"Stray too far and I'm strapping you to my baseball bat."

  "Tog."

  "Fuck you too."

  I was currently in the department store with Green. We had time to kill so we decided to check it out in case there was anything we each wanted to buy.

  We managed to procure a good bit of money from Proton's office in the Game Corner, along with some other miscellaneous items, like a Silph Scope (apparently it helped you spot ghosts easier in their incorporeal form), 3 Nuggets and a Fire, Water and Thunder Stone.

  I told Green she could have the last one but uh... looks like Vee made up his mind before she could use them.

  There had also been a lot of drugs but... yeah Green said she couldn't pick those up and it would be hard for me to get rid of them.

  Sure we could just burn em, but then why take them in the first place? I'm sure the League would figure something out with them instead of us needlessly incriminating ourselves.

  Overall, it was a really good haul that turned downright incredible when you accounted for the TMs we got.

  Now we were in the Department Store for various reasons such as it being a super store.

  Seriously, it was huge and it had way more stuff than just essentials for traveling.

  Like clothes. It had clothes and Green wanted to buy herself some clothes, so she left me with the horrific task of watching Togee.

  There was also the fact that she wanted to get some provisions for Vee but I ignored that in favor of being annoyed that she wanted clothes.

  Because he was a handful and would refuse to sit still (and I also refused to watch her buy new clothes), she thought it would be a bright idea to stick me with the Togepi.

  "It's good bonding time! You know you're technically Togee's dad so spend some time with him!" she beamed, ignoring the complete look of horror Togee had shot her at that statement.

  I caught it though and words could not explain how badly I wanted to attack her for saying that.

  But here we are, with a perfectly healthy Green and a perfectly grumpy me, on two different floors.

  I rolled my eyes and watched as Oberon idly clutched my neck tighter due to the amount of people in the place. He currently had two arms looped around me, shrinking into my back as we walked past a person.

  His paws smelled like honey and wet fur so I was definitely going to bathe him later today.

  I actually bought a batch of honey earlier for him. It seemed to be his definite favorite thing to enjoy, so I'd give him some sometimes.

  I was currently on a floor filled with foods to feed your team. The last batch seemed like a good one and my team approved of each of the ones specialized for them, so I wanted to get more.

  There's also the fact that I had a companion to account for too. Green had already said I could just tell her how much I spent and we'd split it halfway because her team quite liked the batch of foods I got as well.

  I didn't really mind. It was better for me to get the stuff anyways.

  As I walked through the aisles, scrolling through my pokegear to figure out which was the correct one, I absentmindedly picked out exactly which ones I needed.

  Without really even thinking about it, I snatched one for checkout and a few others because of my made up 5 for 1 special, effortlessly concealing them in my bag while keeping the other out in the open to pay for.

  "Tog?!"

  I raised a brow and gazed at Togee, who was looking at me with slack jaws. For once, there wasn't a vindictive look in the little shit's eyes.

  No. He just stared at me with true shock.

  …

  Oops.

  "Don't tell Green," I said bluntly.

  "Tog! Toge, pi, toge!" Togee suddenly said, pulling on my pants with awed eyes as he looked around the store rapidly.

  I blinked in confusion.

  "Teach you?" I mused. "What the hell do you want me to teach you? I thought we hated each other. This goes against our pact," I pointed out.

  Well, I didn't hate him at all and he had been giving me strange and somewhat horrified looks lately instead of malicia... but this was still pretty out of the blue.

  Why was Togee asking me to teach him? What exactly did he want me to teach…

  Ohhhh.

  I snorted in amusement. "You know Green's gonna kill the both of us if I teach you how to be a better thief right?" I whispered to him with an amused glint.

  How the hell would I even teach a Togepi how to be a good thief? Would those skills even remain when he became a Togekiss?

  Togee waved off my concern, not at all phased by what his mother was going to do to him. If there was one thing the little shit was, it was hard headed.

  He did not learn his lesson. No matter what you did, his ignorance prevailed.

  I mulled it over and decided that if he was gonna steal anyways, might as well make him good at it.

  Less stress for his trainer that way. Green was probably tired of apologizing to people about her Togepi's less than stellar personality.

  "Alright sure whatever," I shrugged, going to the checkout and paying off my single bag.

  Togee actually looked like a sweet Togepi in that moment and if I didn't know him so well, I'd actually think he wasn't a demon.

  "C'mon, let's head to the TM floor there's stuff I wanna check out there."

  Togee climbed atop my shoulder without any hesitation, a starstruck look in his eyes as he hung onto my every word.

  To think that my thieving abilities would be the thing that won this Togepi over.

  "Alright first things first… always be aware of your surroundings and you gotta be sure of your course of plan. As long as you have a plan, even situations like a packed store are nothing to you," I muttered.

  All the while Togee (and unknown to me, Oberon) nodded, hanging onto every word I said.

  Green blinked at the sight before her, holding bags of clothes and other miscellaneous things.

  Next to her, Vee was unsteadily carrying a bag with just his psychic energy, though it faltered as I showed up.

  Vee's eyes shifted over to me and he tried to flash me a smile despite how nerve wracking my presence was to him all of a sudden.

  It must have been jarring. Vee was probably not used to feeling things like this from me. We spent quite a bit of time together after all.

  Green looked helplessly confused, rapidly blinking as she stared at me.

  The reason she looked so confused, was probably because of the sight of Togee sitting proudly atop my shoulder, no hint of animosity radiating off of him.

  "You two didn't kill each other?" she asked in surprise.

