was seeing. I tended to avoid the police force especially and really, I had no reason to ever talk to them.
The Jenny shook her head. "I'm not here to hold you kids up... I'm just checking to see if you two are alright," she said quietly.
There was a roughness to her voice but she was dialing it down to speak to the two of us in a gentler manner.
"We're as fine as could be," I bit out, really not in the mood for small talk. "Now can we go?"
Jenny frowned and sat atop her Arcanine. "C'mon kids. I'll get you to the Center. You're in no condition to be carrying someone like that," she said sternly.
Arcanine barked a deep and guttural noise of agreement, making my bones shake at the sound. The fire dog was a real specimen of a pokemon and in this world, they really did live up to the hype.
I opened my mouth to automatically deny her request, before shutting it.
"Fine," I conceded, walking up to the Arcanine.
It was seriously tall, 6 ft on all fours, and I diligently removed Green off my back.
"Her right arm is broken," I warned, watching Jenny carefully lift the girl up. I assisted her and soon, Green had a single arm wrapped the cops waist.
Then I gingerly made the climb, ignoring the way my body ached in favor of keeping Green secured to the Jenny.
"Not too fast Arcanine, but make it quick," Jenny muttered, glancing back at us to make sure we were fine.
I stared back at her with a listless expression and we had just continued to look at each other until she frowned and turned back.
Without further prompting, Arcanine sped off, legendary speed quickly carrying it out of the Safari Zone and to the Center.
Green had been rushed to the emergency room after Nurse Joy took one look at her arm.
All of our Team had been checked in as well. They were doing mostly fine, though getting surfed by that damn Jellicent had done its number.
As for myself, I had been forcefully sat by that stern Nurse Joy, despite my insistence that I was mostly fine.
It was just a few fractures in my ribs. No biggie.
Regardless, we had been in there for a few hours but the advanced technology meant I was mostly healed, while Green had been given a sling that could be removed in about a weeks time.
The two of us had been allowed to retreat to our room that we never checked out of in the Center and that's what we had done, just regrouping to talk about what had happened.
"What a disaster..." Green said in distraught, gazing down at her wrapped up arm.
"There were other grunts too. I guess their mission was to snag all the rare pokemon in there," I explained with a frown. "Some got away, most were caught. Lotta the pokemon resisted and were injured in the process."
Green frowned sadly at that. "Who knows how many more places they're attacking? This is terrible…"
"It's a tragedy. Since the creation of the Safari Zone, no one has ever attacked it. It's a sacred place for pokemon to find refuge," a quiet voice said.
Both Green and I stiffened, before relaxing minutely at the sight of the subdued Janine.
Her eyes were red but despite that, she had a neutral expression on her face.
I said nothing at all.
Green's eyes were narrowed in concern.
"Janine, are you okay —"
"Why didn't you kill him?"
My companion's question was interrupted almost immediately and she shut her mouth abruptly, eyes widening at the horrifying question.
Janine's eyes were locked onto mine and I stared back with a neutral expression.
"I saw it. You had that knife buried inside of him… why didn't you end him?" she asked, clenching her shaking fist.
"…" I frowned at the question and took a good look at her, scratching the bandages wrapped around my midsection.
Red rimmed eyes, shaking body, clenched fist...
Ah so that's what this was. Logic wouldn't work here I imagine.
Janine didn't wait for me to answer. "It's your fault. All of this is your fault!"
Green jumped at that, a protective glare on her face as she prepared to rip into Janine for attacking me.
I simply held her arm to stop her, causing my companion to look back at me incredulously.
I just shook my head.
Janine was glaring at me venomously. "If it weren't for you… I-I would be content with my current life! I wouldn't have been there! It's your fault! Why?! Why did you show up and start spewing such nonsense?! B-Because of you I lost… I lost my first pokemon!"
By now her tears had renewed and the brave expression cracked through completely, allowing both Green and I to see the shattered girl beneath... not that she had been hiding it very well.
"…" I sighed, raking a hand through my damp hair as I watched the tears stream down her face.
"I didn't kill him because I'm already teetering on a thin line. If I took his life with my own hands, I don't really know what type of effect that would have on me further down the road. I can't go down that road while I'm with Green," I said truthfully.
