These Silver Eyes

  Chapter 12: Freaks

  "What do you think?"

  I blinked and looked up, having been properly distracted by my pokegear for the moment, to gauge the nervous Crystal's appearance.

  She fidgeted in place at my assessing gaze, face turning a progressive shade of red as I said nothing.

  Crystal was dressed in a white lab coat, over a baby blue, form fitting shirt. She had the same shorts on that she usually did, except now they were white much like her coat. The black of her black and white sneakers was replaced by a similar shade of baby blue and I eventually nodded in approval.

  "Much better. You can actually qualify as cute," I complimented genuinely.

  Her cheeks darkened at that and she turned to look at herself in the mirror the store had placed on the wall.

  "W-Well... it does look really nice. I can't believe you managed to pick this out for me," she mumbled, shyly looking at herself up and down.

  I chuckled, feeling a deja vu I couldn't explain. "You guys are all extremely useless at day to day activities because you only have training on your mind. You're the most competent of the 4 idiots... but you sacrificed dressing skills to achieve it."

  Thankfully for Crystal, I actually did know how to dress so when she dragged me to a clothing store, only to stare helplessly at all the different clothing, I decided to offer the hopeless girl some help.

  I saw her pick up red pants, an orange shirt and some fucking suspenders before intervening for her own good. I realized if left to her own devices, Crystal would cause a natural disaster with her dressing.

  Cue, me picking out multiple different outfits and handing them off to her. You help out a little and suddenly, you're picking out every outfit for them to wear.

  Blue and white were good colors for her. In general, she'd probably fit better with a lighter array of clothing...

  "H-How about me?" a voice asked timidly, poking their head out of the dresser before slowly stepping out.

  ...In comparison, Janine was definitely someone who naturally looked better in darker clothing.

  Black skinny jeans, with a short sleeved, form fitting purple shirt and a silky black jacket, purple highlights adorning it.

  I clapped, impressed that she could turn it around like this. "The pants could be replaced for easier travels... but other than that, I wouldn't think you're a gym leader's drone of a daughter, with that outfit. Who would think you'd actually look decent in a normal outfit. Shocker."

  Much like Crystal, Janine's cheeks darkened in embarrassment.

  "Stop looking at me now," she mumbled.

  "Can't you just compliment us for once without making it backhanded?" Crystal sighed, tugging the blue shirt slightly.

  "Nah, this is how I entertain myself after being dragged clothes shopping without consent."

  Janine huffed. "Next time, don't open your mouth so freely."

  I rolled my eyes. "Are we done here? I've given you both pointers and a couple of outfits. You're both good looking now so you no longer need to feel insecure."

  Crystal and Janine nodded in unison, both glancing at each other.

  "You really do look good!" Crystal complimented, a smile forming on her face.

  "You as well! I doubted Silver's abilities but... he unfortunately does know what he's doing," Janine muttered.

  I chuckled in amusement at the distaste in her voice, raking a hand through my hair.

  "Yeah yeah now go pay... we have to go meet up with Green and Gold for food. My dinners on you, Janine," I said bluntly.

  Janine blinked, horror flashing on her face. "Why me?"

  "Crystal's broke. You're a gym leader's daughter."

  "I-I'm not broke! Don't just go saying that so loudly!" Crystal stammered, trying to shove both her hands over my mouth and failing miserably.

  "Stop taking advantage of my status! These are my savings! I meticulously spend my money and save the rest!" Janine protested.

  "What do you spend it on? Kunai, shurikens and smoke bombs?" I asked boredly, grabbing both of Crystal's hands with one of mine and hoisting her off the floor.

  "W-Why are you so strong?!" Crystal gaped, struggling intensely to no avail.

  "You are so offensive! Why do you think these things are okay to say to someone?! Don't you walk away from me! Oh that's it, I've had enough of you!" Janine shouted.

  Walking with a Nidoqueen and a Kangaskhan, was a great way to make room.

  They both held Crystal and Janine's bags respectively, Janine holding her head as she pocketed her old as hell (seriously, it was ancient) Pokegear with a despondent sigh.