  "Nah," I denied, patting Togee on the head. "We get along now."

  "Tog!" Togee agreed.

  Green looked on dumbly, idly picking up Togee and regaining proper custody of him.

  "What did you guys do?" she asked eventually.

  "…" Neither of us said a word.

  Green let out a suffering sigh and hastily dragged me out of the store before I could steal anything more.

  I couldn't even steal the TMs. They were behind the counters of the checkout area.

  Lame.

  "Silvy," she said in a hushed whisper, dragging me back to our camp.

  "You can't just steal from them! I don't mind if you take from bad people because they're bad you know… but the Celadon store didn't do anything to you! You're not bad Silvy so you don't have to do bad things," she said quietly.

  I paused at that and frowned in contemplation.

  It's not like I was at risk of getting caught. Why was she so worried?

  Green stared at me with a firm frown and I sighed.

  "...I'll limit it to once per city," I said finally.

  Once per city that she'd know about of course. Me? Stop? Hah.

  My companion gaped at me.

  "It's a work in progress. I know you're still gonna do it behind my back but at least I got you to say something," she sighed eventually.

  I smiled. "Don't worry. I'm very good. It helps me hone my skills as well."

  "That's not the point! And please don't smile, it's creepy!" Green urged.

  I rolled my eyes. "Rude," I said flatly.

  The reason we chose to enter the city, was that the commotion had largely died down. In fact, the city was very quiet.

  "Silver? Green?"

  Oh. I think I knew why the city was quiet now.

  The two of us stopped at being called, gazing at the one who called us.

  "Oh if it isn't Ms. Aunt. Fancy meeting you here," I greeted, tilting my head curiously.

  What the hell was she doing here? Seeing my aunt so soon after the events of Vermillion?

  Odd.

  Lorelei was staring at me with a delighted expression that she hid pretty well.

  It was impressive. I doubt anyone would be able to tell how happy she was.

  Why the hell could I tell?

  "Ms. Lorelei," Green beamed quietly, waving at her excitedly in a way that didn't draw too much attention.

  "That's why the city is so quiet now," I mused.

  Lorelei sniffed once. "It was quite loud but the moment I showed up and established... boundaries, it became far more tolerable. Rest assured, the city will not be as raucous as it was before my arrival," she said.

  "Scary," Green whispered to me.

  I snorted in amusement.

  "What are you doing here?" I asked curiously, watching as she approached us at a measured pace.

  Gotta respect how there was no hesitation at all in her. She saw no issue with the fact that she was an Elite 4 member approaching a fellow redhead.

  My aunt looked as rigid as ever, wearing something a lot less casual for the occasion but still managing to make all the heads around turn.

  If she noticed, she didn't say anything. Lorelei stopped directly in front of us and we stared at each other for a long while.

  There was clearly something she wanted to say or do, but she was much too awkward to do so and I had 0 interest in finding out what it was.

  "I was here on business but I've mostly wrapped up for the day… I'll tell you about it but do you have a more quiet area where we could speak?" Lorelei asked softly.

  ...Was she serious right now?

  I nodded with a roll of my eyes, curious about what she had to say. "We set up camp somewhere in Route 7. If you don't mind getting leaves on you, you can come," I informed her.

  Lorelei looked only mildly offended. "I was a trainer at one point as well. It's almost standard to get a little bit of dirt on you. I'm not sure what image you have of me, but I assure you it's incorrect to some degree."

  I snorted. "Coulda fooled me, princess. Now come this way, your highness," I taunted with a mock bow.

  Green bit her lip and looked away to hide her amused expression.

  Lorelei twitched as soon as I said princess. Judging by the deep breath she took, I could tell she was trying very hard to not glare at me.

  Heh. Annoying a stiff was very funny. Doubly so when it was someone I was related to.

  "Silvy, stop harassing your aunt," Green admonished with a small smile. "C'mon Ms. Lorelei, our camp is this way."

  "Please, just call me Lorelei. Silver makes me feel old enough," Lorelei sighed, following after us and ignoring the glances at our group.

  I minded it though and glared at one offender who was creeping after us.

  Before I could violently teach him a lesson, Lorelei's Ninetales merely shot the weirdo a piercing glance and immediately caused him to wither away.

  I scoffed and shoved my hands in my pockets as the temperature steadily dropped around me.

  Stupid cold ice types.

  "Silver we need to talk about your mannerisms," Lorelei said quietly, turning her red eyes onto me.

  I raised a brow and easily met her gaze. "What about them?" I asked ignorantly.

  "It's utterly deplorable," she said without hesitation, completely missing how not genuine my question was. "You must portray yourself in a more favorable and refined light. I received reports about a week ago of a feral redhead nearly attacking several people inside of Mt. Moon. I had no idea what they were speaking of but after meeting you, I know exactly what they meant."

  I raised a brow at that. "Huh, I didn't think that would actually spread. Guess that flying master wasn't speaking out of his ass," I mused contemplatively.

  "Dragon master, Silvy."

  "Please watch your language."

  I ignored them both.

  "You really don't know how to cook?" I asked with a raised brow.

  That was really surprising to hear actually. Lorelei looked like the type of woman who could do it all.

  Lorelei coughed, drinking the tea offered to her. "It was not something I spent a lot of time learning. I can make something fulfilling but... the taste leaves much to be desired."

  Green nodded in understanding.

  I did not.

  "Wow, I would think someone as stiff and proper as you would know how to cook, aunt," I mocked with an amused smirk.