Green shuddered at that, looking at me with wide eyes.
What I just said was true. I truly believed if I killed Petrel there with my own hands, I'd have taken a route that there was no turning back from.
This was only my second time using that dangerous knife and I had done so without any hesitation. There was none of the nausea that I felt when I had stabbed Proton.
The adrenaline had banished it. My fight or flight had ensured I wouldn't feel any hesitance at what I had to do... and it ensured that I remembered that feeling so I wouldn't hesitate ever.
It was easy. It was so easy to just resort to that when things went south.
But I didn't want to jump to such drastic measures so quickly. Taking a life? That wasn't a decision I could just make on a whim.
Even now, I realized just how easy it was to do so. Would that always be my last resort when things got hard? Was I doomed to become a murderer?
…It sucked, because I seemed to already know the answer to that. If it came down to it, I had to do what it took... but until then, I'd stay on this road. Until there was truly no other option, I would try to retain the tiny piece of me that hatched Loki out of his egg.
"I'm sorry about your Venomoth. If I had the power to change how that situation ended, I would have… If I had the power, these events wouldn't have played out like this but I'm not strong enough yet," I said truthfully, making Janine sniff harshly.
I stared at her with a firm resolve.
"But I won't apologize for the words I said or the actions I took. I will never apologize for speaking my mind. Hate me, I don't blame you. If that's what you want to do, then that's what you should do," I said simply, ending the situation right then and there.
Janine sniffed even harder and took a step back. "I hate you," she whispered eventually.
I inclined my head. "Sure. Hopefully that hate serves you well," was all I said.
A sob tore through the girl and she abruptly turned and departed the room.
I watched her go, face expressionless.
"Why did you let her say all that, Silver? You weren't to blame in the slightest. It's clear Janine didn't know she was the target this entire time so... why didn't you tell her?" Green frowned in distraught, tearing her gaze off where Janine had just been.
I grunted at Green's questioning tone. "She's not in the right headspace to listen to logic, Green. Right now, she just wants to lash out and she chose me as her target. If I told her she was the target, do you know what she would say?"
Green shook her head slowly.
"She'd say "It's your fault that I was put in a situation to be targeted". Nothing I say in this moment will be good enough for her and that's okay. That's how people grieve," I said bluntly, truly unbothered.
I wasn't the one who lost someone. I was just thankful Green and I made it out fine. I couldn't be upset that a person I was willing to leave to the dogs, was upset with me.
"But... that's not right. How is that fair? Am I supposed to just think you deserve that?" Green asked brows furrowed to convey her dismay.
I smirked crookedly. "It's fine, Green. What's one more thing I don't deserve?"
Green frowned sadly and pulled me into a hug. "I'll always be your friend, okay Silver?"
I said nothing, before returning the hug easily. "Thanks Green."
A knock on the door interrupted us and I gruffly said, "Come in," before it opened.
I stiffened slightly at seeing Koga himself step inside but otherwise maintained a calm air.
"Silver. Green," Koga bowed.
"Koga," we both said, as Green bowed and I stared.
"I will not sugarcoat it, as I know the both of you are intelligent children… but I'm aware that Janine was recently here and whatever she may have said, I apologize on her behalf," Koga began immediately.
I shook my head. "Don't apologize for someone else. I'll never accept it. She wanted an outlet and she chose one. I don't care enough about peoples validation to be bothered by it so if it's me she wants to be mad at, let it be me."
I couldn't quite blame her. Janine was the only one who had lost a member in that exchange besides Petrel.
Koga gazed at me, expression not revealing anything. Then, he reached into his pockets and pulled out two gym badges, along with two discs.
I raised a brow. "What are you doing?" I frowned. "I want to battle you. I don't want the badge for free."
He shook his head. "I will be busy in light of recent events and you've more than proven your mettle against the Rocket Admin. Most of my battles have been canceled already and I'm preparing to scour the areas around Fuchsia for a while."
I frowned at that. I would have suggested battling Janine for the badge instead but… yeah I didn't think that was a good idea right now.
"I've seen your capabilities and as I understand, you are more than eligible to gain a 5th badge. You two have earned it," Koga said truthfully. "If you find the results so unsatisfactory, I will accept any challenge from you at a later date with a stronger team that will satisfy your needs."