  "I didn't say you had to pay for Crystal's bags too," I pointed out, gazing at a hand held mirror to make sure I didn't have a black eye.

  "...Shut up. I actually like Crystal," Janine muttered, snatching the mirror out of my hand to make sure her eye wasn't black either.

  "Ouch," I said flatly, amusement on my features as she gave me back my mirror. Nidoqueen was glaring darkly at me, due to having to break up me and Janine's fight and I rolled my eyes at her.

  "I appreciate that, Janine. I'll repay you back, don't worry," Crystal promised with an apologetic smile.

  Janine waved her hands. "Oh don't worry! I'd only make Gold and Silver pay me back!"

  My brows went up at that. "Do you like girls?" I asked curiously.

  Janine twitched and turned an incredulous stare towards me. "What are you asking me?! You and Gold are just both incredibly insufferable! You two must be brothers in another universe."

  I stopped so abruptly, my companions immediately followed suit and turned towards me.

  "Silver... are you okay?" Crystal asked in concern.

  "Did I punch you too hard?" Janine asked carefully.

  I coughed harshly. "Don't ever say that about Gold and I again. Alright, I'm good to go... also you hit like a pussy so it was never going to be that."

  "What is wrong with him?" Janine whispered in disbelief.

  "You'll go on for days trying to find that out," Crystal whispered back.

  "He didn't even have to mention how I hit. He threw that in for the hell of it."

  I snorted. "C'mon. We need to get back to training soon so let's store those bags."

  We did just that and after watching Janine and Crystal store their bags away, with the help of Nidoqueen and Khanaree (the Kangaskhan), our group began making its way back to our training grounds.

  Considering that it was Gold and Green we left behind (Green really refused to change her outfit. I respected her commitment), I wasn't surprised at all to see a battle taking place.

  But what I was surprised about, was who was being battled.

  I watched with a vaguely interested gaze, as Ataro, Gold's Ambipom, lunged forward, hitting a somersault and delivering two vicious slaps of its tails onto the Umbreon that was its opponent.

  The Umbreon squealed and skidded back, collapsing onto the floor with a final thud.

  "Nice job Ataro!" Gold grinned, high fiving one of his Ambipom's tail.

  The Ambipom cackled at his victory and I watched as the two actually did a handshake that ended in a fist bump.

  "Tch," Blue sucked his teeth, returning his Umbreon to the ball with a heinous scowl.

  Green clapped at the end of the match. She was leaning on the slumbering Saury and was probably serving as the referee for the concluding battle.

  "Nice job you two!" she praised.

  "Nothing to it! That was pretty good!" Gold replied easily, crossing his arms behind his head.

  "Nice job? Pretty good?" Blue spat, crossing his arms as his boiling azure eyes glared at them both. "Save your fucking pity party! There was nothing nice about that!"

  Green withered at that, expression turning hurt as she rubbed her arm awkwardly.

  Gold raised a brow and immediately scowled at the way Green whittled backwards. "Calm down, jackass. Aren't you and Green friends? Why are you being such a dick to her when she didn't do anything?" he asked.

  "Yeah, watch who you're talking to like that before I render that big mouth of yours useless," I said coldly, fury shining in my metallic eyes as I marched up to the Oak.

  If possible, Green's expression turned even more distressed. "W-Wait hold on you guys! I'm okay, really!"

  Gold and I ignored her.

  Blue froze and stared at me, true anger in his eyes that hadn't been there our last encounter in Lavender.

  I scoffed. Part of me thought he had actually been capable of improving but clearly that wasn't the case.

  You could practically see the sparks flying, as we glared at each other and Crystal already looked geared to break up the altercation that hadn't taken place yet.

  "I don't know what you're doing here. But you can fucking leave now, Oak," I sneered.

  Blue scowled violently. "I thought I told you not to call me that," he said lowly.

  "I thought I told you I don't give a fuck. I'll call you worthless if that's what you really want. You aren't anything without that name," I hissed.

  Veins littered his head at that and almost exactly like our last encounter, it looked like it was about to come to blows.