  Lorelei seemed more interested in drinking her tea than interacting with me. She took a long sip out of it, daintily placing the cup down and not showing any indication that she even drank anything.

  "The reason I'm here —"

  I snorted loudly at.

  "—Is because we received a message regarding Team Rocket performing operations inside of the Game Corner. Such a preposterous report was almost disregarded... but there was no harm in validating such a thing so the Police Force swiftly gained permission to conduct an emergency investigation," she explained, shifting into the professional mode that she was well known for.

  It was really impressive. It was like she was the perfect robot when she slipped into this mode. There was never an inflection, nor any emotion that would help figure out what she thought about the entire thing.

  She truly was ice cold to the core. No wonder she was insanely awkward.

  "According to Gym Leader Erika, by the time they arrived onto the scene, most of the action seemed to have settled down and there were multiple freed pokemon, along with… incapacitated grunts," Lorelei explained gently.

  Incapacitated huh? Yeah, she was avoiding mentioning their deaths. She did this back in the hospital as well. Most likely to protect me.

  Eh, whatever. I was a kid after all.

  Green and I nodded at the information she was feeding us, invested in hearing the aftermath of our heist.

  "The pokemon, captured by Team Rocket, were very agreeable… some were injured but the ones freed didn't seem too affected by the drugs injected into them. The Game Corner has effectively been shutdown and everything of value has been confiscated… I decided to offer my assistance in lieu of the surge of protests. I have been very effective in gathering the ones who decided to transform their anger into violence and they will be dealt with accordingly."

  I tilted my head at that. "You?" I pointed out in confusion.

  Why would they send Lorelei of all people? Intimidation tactics seemed more fitting for someone like Bruno or even Agatha…

  Actually, Lorelei was quite literally the last person I'd send here for intimidation. The current Kanto Elite 4 was Bruno, Agatha, Lorelei and Karen.

  In fact, I'd probably have sent Karen. Dark types were very good at getting their point across...

  Why the hell was Lorelei here —

  "...Are you stalking me?" I asked suddenly, narrowing my eyes suspiciously at her.

  Green choked on her tea at my blunt question and I absentmindedly began patting her back.

  She shot me a grateful and incredulous look all at once. "T-Thanks Silvy?" she stammered.

  "No problem."

  "...I am not stalking you. I merely volunteered after seeing that you were in Celadon," Lorelei said as measured as possible.

  I noticed that she wasn't looking at me at all and that got an abrupt chuckle out of me.

  Well, if there was one thing my aunt was, it was honest. I could appreciate that.

  "Should you really be telling us this?" I asked curiously. "This seems like league business."

  "It is League business… but besides the fact that I'd like to keep you two informed of Team Rocket matters, I have many reason to believe that you were involved in the exposure of the Game Corner."

  The two of us froze at that and I turned towards Lorelei with a curious gaze, making sure I didn't show anything to her.

  "Why do you think that?" I asked.

  Lorelei didn't look even slightly unsure of her statement. "Anonymous call, a broken window yet no signs of any human interference, traces of powder lingering in some areas... all of this occurred on the night of the same day you two arrived in Celadon. No one knows but I believe it was a joint effort between you and Green," she pointed out.

  Goddamnit. My aunt was too smart and attentive for her own good.

  Suddenly, her stalking me wasn't so funny.

  "Stop stalking me," I said with narrowed eyes. "You're using base assumptions to jump to that conclusion. Green and I were out training in the forests after applying for a gym battle," I denied.

  Lorelei gazed at my firm expression. "A very solid alibi. You did only enter the Pokemon Center earlier today... but I believe that was on purpose wasn't it? After all, you prefer to avoid Pokemon Centers but in recent times, you've consistently entered them," she pointed out.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  ...

  "Not to mention, back at the hospital, you merely said Team Rocket is all of our problems but you weren't being entirely truthful. This is where I do believe I don't understand the picture but I do have suspicions of such things."

  Green said nothing but I could tell she was having a harder time keeping a poker face.

  ...

  Shit. This made me realize something.

  Lorelei knew more about me than she was letting on. And the worst part was that I didn't know what she knew.

  I'd have to replay every conversation I had with her and assume my pathing had been tracked by her.

  What did she know?

  "Silver, I am not your enemy," Lorelei said softly, attempting to place a hand on my shoulder and thinking better of it.

  I was at least a little thankful for that.

  "I'm just… worried. For the both of you," Lorelei said truthfully. "I want to understand what drives you to attack Team Rocket so brazenly, Silver. What makes you refuse anyone's help? You have gone through something and I... want to help."

  "…" I said nothing, even as Lorelei got closer to me. I just stared warily at her, trying to think of what the hell this woman knew about me.

  Did I even want to know? How screwed was I?

  I froze as she tentatively pulled me into a tight and warm (cold technically because she was damn cold) hug.

  "You don't have to trust me immediately… but just know I'll always be there to help you if you need it. Whatever you tell me will stay between us," she assured.

  I snorted. "Yeah right," I rolled my eyes.

  "I'm serious, Silver. I have a duty as an Elite 4 member... but I also have my duties to you that I'd like to catch up on," Lorelei told me gently.

  …

  "...Why?" I asked curiously, gazing at her with my disturbing eyes.

  My silver eyes bore into her blood reds and my aunt didn't even flinch.

  "We're family. If I have to become the only family member you're willing to trust, then I will do everything in my power to do so," she said firmly.