Both Green and I frowned but nodded in acceptance.
"We'll be back for that battle," I grunted, accepting the badge out of his hand as Green did the same.
"I look forward to it. Normally, I'd be thrilled to accept a challenge from such promising children, but there are more pressing matters," Koga said seriously.
"I get it," Green nodded. "What's the TM?"
"This is the TM for Toxic," Koga explained, allowing us both to grab at the discs. "A very useful move for slowly choking out and restraining enemies."
Absolutely perfect. No truly. Koga had no idea what he just unleashed.
I mulled his words over. "Janine was being targeted," I said bluntly, making Koga go still.
The ninja shut his eyes and let loose a weary sigh. "I had... doubts about such a thing but it appears that it truly was the case. You are sure of this?" he asked.
I nodded. "Our vehicle was attacked by a ghost that separated all of us. While two grunts tailed us, Janine was presumably left alone with the Executive. I rushed to Green and we both came to the conclusion that she was the target all along. During the battle, the Executive told one of his pokemon to grab her. My bet is that she was going to be used as hostage to make you do something."
Koga listened to my debrief with a calm expression, eyes closed to hide how grave he must have felt about the whole thing. "Astute observational skills, Trainer Silver. With this information, it's clear that Team Rocket is trying to throw the entire region into chaos. With Janine apprehended, my hands would be tied. She is weaker than me, but capturing her may be no different to capturing me... so it would make sense to target her instead."
It made sense. Koga was the closest to becoming the Elite 4 and Janine would replace him as Gym Leader. Dealing with her would be taking out two birds with one stone.
"The Executive's name is Petrel. Obnoxious looking guy with purple everything. He's a ghost specialist. The Gengar you captured was his strongest pokemon but he also had a Ditto, Jellicent, Dusclops, Banette and Swalot," I informed Koga. "The Ditto transformed into an Abra and they teleported away."
Koga nodded. "Valuable information. We've apprehended the Gengar thanks to your efforts and I will continue to search for this Petrels whereabouts."
We nodded before Koga bid us farewell.
"Do be careful, Silver and Green. Team Rocket may not take too kindly to your interference. If you are ever in need of assistance, I will do what I can... it is the least I could do after you two saved my daughter," he said, vanishing from sight.
I watched him go with a tilted head, scratching my bandages once more.
"So we got our badges," Green mused, scratching at her arm and whining as I snatched the good arm away.
"It kinda sucks that we won't get experience from the battle but that's okay. We'll just battle even more trainers on the way to Saffron," I grunted.
I opened up a map and Green clambered onto my bed so we could inspect it.
"We'll head through the east into Route 15, then path through all the routes and cities there until we make it back to Vermillion. Then we can head up Route 6 to Saffron," I grunted. "It'll take a very long time. Let's stock up on provisions tomorrow."
Green nodded in agreement. "We'll take that time to grow even stronger. We have to be prepared for anything. Team Rocket can be anywhere at anytime," she said in determination.
"That's right," I agreed wholeheartedly. "Petrel made a fool of us and I don't think he's the strongest Admin."
Green scowled. "We've gotta approach this carefully... if it weren't for you and Loki, that would have gone terrible for us."
We were both in agreement at that and I sighed.
"Green. Silver. Both your pokemon are ready to be picked up."
"Let's go get our teams," I grunted.
"Kay!"
As Green and I got ready to depart Fuchsia, I suddenly stopped what I was doing and let out an exhausted exhale.
"I know you're there," I said blandly.
"…" Janine said nothing, appearing in both Green and I's line of sight.
There was no greeting from her as she gazed at us and I tilted my head curiously.
What did she want now? More vitriol to spout at me right before I left? How did she even know we were leaving?
"You know where Team Rocket is going to attack next," Janine said bluntly.
I didn't react to her statement.
"Tell me where it will be. You will be there as well and… I won't let Venomoth's death be in vain," she said bluntly.
"…" I raised a brow and turned away from her. "You haven't even properly grieved yet. I'm not going to point you towards people that are gonna kill you. Do that on your own time. I won't take the blame for this one."