  I sneered derisively. "There's two ways to shut me up. Beat me in a battle or beat me in a fist fight. You can't do either so if I were you, I'd remember my role in this world and shut the fuck up."

  "Damn. Not bad," Gold whistled.

  "Oh jeez this is going to get bad," Crystal sighed.

  "I see now that he really could have been way ruder to me," Janine muttered.

  "S-Silver!" Green shouted with a frown.

  Blue's glare deepened and he balled his fist, likely remembering how our last encounter turned out.

  I was proven right as he decided to forgo violence in favor of saying, "Whatever. I'm outta here."

  "Bit of a sore loser, huh?" Gold raised a brow.

  I scoffed. "That's because he is a loser with a losers mentality to boot. Can't handle someone with more bite than him so he goes for his worried childhood friend."

  "Bummer. Guess he can't punch above his weight, huh?" Gold crossed his arms.

  "You guys, seriously! You don't have to do this..." Green trailed off, gazing nervously at her friend.

  Green wasn't willing to match Blue's ignorance. She was much too nice for that and this was the boy she grew up with.

  But Gold and I? We were both very ignorant and neither of us cared all that much for him.

  Blue's eyes narrowed heatedly and he snarled, turning towards the two of us with a look that made me think he was probably ignorant too.

  But not as much as us of course. He was a pampered little rich boy. He'd never be.

  I stared back unfazed. "Wanna fight? It can be a proper 1 on 1."

  Gold raised a brow. "Have your pick. We won't jump."

  "Gold and Silver!" Crystal interrupted, stepping between us with a frown. "You're making Green uncomfortable!"

  The three of us stared at each other and I scoffed.

  "You're lucky Gold already beat you, Oak. I wouldn't have minded putting you in your place again," I said partingly, making my way over to Green.

  "Some childhood friend you are. After speaking to Ash... I can definitely say you're the problem of the three and you should take a look in the mirror," Gold advised.

  Blue hissed and took a step forward, deciding to throw caution to the wind... before Crystal stepped in front of him with a sigh.

  I didn't even spare him a glance.

  "Instead of being so angry that people are more skilled than you, how about you self reflect and actually get good? Surely you had to have inherited something from your gramps... or did it skip a generation?" I asked in mock concern.

  Crystal sighed and pinched her nose. "Those two are ridiculous... Blue was it? I think you should go. They're going to keep going until you lose your reasoning and attack them."

  "He started it," Gold shrugged unapologetically.

  Crystal ignored her best friend effortlessly. "I've seen some footage of you! You have the talent but you don't tackle being a trainer with enough passion I think. Just talent isn't enough and you have to be willing to learn from everything, especially the defeats! I think if you work on yourself a little more, you can even join our Color Gang!"

  Gold and I snorted in unison.

  Blue stared at her with an astonished stare.

  Then he scoffed and turned away.

  "...Like I'd wanna hang out with you losers!" he snarled, marching off.

  "Ironic!" the two of us shouted right before he disappeared.

  "Jeez... you two don't make situations better," Crystal sighed.

  "He was being a dick the entire time even before you showed up," Gold grunted.

  I walked up to my companion with a tilted head. "You alright?" I asked.

  Green stared up at me with a frown. "You... you don't have to defend me like that, Silvy. I didn't need you to do that. I can handle myself!"

  To punctuate her point, she crossed her arms and turned her head.

  "Hoh? Is little Miss Green trying to act rebellious because I bothered her little baby of a friend?" I asked in some amusement.

  "No I'm not! I'm serious! You always do this and you know you make situations worse! I can handle Blue just fine!" she retorted loudly.

  I stared at her with a raised brow and reached out, grabbing her cheek and pinching it harshly.

  "O-Ow!" she yelped. She thrashed in place and attempted to push my unrelenting fingers away.

  "Watch it, idiot," I warned idly, not truly upset but still deciding to put her in her place. "You don't get to try and act tough around me, you clingy little pest. You lost that privilege when you drooled on me three nights in a row."

  "I-I DON'T DROOL!" she yelped loudly.