  …

  I sighed in defeat…

  "I'm being targeted by Team Rocket if you couldn't already guess. Though, I'm sure you could," I muttered quietly.

  Green's eyes widened at that and she stared at me from the side, expression eventually going soft as she stayed out of it.

  "I can't tell you why they're after me," I admitted bitterly.

  "That's okay." Lorelei didn't look bothered by my response. There was just an understanding look in her eyes, as she stored the information away along with all the other things she learned about me in such a short time.

  The effort she put into understanding me...

  "Does your knowledge of the Game Corner have to do with why they are targeting you?" she asked patiently.

  "No. They probably don't know it was me who did it," I said truthfully.

  Her brows furrowed and she mulled over my response, absentmindedly rubbing my back in a circle.

  I nearly recoiled at the foreign feeling before I realized it didn't feel terrible.

  "You wish to continue your journey," Lorelei pointed out bluntly.

  "Yes," I nodded.

  "You will refuse all manner of protections I offer?"

  "Most likely. I won't let you take leave so you can follow me around the region."

  "…" Lorelei pursed her lips at that and nodded to herself.

  "Silver whatever you're going through… no matter what it may be, understand that I will protect you," she said strongly. "I'm fine with you keeping things to yourself for now. I'm very patient… but if there's one thing I want you to promise me, it's that if something happens, you will immediately call me."

  …

  "Alright, aunt," I said quietly. "You'll be the first person I call."

  "That's all I ask so thank you," she said softly, stepping back from me with a small smile.

  "...Stop stalking me," I said flatly, staring tiredly at her. "I thought it was kinda cute but now I don't think it's very cute anymore."

  Lorelei had the decency to look kind of embarrassed. "I apologize but I just find myself very concerned about your wellbeing... so I frequently check up on you," she replied.

  "We've barely known each other for a week. Why the hell are you so concerned?" I raised a brow.

  Lorelei frowned. "Do you think time is a factor in how I should feel about you?" she asked in some confusion.

  "Yes," I answered without hesitation, like it were common sense. "We haven't known each other long enough for you to react and act the way you do."

  This was the same way Jasmine and Green warmed up to me way too fast. It was so weird. Why did they become attached to me so quickly?

  My aunt looked at me with a perplexed expression. "Silver... love and care are not transactions. They should not cost time to be bought. It is a priceless thing that cannot be measured in such a way. If someone feels love, they simply feel love," she said softly.

  I froze completely at that.

  "You are my nephew. Is it so baffling that I care about you?"

  "..." I said nothing, realizing that everything I said now would probably be stored away.

  It was clear the league had eyes on me now, so I'd have to manipulate their thoughts on what could possibly be wrong with me.

  Yeah...

  "Don't worry, Lorelei!" Green assured, mercifully sweeping in to save me. "I've got his back!"

  As Lorelei gazed at Green, I shot her an appreciative look for taking the attention off me.

  I'm sure she noticed it because Green was more aware than she let on... after all she interrupted that conversation to give me a break.

  What a sweet girl... I felt a little too weird to speak right now so I was glad she did it.

  "Thank you, Green. Please also take down my number. I trust you more to recognize when a situation is getting bad before Silver does," Lorelei requested.

  She was probably right but I still scowled.

  Green blinked, before her face lit up red at that. "Y-You want my n-number?! Really?" she stammered excitedly.

  Lorelei nodded. "You've listened to all of this and Silver hasn't shown the slightest bit of discomfort at how much you know. He trusts you and I trust his judgement."

  Green nearly fainted on the spot. "Oh of course I will! I-I'm so honored! I'll try not to be a bother!"

  "I wouldn't mind if you messaged me updates. Silver doesn't contact me," my aunt frowned.

  I rolled my eyes. "Do I really need to message you? You're stalking me anyways. If you have enough time to stalk me, you have enough time to message me," I said flatly.

  "Well... I didn't want to overstep my boundaries," she admitted. "I would never mind a message from you, but I'm sure you would have times where you would mind a message from me."

  I snorted. "Well, you aren't wrong."

  Green nearly squealed aloud but nodded hastily. "Life updates on the way! I'll get Silvy to say hi!"

  "Thank you, Green. You're a good girl," Lorelei said, flashing her a smile.

  Green finally squealed.

  I watched my companion with an amused glance.

  She was such a fangirl.

  "You don't have an ice type?"

  If you listened real hard, you could hear the disappointment in Lorelei's curious question.

  "Haven't really encountered any," I admitted. "Not many I'd want either."

  I had no positive or negative feelings about Ice types. My favorite was Sneasel but well… I had Loki now instead of my original first pokemon.

  "I see…" Lorelei pondered, patting the fur of the Alolan Ninetales curled up against her.

  We were currently in our camp, just relaxing in preparation for the next day so that we could get our gym badges and get out…

  But Lorelei was still here.

  Weird.

  "Since you already know. We encountered a Executive there," I informed Lorelei, getting her eyes to widen. "But we dealt with him. You didn't find him?"

  My aunt turned a startled gaze towards me. "Did... the executive have... an assortment of fully evolved poison and dark types?"

  My brows furrowed in confusion. "So you did catch him? That was his team alright. It was Proton."

  Lorelei gazed at me with horrified eyes.

  "It matches up with what we've seen him with but I didn't want to entertain the idea that you two encountered Proton because well... he has a terrible reputation."

  I nodded. "I believe it. Violent man," I muttered.

  Lorelei frowned. "Barring the fact that you somehow survived an encounter with a Crobat... and you managed to deal with him, we saw no sight of Executive Proton. Did you two perhaps..."