"If you don't, I'll tell Father that you and that Rocket Admin know each other."
I paused at that and raised a brow, turning towards her with a curious expression.
Was this what I thought it was? Oh wow, I never expected this to happen to me so soon.
"I saw it. The look you two exchanged and way he treated you. He was nervous to see you and so were his ghosts," Janine accused flatly.
Green's eyes widened at that and my expression flattened.
"You blackmailing me?" I asked curiously.
"Yes," she said bluntly.
I hummed at that.
How bold. Never expected a goody two shoes to actually blackmail me.
Oh well. To my surprise... I didn't actually care all that much.
"Saffron City. That's probably where their next hit will be," I informed her, unfazed by her threat.
Judging by her flinch, she wasn't expecting that.
"Silph co is my best bet," I added coolly, shoving my gloves on.
Janine looked stunned by my compliance. "R-right. In that case, I will be tailing you both. I suppose you take issue with that?" she goaded.
"Nah. Feel free. Green and I can't cook that well though so it won't have much flavor unless its rice," I told her, already turning on my heels to leave.
"I-I said tailing. You won't even see me," she scowled.
"I'm sure. Let's go Leaf," I grunted.
The ninja didn't even look like she had properly prepared for a trip. I'm guessing she didn't expect us to be going so far to Saffron but I imagine she'd be lacking provisions pretty quick.
Oh well. I wasn't going to wait for her to go get more and I bet she knew that.
Green watched with a confused expression and we shared a quick glance.
The immediate understanding on her face, pleased me more than I'd like to admit.
She was a good little soldier.
Janine was very clearly trying to piss me off or annoy me to some degree. It was so painfully obvious that it made her inexperience funny.
I smiled in some amusement.
People just didn't understand how petty I was. I'd even ignore my natural disgust to get one over on them.
There was no beating me in this game. I tried to show sympathy and yet she threw herself in the path of a speeding train.
"Let's get along Janine. We'll be seeing each other a lot I imagine," I muttered. "C'mon Green. It's gonna be a long trip."
Green sighed tiredly. "Kay Silvy. We'll take 2 hour interval breaks like usual."
"2 hours, Janine," I informed her.
This threw a bit of a wrench in my plans but I could use this eventually.
I couldn't quite trust Janine to deal with things in a logical manner though so I'd have to curb that on the way there.
"I don't see why you feel the need to tell me such things," Janine grit out coldly, vanishing from our sights.
I watched her go with a half lidded expression.
"If she wants to express her anger by inconveniencing me than so be it, but I hate being inconvenienced," I muttered.
"Have a bit of sympathy, Silvy," Green chastised sternly.
"I had sympathy. I even took the heat for her anger," I pointed out. "Now she's going out of her way to antagonize me. I've yet to be out antagonized and there's a reason for that."
Green sighed tiredly. "Just… be gentle. She's hurting you know?"
"I'm aware. I won't go too hard," I grunted.
"That doesn't fill me with much comfort," Green said dryly.
I simply smiled. "C'mon we really do have distance to make."
"Silvy, please stop smiling. It's legitimately one of the scariest things I've ever seen."
"Not enough people mention how rude you are, Leaf."
"I'm only this rude because of you! Stop corrupting me!"
Ariana jolted slightly at the sight of Petrel barging into the room, eyes roving over to the sight of him clutching a wound on his back that was gushing with blood. She idly put out a hand that stopped the Honchkrow resting on her desk from tearing into the intruder.
There was a panicked and wild look on his normally lax face and he groaned in pain.
"I thought you were told that if you didn't see an opportunity to avoid Koga, you were to simply send out the grunts to serve as distraction," Archer said immediately, crossing his arms as he assessed Petrel's state.
"You're normally more careful. How did you slip up?" Ariana pressed, eyes narrowed as she leaned back into her seat slightly.
"Well I'm doing great! Thanks for asking," Petrel retorted, even as the Abra next to him transformed into a Chansey. "I'm doing absolutely wonderful! Easy mission, all I had to do was avoid one person but no one told me a raving maniac was going to cost me my Gengar!"
Ariana raised a brow. "Raving maniac? You are saying it wasn't Koga that caused these injuries?"