  "Another argument for another day. We're not talking about that right now," I said coolly.

  Green whined. "S-Saury! Help me! Don't just sleep!"

  Saury opened a single eye and gauged what was happening, before seeing it was just me.

  "Don't worry Saury. It's about Blue," I said calmly.

  That made the Venusaur immediately groan in annoyance and understanding. He shut his eyes again with a huff, allowing himself to fall back to sleep.

  "Traitor! I won't forget this!" she gasped.

  I huffed in amusement and squeezed harder. Eventually, she whined in defeat and began pleading for me to release her.

  As I released my grip, she rubbed her cheek with a grumble and glared at me.

  "No one is allowed to take advantage of your kindness. I'm the only one because I'm too above taking advantage of you so I'll never do it," I said firmly. "If you expect me to stand there and just watch him mouth off on you for the hell of it, you're insanely stupid. You should already know how I react when someone bothers you."

  Green nodded shakily at the reminder. She was clearly remembering that one teen who was pissed that he lost to a girl.

  He stopped singing that tune real quick when I kicked his ass soundly. As if age difference was going to stop him from catching these hands.

  I pat her head. "You shouldn't be making the effort to try and keep your friendship with him stable. He's the one that needs to put in the work because I know you didn't do anything wrong but get put between some childhood rivalry."

  Gold nodded in agreement. "If even Silver can be friends with you, it's his problem."

  Green stared at the two of us and sniffed, tears forming in her big eyes. "You two are sweet!" she exclaimed, dragging us into a tight hug.

  I rolled my eyes and Gold rubbed a finger against his nose.

  "Blue certainly has the talent but he's got a lot of his own issues that need to be dealt with. I still think one day, he'll join our group!" Crystal smiled.

  I grunted. "Weren't you the one saying that the chances of us meeting more color named people, is extremely unlikely? What's the sudden enthusiasm in recruiting them?" I asked her with a suspicious gaze.

  She flushed at that. "I-I think the idea of having a little group of ours with people named after colors, is pretty cool. That doesn't mean I think we'll just find more. But on the off chance we do, we should invite them!"

  I snorted at that. Something told me, that was going to be my job.

  Gold mulled her words over. "He's pretty good. A cut below us but he probably doesn't have a companion he can train with a lot. If he was really focused and had a proper rival, he'd be up there with us for sure."

  "What's his team?" Crystal asked curiously.

  "An Umbreon, Wartortle, Kadabra, Rhydon, Pidgeotto and Ninetales," Gold listed, putting up a finger for each one.

  I raised a brow. "That's actually a solid team," I mused.

  Not bad at all.

  Janine shook her head. "I cannot believe you guys are truly trying to make a color gang. I'm even further confused by the sheer convenience of you all having colors in your name."

  Gold shrugged. "It's an awesome idea. Imagine a whole group of trainers named after colors. We'd be famous in an instant! Blue's his middle name, right?"

  Green nodded. "Technically he has two first names... Gary Blue Oak. I heard his parents couldn't agree so they just picked both, but Gary is his official first name. I call him Blue because I'm Green. He... probably qualifies for the color gang."

  I rolled my eyes. "I'd put Janine in our group before accepting him as he is. She can be Purple."

  Janine blinked and pinched her nose. "I think I'll pass. Being apart of the color gang, sounds far too chaotic."

  We all sighed in unison.

  "Sounds about right."

  "We need to change that name. Color gang sounds too dorky," I sighed.

  "N-Nuh uh," Green grumbled.

  "I think it's good!" Crystal agreed.

  "It's not terrible," Gold nodded.

  The three paused.

  "W-Why are you looking at us so soulessly?" they asked in unison, taking a step back at my dead stare.

  "Hopeless morons," I muttered, stomping off to train my team. "Stupid name. Keep it. I don't care."

  Dumbasses. All of them.

  "Green? S-Silver?"

  I paused at the somewhat familiar, but mostly unfamiliar voice, and turned towards it with a curious eye.

  "Mason!" Green cheered, approaching the jittery boy with a big smile. "How's it going?! What's up?"