  I shook my head. "We got outta there as fast as possible after he attacked us... but wait, you have his pokemon?" I asked in confusion.

  She nodded. "They have been properly restrained. A Weezing, Crobat, Cacturne, Sableye, Toxicroak and Drapion were all accounted for. Though, the Weezing and Crobat were, well..." she coughed.

  "Dead," I finished for her. "You know you don't gotta really hide the fact that things die. This is the third time you've done it," I informed her.

  Lorelei flinched at my words. "I'm aware that you likely know what I mean... but I would prefer not to be the one to inform you of such things," she said carefully.

  I rolled my eyes.

  So the Crobat and Weezing died? I guess the Weezing got jumped by the wild pokemon before Proton's other members could react to them.

  And well, the Crobat was unconscious so yeah. A sitting duck.

  Did that mean Proton was also killed by the wild pokemon?

  But they would have seen his corpse at least... so that meant he had to have been saved by Mewtwo.

  But taking him and not his pokemon? A trainer without their team was practically worthless—

  Oh. Ohhhh. Yeah. I get it now.

  Yeah. I don't think we had to worry about Proton anymore. My father was the leader of the Mafia after all.

  Well... huh. I got Proton killed didn't I?

  Oops I guess. At least judging by the fact Mewtwo wasn't currently at my location yesterday, no one knew it was me who attacked Game Corner.

  Small victories.

  I shrugged at that. "How long are you staying here?" I asked curiously, turning towards the woman who was way too close to me.

  She had barely left my side since this whole thing started. Occasionally, she would run a cool hand through my head.

  I must have been too drained to tell her to fuck off for that.

  "I will remain for another day to ensure Erika has things fully under control. Afterwards, I will head back to Indigo," she explained easily.

  I nodded before pausing. My eyes narrowed as a thought occurred.

  "...What do you plan on doing tomorrow?" I asked suspiciously.

  "…" Lorelei pursed her lips and turned her gaze towards me.

  I narrowed my eyes further.

  "...I was going to handle personal affairs," she said vaguely.

  "Like?" I pressed.

  "The Celadon Department store has quite a good variety of Pokemon dolls…" Lorelei admitted, slightly embarrassed to be doing so.

  Green perked up. "You like pokemon dolls too?!" she asked excitedly.

  My companion reached into her bag and pulled out an army of plushies. The most obvious were the various evolutions of Eevee and the suspiciously new looking Espeon doll.

  I eyed Vee for a bit and was satisfied to see him blush in embarrassment, getting a snort out of me.

  "So do I!" Green grinned happily. "I love collecting them! My mom likes when I send them to her as gifts too and I gotta start giving some to Jas as well!"

  "What about you, aunt?" I asked innocently. "How many dolls you got?"

  Lorelei stared at me and I watched as she pushed her glasses up slightly.

  "My house is full of them," she admitted painfully slowly. "It's a hobby of mine to collect them."

  "So cool," I mocked. "So you're staying in Celadon for longer just to buy more?" I asked.

  "That's awesome! You have a collectors heart! We should compare!" Green grinned happily, totally oblivious to the horrible embarrassment I was currently submitting my aunt too.

  "I'd… be delighted," she replied eventually.

  I snorted. "So besides the fact that you want to buy more dolls. You're definitely here to watch our gym battle, right?"

  "...You did all this on purpose," Lorelei accused flatly.

  "I wanted to see how far you were willing to go to hide the fact that you're blatantly stalking your nephew," I said with an amused smirk.

  Lorelei sighed in defeat. "I do believe it's time we start disciplining you. Your terrible behavior has gone on for far too long," she muttered.

  I blinked before my aunt focused her undivided attention onto me.

  "You may join if you'd like, Green. It would be beneficial for you to pay attention."

  "Y-Yes ma'am!" Green saluted.

  Huh? The hell was she talking about? Discipline me?

  "What the fuck?" I muttered in confusion, before letting out a startled noise, more akin to a cat, at the icy cold hand touching my neck.

  What the fuck?!

  I turned a wild gaze towards Lorelei, who didn't look even remotely bothered by the fact that she just touched me with her freezing hands.

  "Language," Lorelei was all she said.

  "Language?!" I snarled. "I'll show you something worse than language."

  I glared at my aunt, before immediately lunging at her with malicious intent.

  Lorelei's eyes widened, as I landed atop of her.

  "What do you think you're doin— O-Ow!" the Elite 4 member let out an uncharacteristic shout, as I bit her neck without any hesitation.

  "Silver!" Lorelei yelped in disbelief, pushing me off of her.

  "I hate the cold," I hissed, unbothered by the fact that I just bit my aunt. "Do that again and we've got more of those coming."

  I was not above doing such a thing. I nearly bit Lance when he put his hand on my head on multiple occasions.

  Lorelei looked shocked, likely never expecting anyone to ever physically attack her. She touched the spot where I bit her and I was satisfied to see annoyance take root.

  She put a hand out to calm the alert Ninetales and finally glared at me.

  Oh she wanted to do it herself?

  That increased my respect for the dainty woman by a lot.

  "You plan on doing this by yourself?" I asked with a raised brow. "You think you can handle getting dirty?!"

  "I will do what it takes. I fought with my sister all the time. This is nothing new," she explained, glaring at me.

  "I'll fucking show you something new!" I barked.

  "You need to stop acting like you're feral!" Lorelei announced, very willing to tussle with me to prove her point.