"How is that possible?" Archer mused. "Reports didn't say anything along the lines of anyone formidable entering Fuchsia. Was it a wayward master?"
"That's because it wasn't anyone formidable. It was the damn kid!" Petrel gasped.
Ariana and Archer froze at that.
"Kid?" they repeated in unison.
Petrel nodded with a furious expression. "Imagine my surprise, when an easy mission to capture the gym leaders brat, turned into me losing my starter! What the hell am I supposed to do without Gengar?!"
"When you say kid, are you speaking Silver?" Archer asked with furrowed brows.
Ariana went cold as Petrel nodded.
"He's the one that stabbed me!" the purple executive scowled.
"Oh no," Ariana thought in genuine horror. Silver had stabbed Petrel?
Hold on one second, hadn't Proton been bleeding profusely as well?
"You were stabbed by Silver? For what reason?" Archer frowned, looking stunned by the revelation.
Petrel quieted a bit at that. "Beats me," he eventually said.
Ariana's eyes narrowed at that.
"Petrel, you understand what you are saying correct?" Archer said slowly, eyes narrowed as he stared him down. "You should count yourself lucky that our boss was summoned to his duties. He would not forgive you for omitting details. Now tell us, why exactly did Silver attack you?"
"...I might have attacked him first," Petrel admitted.
Faster than he could react, a Zoroark was pinning him to the ground, snarling at him with murder in its eyes.
"YOU DID WHAT?!" Ariana roared, slamming a fist against her desk as she stood up abruptly.
The Executive let out a panicked yell as the temperature of the room began heating up, an alert Ninetales staring at him with venom in its gaze.
"I didn't know it was him!" he exclaimed.
"You didn't know?! Don't bullshit me! You know exactly how Silver looks!" Ariana snarled.
Archer pinched his nose. "Ariana, please refrain from disemboweling him. I understand your grievances, but we just lost an Executive, we cannot afford to lose another so freely."
Ariana sneered at that and crossed her arms, glaring at Petrel with a look that promised death. "You think my reaction was bad? You won't be able to talk Giovanni out of killing him once he hears his prized son was attacked."
The blue haired executive paused at the truth of her words.
Petrel went pale.
"Petrel, explain in detail exactly what caused Silver to attack you," Archer requested, trying to see if it was possible to salvage the situation.
Like it or not, Proton had been a good asset to direct towards things. Losing another Executive so soon, would begin to make the cracks noticeable.
Petrel was still useful. He was smart enough to know that attacking Silver was off limits.
"I didn't know it was him! He was hidden in a vehicle with the target when I had Gengar attack it! I sent two grunts after him without ever knowing his identity and you know the grunts don't know about him either!" he explained.
"The kid was launched away from the attack and when he showed up, he had cuts all over and I already realized I messed up," Petrel informed them.
Ariana's eyes were narrowed in hatred, willing Petrel to combust with her gaze alone.
"I tried to subtly tell him to get out of here but he was already pissed off by the looks of it and he refused to go."
"So he attacked you because you attacked him first!" Ariana barked. "Of course he'd do such a thing! Do you think my son was raised a coward?!"
Archer sighed. "Petrel, continue."
Petrel nodded hastily. "The kid was crafty. The entire fight, he was pulling one over me. He made me think he had a Tyranitar but it was actually a Zoroark!"
Ariana stiffened at that.
"A Zoroark? Silver has one already?!" she thought in shock.
"I'm not sure how much I was tricked, but he made moves fail, set up illusions... and then I tried to wrap up the mission so I had Jellicent use Surf to quickly deal with it," Petrel explained, watching the interest the Zoroark hovering him expressed.
"You tried to drown him?!" Ariana hissed violently, recalling how terrified he looked being fished out of the water by her damn sister.
"It wasn't a full powered Surf! Just enough to incapacitate everyone so I could grab the girl but the kid got up from it and threw an exploding Pokeball at me! That was when he stabbed me and I barely escaped after he threatened to kill me if I didn't return my pokemon! The kid didn't feel like the kid at that point. It felt like I was dealing with something completely different!" Petrel exclaimed.
Completely different... much like how Ariana felt after speaking to her son in the Pokemon Center.