  Mason smiled bashfully. "I'm here for my 5th badge... I just came back to Saffron, after fighting Erika, and Sabrina crushed me!"

  Green laughed at that. "I noticed your spirits aren't down!"

  The average boy scratched the back of his head. "Well, I expected it a little. Sabrina is really strong but I can't be afraid of the challenge!"

  "That's not a bad mindset," I complimented idly, continuing my gait towards our practically reserved training ground.

  We were in it so much, our group was starting to actually pick up some traction. Trainers could show up and have their pick at the litter against a talented group of trainers.

  Even at times where we weren't there, someone would actually wait for us to show up.

  Anyone who looked too much for the dubbed "Color Gang", I shamelessly used Janine against them. She was very good at taking out the experienced ones and despite me calling her my personal guard dog, the annoyed girl still did it.

  It was a good money making strategy too. We got battled quite a lot. Crystal got upset when I mentioned her broke pockets were practically bursting for once.

  "I heard that you guys have basically been setting up a battlefield somewhere," Mason mentioned with a curious eye, voicing my thoughts aloud.

  Green tilted her head at that. "Hm? Well, it was a training ground at first but we started battling people and it kind of spiraled out of control from there. Now we get battled so often!"

  "It's annoying," I drawled with a sigh.

  "That's because you're such an asshole, you get battled the most! Everyone wants to put the rotten prince in his place!" Green cackled at my misfortune.

  I grunted and shoved her. I watched in satisfaction, as my companion nearly plummeted to the floor with a startled shriek.

  My hand grasped her dress and pulled her back up before she could eat dirt and Green rounded on me with a snarl.

  "Stop tripping me!" she hissed violently. She pat down her dress and I shrugged helplessly.

  "You're mad at me for saving your clumsy ass? Learn some accountability."

  A strangled noise left her mouth and I smoothly continued my walk towards the training grounds, ignoring the weight on my back trying to choke me out.

  "H-Hold on! Silver, I wanted to battle you!" Mason shouted, rushing to follow us.

  My eye twitched. "Why?"

  "So you can give me advice! Don't worry, I can take it!" Mason assured, smiling nervously.

  I blinked and huffed. "Alright. But you should battle Crystal if it's advice you want. She's a good teacher... though she might be battling someone."

  "You gave me the best advice! You're the reason I have 4 badges right now so I want your help!" Mason pushed with an eager smile.

  I turned to face him and grunted. "Yeah yeah, alright. C'mon."

  "Green get the fuck off my back."

  "Nah I'm good. You're strong enough! Go go go!"

  I sighed.

  "Gaia," I said easily, petting Charcadet on his head.

  He sighed in bliss and leaned against me. My youngest member was practically buzzing in excitement at the prospect of battle. His eyes were literally burning with fire and he sat happily on my shoulder.

  Mason stood on the other side, gazing nervously at my Meganium.

  "I've... seen footage of your Bayleef," he mentioned quietly. "She's very terrifying. I didn't know she evolved."

  I raised a brow and at the same time, Gaia puffed up at, what she perceived to be, the compliment. "You watching footage of me? How flattering."

  Mason nodded eagerly. "You're inspiring to watch! You and Green! I watch and try to learn what I can!"

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  I rolled my eyes at that. "It's not a bad idea... especially when you struggle as a trainer."

  There was a small crowd watching us. I swear they grew bigger when I was the one battling. Clearly I was the heel in these battles and damn was I a good one.

  "Are you two ready?!" Crystal shouted, Mismagius floating next to her.

  Oh yeah. She had evolved her Misdreavus a few days back. The evolution had been rather smooth, if not strange because Crystal's first pokemon was a real hard hitter now.

  She also wasn't terrified of me anymore. In fact, her evolution made Misteree warm up to me quite a lot. She began hanging around me far more often, almost seeming to... enjoy my company.

  Hm... her evolution seemed to have given her quite a lot of power too...

  "Fearow! Let's do this!" Mason shouted eagerly, sending out his bird.

  I hummed as the bird came shrieking out. It spread its wings and instantly honed in on Gaia.