  "No. Acting how I act, lets people know that they should fuck off and leave me alone!" I snarled challengingly, poised to lunge at her again.

  "What the hell…" Green said dumbly, watching as my aunt and I glared at each other.

  "Nevermind, this must run in the family," she decided, nodding to herself and taking a seat to enjoy the free entertainment.

  I grumbled slightly, nodding in some respect as I brushed my hair. "I didn't expect you to be so willing to tussle," I noted, straightening my hair out.

  She was damn strong too. Guess years of being an elite level trainer, made you impressive yourself.

  It also helped my theory that humans had to evolve further than the ones in my world to keep up with Pokemon to some degree. Lorelei, for all her daintiness, was athletic as hell.

  Ninetales was a mix of horrified and amused at what his trainer and I had just done. I couldn't blame the regal fox, he probably never saw his trainer get down like that.

  Good. I prided myself in making so many people act out of character.

  Lorelei huffed and accepted my brush, holding her once perfectly cared for hair and straightening it out. "I didn't expect you to be a literal rabid beast. I clearly needed a different approach for you."

  "I respect that... there's no way you're gonna get me to change my ways though," I said bluntly, yawning slightly.

  She let out a sigh. "I'm beginning to realize that… but I'll accept that challenge," my aunt said. "Turn around, the back of your head is still a bit messy."

  She was certainly a stubborn one.

  I snorted and did so, allowing her to brush the back of my head down. There was a brief silence between us, only broken up by the sound of the brush scrubbing my hair down.

  "So are you sleeping with us? It's about that time for us to sleep and today has been eventful so I'm tired, " I asked my aunt.

  Lorelei looked slightly caught off guard by that, evident by the pause of her brushing. "You wouldn't mind? I have a hotel reserved so I could sleep there. Actually, it's quite the large room, I'm sure all three of us could comfortably sleep in there…"

  "We already set up our tents and I'm too lazy to pack them up," Green admitted truthfully, thoroughly exhausted from all the laughing she did.

  I nodded in agreement.

  "I see..." Lorelei muttered, resuming her brushing slowly.

  "I don't care what you pick," I shrugged truthfully. "It's up to you but I wanna sleep out here. The city is far."

  Green yawned and nodded. "I'll sleep in my tent tonight then," she decided.

  "Sure. Goodnight Leaf," I waved.

  "Night Silvy! Night Lorelei," she waved.

  "Alright, I'm goin to sleep too," I grunted, feeling as she stopped brushing my hair.

  I stood up and stretched out the kinks in my body. "Goodnight, aunt."

  "Wait," Lorelei called out. "Where exactly would I be sleeping?"

  I blinked. "In Green's tent."

  "No, Silvy. Stop being like this."

  I pursed my lips at that. "Thought she was asleep…" I muttered.

  "It hasn't even been a full minute yet. Why are you like this?" Green asked inside her tent.

  "I limit test how much I can get away with things," I said blandly.

  Damn. Thought she was just gonna accept it. Green was a huge Lorelei fan after all. Who wouldn't wanna sleep in the same tent as her?

  "Alright, you can sleep in mine. There's enough room," I said begrudgingly, turning towards the confused Lorelei with a sigh.

  "It's good to know you find everyone equally disgusting, Silvy."

  "I discriminate fairly, Leaf."

  I didn't wait for my aunt to say anything and vanished into my tent.

  I bet a lot of people would kill to be in my position…

  "Whatever," I sighed, not really pleased by the complete turn of events that took place in the span of a day. I didn't think Lorelei was just gonna full on stalk me. I thought being an Elite 4 member kept her damn busy but clearly not. I wouldn't be surprised if she was aware of every move I made.

  Having an Elite 4 aunt who was very willing to keep tabs on you, kinda put a dent in any future plans I was planning. Especially when that same Elite 4 member was clearly too smart for her own good.

  To think she figured me out so much. If I realized that she knew more during our meeting at the hospital, I would have been more careful with what I said.

  It was careless of me. Lack of information was as critical as having information.

  "This is quite the tent," Lorelei noted quietly, removing her glasses and gently placing them to the side.

  I grunted and immediately honed into my preferred spot, sighing as my head connected to the mat. "Just pick a spot."

  With that, I shut my eyes and ignored the shuffling as Lorelei picked a spot to rest for the night.

  Her body was just naturally cold. She radiated like no warmth at all which was funny because Green was kinda the opposite with the body warmth she emitted.

  I would know. Green was very clingy (are you even surprised?). Least she warmed me up when the nights got cold.

  Funnily enough, Green said I was fairly cool as well.

  "This is a bit awkward," Lorelei admitted quietly.

  "You're just an awkward person," I told her truthfully. "Must run in the family, I suck at socialization too."

  For some reason, that seemed to ease Lorelei and I heard an almost quiet chuckle erupt from her body.

  "I suppose that's true. I've never quite been the best at dealing with people outside of professional situations either. Too... cold they said," she informed me.

  "Dork but I'm the same. But you can scratch the professional part... and the part where I do it on purpose," I snorted.

  It was dawning on me, that I had let my defenses weaken around Lorelei by too much to be normal.

  I don't know if it's what she said or how she delivered it… or the way she would absentmindedly rub my hair or my back in a way that felt good but… I let my guard down way too fast.

  I withheld the urge to sigh as realization hit me.

  I was such a kid. No wonder I slipped up like this… it was also no wonder I was so accepting of Green and her mannerisms.

  Yearning. That's all it was. The desire for things I didn't have when I was even younger most likely.