"You can take me back if you want. I will run away again. Imprison me for as long as you'd like, I'll find a way to escape… and if it comes down to it, I'll take you out to earn my freedom. You've denied me long enough, I won't be denied anymore."
Had they reduced Silver to this? Someone who was willing to kill in cold blood?
First Team Rocket had attacked him during his trip on the S.S Anne... then they attacked him again at the Safari Zone. Wasn't he justified to be this furious with them?
Ariana's anger vanished partially as she thought about every action Silver was taking. At this rate, he truly was going to cross paths with Giovanni and she wasn't sure his father would be remotely as understanding as to why he was doing this.
"Archer is right. We need you alive," Ariana said bitterly. "The mission at Fuchsia was a failure. Koga arrived faster than you anticipated and you were forced to flee after your Gengar was captured. There will be no mention of Silver there or else you will be killed by Giovanni."
"I agree," Archer said, looking slightly surprised that Ariana suddenly said such a thing. He stared suspiciously at her but dropped it.
"For the sake of Team Rocket's stability, it would be ideal if you were kept alive and as such, we must not inform Giovanni that Silver was there. Fortune truly is shining over you because he will be in Viridian for the coming weeks," the blue haired Executive explained stonily.
Petrel let out a breath he didn't know he was holding as his fellow executives saved his life.
"You need a new sixth pokemon. I would implore you to go figure out what can possibly replace that Gengar of yours," Archer demanded, dismissing him.
Ariana watched him go with thinly veiled disgust and scowled to herself.
"You did good controlling yourself, Ariana," Archer said, making his way to the door. "Petrel's death would have complicated matters. He is still useful to us."
"Whatever," she scoffed. "Don't you have preparations to be making?"
The executive looked back at her, icy teal eyes full of pragmatism and devotion to Team Rocket.
"That I do. I trust that you'll be able to control yourself and not inform Giovanni of what transpired? Silver is your child as well after all."
"I won't tell him. The risks outweigh the benefits and most importantly, my satisfaction," she scowled.
"That it does," Archer nodded, shutting the door behind him.
"You are distressed."
Ariana clasped her hands and rested her forehead against them, regarding Gardevoir's words with shut eyes.
"What gave it away?" she asked eventually.
"You are always in distress of some form, when it comes to your offspring."
Ariana scowled at that, temper swiftly rising.
"It was not my intention to offend you. I merely answered the question you asked me," Gardevoir responded softly.
The redheaded executive took a deep breath, before a thought occurred to her.
"Gardevoir. Why are you terrified of my son?" she asked curiously, turning towards the psychic.
Gardevoir froze at the question, neutral gaze making way for a surprised expression.
"I..."
Ariana's eyes narrowed. "No. I want the answer. What has Silver done to warrant such reactions from you? I need to know."
She wasn't sure why she was only just now asking this but there had been a lot on her mind since her encounter with her son.
Gardevoir suddenly looked nervous and that only made Ariana more suspicious at what she could be hiding.
Before she could press her psychic more, it suddenly spoke up.
"Do not ask me what, for I do not know... however, I do know that the one named Silver, has been touched by something he should not be able to be touched with."
...
...
What?
"What does that mean?!" Ariana hissed, trying not to scream out the question.
"His existence is unnatural. It is one that I cannot stand to be near."
Ariana sat there, stunned silent at what Gardevoir was telling her.
What did she mean by this? What did any of this mean?
Gardevoir had never been this unnerved by Silver before he had run away. What had happened to her son?
Memories of an unnerving silver gaze staring her down, devoid of anything positive, surfaced onto her mind and Ariana realized that maybe she hadn't been too far from the truth, when she noted that they were even more unnerving than Mewtwo's own icy gaze.
"I'm just… trying to protect you."
"You failed. I don't want your protection."
Ariana sat there with a disturbed expression on her face.
What could she do? Would asking Giovanni even accomplish anything besides leaving herself prone to his wrath?
Here Ariana was, trying to shield Silver from the eyes of Giovanni but was she truly accomplishing anything? She knew nothing of what happened to Silver clearly.
Could she truly do anything?
"You never protected me before. Why do you suddenly think I have expectations for you? I don't need you."
...
Ariana said nothing, merely holding her head against her clasped fingers.