  Back in Hoenn, when I met Joy, I thought I was self assured and confident in how I was going about things.

  But now? Not so much.

  "I'm getting tired for real this time," I told her. "Goodnight aunt."

  "Goodnight Silver," Lorelei said quietly, cool yet quiet breaths temporarily brushing against me.

  I sighed at feeling the cold air and stared out into the darkness, mind running with dozens of thoughts.

  What do I do now? How do I approach things? I guess I could play the "I'm one of Team Rocket's experiment" card and play on their sympathy?

  But that would still incriminate me with Team Rocket if they did a little digging.

  Goddamnit. Lorelei finding out about me threw things for a real curve.

  Wait a second. How the hell did Lorelei figure out I existed?

  "Considering Lorelei is also a redhead who's hair is much closer in shade to yours, they'll probably say we had a secret child this whole time."

  Lance.

  My eyes narrowed in the dark of night.

  Lance played me like a fool didn't he? Lance knew more than he was letting on too.

  Did he bring up Lorelei to test how I'd react to hearing her name? When I lacked a visible reaction, not even knowing how she looked... did he assume that I was related to her in another way?

  Of course he did. That's why I was currently sleeping in a tent with my aunt.

  Lance that conniving bastard. I bit back a snarl of irritation and felt my anger spike.

  I didn't like being treated like a fool. I really didn't like it.

  And here I was, about to admit that he was cool. The asshole set my Elite 4 aunt onto me.

  ...I sighed.

  Well, I suppose it was a good thing I hadn't committed egregious crimes since landing in Kanto. My goal of eliminating Team Rocket did not change but my desire to do it alone, only strengthened.

  The league knew things about me and I didn't know what. If they were going to stalk me, then I'd let them stalk me attacking Team Rocket nonstop. If I did that and they didn't connect the dots with me and Giovanni, I could portray myself as a victim instead of a criminal.

  Whatever. I'd do what I continued to do. It's not like the league was scarier than Mewtwo. The biggest threat to me currently, was the psychic type and I needed to find a way to deal with him.

  "What a mess," I thought, once again taking note of the woman sleeping next to me.

  She even slept dignified. Truly an ice queen —

  I let out a strangled hiss as I was abruptly pulled into a bear hug.

  My tired state, meant my struggles achieved absolutely nothing and I scowled.

  Remember how I mentioned my aunt was actually strong? Well yeah I wasn't kidding! What the hell was this grip she had on me?!

  Eventually, I gave up trying to escape and just shut my eyes.

  Lorelei was squeezing me against her like I was some damn toy and judging by the even breath brushing against my neck, she was well and truly asleep so this wasn't intentional.

  …

  Fucking forget it. I'm going to sleep. I'm too used to this bullshit happening to me.

  A gasp of horror woke me up and I blinked blearily at seeing red fill my vision.

  It only took me a second to realize that red belonged to my increasingly familiar aunt and memories of last night filled my head.

  I sleepily glared at her with all the fury a tired and grumpy person could muster. "Did you seriously flip me to face you while I was sleeping?" I asked in disbelief.

  "I-I..." Lorelei looked stunned, completely caught off guard. Without her glasses it was much easier to see her expressions.

  It also helped that I was close as fuck to her.

  "You what?" I pressed with a firm glare. "You forgot to tell me that you're a serial hugger? Woulda been nice to mention so I could set up a barrier between us," I scowled.

  "And could you fucking let me go?!" I barked, still trapped in her grasp.

  Lorelei released me like she had been burned and I dusted myself off as regally as I possibly could, after the situation that just took place.

  My aunt actually looked panicked, embarrassment flooding her so fast that I would have laughed if not for the fact that I was also embarrassed as hell. "Silver, I am so terribly sorry. I had no idea that I was... I tend to sleep with my pokemon dolls so —"

  "So you thought I was a doll?!" I sneered.

  She spluttered slightly at the interruption. "That's not what I was implying, no. I just built up such a habit and since you slept right next to me, my habits got the better of me and —"

  "No wonder you buy so many dolls. Your grip must have destroyed them," I said bluntly.

  Lorelei coughed, reaching for her glasses to properly distract herself from this horribly awkward situation. "Well... at least you are rather comfortable?" she tried placatingly.

  I immediately groaned. "You fucking suck at this. Is that really your attempt at reassuring me?"

  The silence was loud. "Was... it that bad?" she asked tentatively.

  I pinched my nose at the dork and let out a suffering sigh.

  "The less you mention it, the better. Just understand that whatever image I had of you, was destroyed last night."

  "You had a positive image of me?"

  "No. It's just worse now."

  After falling asleep, Lorelei seemed to take my compliance as freedom to do what the hell she wanted with me and I ended up absolutely crushed against my aunt.

  Needless to say, she was clearly mortified to find out that her pokedoll was in fact not a pokedoll but her very belligerent nephew.

  Utterly ridiculous.

  "You should be glad I wasn't uncomfortable or neither of us woulda got sleep," I scowled, pushing out of the tent to get away from the grabby woman.

  Ice queen my ass. She wasted no time at all grabbing me in her sleep. Who knows what she would do in the early morning?

  Lorelei followed me outside of the tent and at the same time, Green's tent opened up and she stepped out with a yawn.

  "G'mornin. What on earth were you two arguing about?" my companion grumbled, blinking blearily as she wiped her eyes.

  She began blinking even more as she gazed at the two of us.

  "Are you two alright? Both your faces are red," Green pointed out with a look of confusion.

  Lorelei coughed lightly as I looked away with a scowl.

  "My aunt is not as cold as she makes herself out to be," I said bluntly, ruffling through my bag to prepare for breakfast.

  "Huh?" Green muttered.

  "Really, I'm sorry about my actions," Lorelei repeated. "I'm embarrassed just thinking about it. You were just very comfortable and right there so…"

  "Please stop talking," I interrupted her, stamping down my embarrassment even further.

  "Wha...?" Green scratched her head.

  At least Green wasn't bad when she inevitably found my goddamn body. Not even Gaia crushed me that hard against her and she was clingy enough to use her vines on me.

  Lorelei was a whole other beast. That was completely ridiculous.

  "I can't help but think you're thinking unsavory things about me," my aunt muttered.

  I glared at her to confirm that I was before ruffling in my bag again. "I'm making eggs. If you have a problem, raise your hand."

  Green raised her hand.

  "Yes you can help, Leaf."

  Green lowered her hand.

  Lorelei placed a hand into the air.

  "...You can help too aunt."

  Lorelei placed her hand back into her lap and I sighed.

  Green and I were getting a little decent at cooking. Breakfast was one of the few things we learned how to make good at a fairly impressive rate so that was nice…

  But Lorelei said she didn't know how to cook, so I'd have to keep an eye on her…

  And it was a good thing I did. My aunt wasn't just bad at cooking, she was horrid!

  "I'm sending you the recipes Jas sent us," I decided immediately on her behalf. "I can't believe you're such a shitty cook. I used to be that shitty... But I'm 12."

  "Please watch your language," Lorelei chastised, not looking at either Green or I as she diligently ate her eggs. "I must admit, I thought it would be easier. Jynx is quite fond of cooking so she normally handles it when I make food for myself," she admitted.

  "...Are you serious?" I asked incredulously.

  "Don't worry about it! We kinda suck too!" Green reassured, wolfing down her plate.

  "What the hell did you eat when you were a trainer?" I asked, genuinely curious.

  "Packaged foods and rations," she said truthfully.

  I glanced at my aunt with an incredulous gaze.

  "Wow are you one of those people that are only good at their job?" I asked curiously.

  "...I am more than capable of doing other things," Lorelei defended. "There are just many things I didn't have the time to dedicate to in my pursuit of honing my craft. Becoming a Master required much of my attention."

  Huh, so even someone as smart and dignified as Lorelei, suffered from tunnel vision.

  "Honestly, people speak as if your completely perfect. It's kinda cool to know you suck at so many things too," I nodded.

  "We're learning how to cook too! You can learn at the same time as us!" Green grinned encouragingly.

  Lorelei opened her mouth and closed it.

  "It's genuinely shocking that you and Green are traveling companions," she said finally.

  I snorted in amusement and grabbed all the plates for washing.

  "We need to get ready for the gym," I said bluntly, watching as Green began packing everything up.

  "We leaving right after?" she asked curiously.

  "Yeah. You still wanna skip Sabrina right?"

  "Yep! We'll go to Fuchsia!"

  I rolled my eyes. "I'll ignore how inconvenient that'll make our travel plans. Wrecking that freak later will feel satisfying for me too," I muttered.

  "I'm impressed that you two have such good plans and you properly communicate them... but please refrain from using such derogatory terms when speaking of our gym leaders," Lorelei requested with a sigh.

  "We had an interesting first meeting," I replied bluntly. I had no intention of telling her how my meeting with Sabrina went, now that I knew these guys were mentally logging info about me.

  Lorelei blinked. "You remained in Saffron for less than an hour. In that frame you already encountered Sabrina?" she asked a little incredulously.

  "I can't seriously be the only one baffled by the fact that you have been tracking my journey right?" I asked Green. "Am I weird for this? I can't be?"

  "Famous trainers get tracked a lot..." Green said sheepishly. "But yeah it's a little strange that someone is so invested in you."

  Lorelei pursed her lips at that. "I see... I will moderate my monitoring then. How does once a day sound?"

  "You're a freak," I replied bluntly, rolling my eyes. "Do whatever you want."

  "Right. But that doesn't change the fact that you and Sabrina had a strange encounter. Does this have to do with Jynx refusing to tell me why she is afraid of you?"

  I shrugged. "Probably," I replied.

  It was no secret psychics were wary of me. I wouldn't be surprised if most trainers with experiences psychics realized I was weird. Jasmine certainly picked up on Bronzy not liking me off our few meetings.

  Lorelei pursed her lips at that and nodded, likely understanding that this was not something I'd be telling her no matter what.

  "We're headed to the gym now. You wanna come with us or sneak in?" I asked her.

  Lorelei frowned. "I'll head out first to speak to Erika about matters pertaining Celadon," she murmured, releasing Jynx from her pokeball.

  "Sure," I said, watching as Jynx inched away from me, eyes glowing.

  Lorelei shot us both a small smile before she vanished to the gym.

  "Alright Green, it's showtime," I grunted.

  "Kay!" she beamed challengingly, adjusting her white hat confidently.

  Erika… our first gym battle after the disaster that was the S.S Anne.

  I was a little pent up honestly so… I was going to make a statement this match.

  Judging by the antsy Green, she was here to prove a point as well.

  Good.

  "Bet I'll beat Erika with less pokemon than you," I grunted.

  Green whirled on me with a challenging glint. "You're so on! Loser washes every dish for a week!"

  I nodded in agreement. "It's a bet."

  With that we set off.