  "Alright, begin!" Crystal shouted.

  "Fearow, Aerial Ace!" Mason shouted immediately.

  I raised a brow at his initiativeness. He was a lot more confident now, none of that jittery behavior exhibited.

  "Reflect."

  Gaia didn't even flinch, eyes glinting as she almost instantly conjured a Reflect. I whistled at the speed, still impressed by how much stronger evolution had made her.

  Fearow crashed into the Reflect with a startled shriek, flinching back slightly but immediately taking flight into the air at Mason's frantic orders.

  "Get up! Agility to get away!"

  I grunted in amusement, as the brown bird got outta dodge just in time to avoid lunging vines. The vines moved with incredible speed but Fearow's Agility made it faster.

  Gaia sighed in disappointment and waved her vines threateningly at the Fearow, almost as if saying "I'll get you!".

  "Magical Leaf," I ordered easily.

  "Fury Attack! Destroy the leaves!" Mason rebounded.

  My eyes glinted. Mason sure was preparing to battle my team.

  Unfortunately, my power had boosted quite a bit.

  Gaia let out a bellow, that actually did sound fairly intimidating in her new form, and fired dozens of massive leaves that all careened towards the bird.

  Fearow squawked in disbelief at the sheer amount of leaves and tried to peck as many as he could, but they both greatly underestimated the sheer gap in power between Gaia as a Bayleef and Gaia as a Meganium.

  The bird let out a shriek of pain as the rest of the sharp leaves slashed into it, before the vines seized the opportunity and lunged.

  Before Gaia could pull off her customary slam dunk, a pokeball returned the Fearow.

  "Woah..." Mason muttered, gazing at Gaia in awe. "She's even more impressive in person."

  "Damn right she is," I smirked.

  "Ganium," Gaia preened happily.

  My opponent gazed at Gaia with an assessing gaze, before he nodded and tossed out another pokeball.

  "Let's do this Charmeleon!"

  The Charmeleon roared and its tail flame ignited brilliantly. It only increased in intensity as they realized who their opponent was.

  Charmeleon gazed at me and snarled in recognition, eyes darting around before they landed on Ares.

  My Shelgon perked up at the feeling of someone's glare on her body and she turned around, regarding the Charmeleon with slightly confused eyes. She was currently with Freyja and the two were training as usual to master Dragon Pulse.

  I hid a smile at the severe lack of recognition in her eyes and judging by how upset the Charmeleon was getting, it probably realized the same.

  Let it be known that Ares and I were the same level of assholes... so we tended to garner the most negative reactions from trainers. A vast majority of the trainers who truly disliked me, had Ares as their opponent. We tended to have no respect for them after all so it made sense.

  Much like how I struggled to remember why Mason seemed to like me, Ares had no recollection of the Charmeleon she had crushed back at Pewter.

  Charmeleon snarled violently, making Gaia raise a brow. My Meganium seemed to shrug and trotted back over to my side.

  "I was gonna keep you in you know," I drawled, leaning against her easily.

  "Ganium," she drawled in return, plopping herself down and shutting her eyes.

  I chuckled in amusement. "You wanna fight Ares? You sure about that?" I asked curiously.

  "Yeah! Charmeleon's been itching to get revenge! She's ready for this!" Mason said confidently.

  I blinked. "Your Charmeleon's a girl?" I mused.

  Huh go figure. Must have missed that in our last encounter.

  "Ares," I called, beckoning my head. "You're in."

  Ares groaned loudly, clearly not enthused in the slightest to be getting dragged away from something important.

  She trudged onto the battlefield with a grumble, as enthused to do this battle as I was.

  "Alright! Start!" Crystal shouted.

  "Dragon Breath."

  "Dragon Breath!"

  At the twin commands, both of the reptiles opened their mouths and fired.

  Turquoise beams of energy crashed into one another, colliding in the middle before Ares quickly overtook Charmeleon's beam, careening towards the fire type.

  Charmeleon seemed to anticipate that she was going to get overpowered and leapt to the side at once.

  "Dragon Dance. Charge it right after."

  "Flamethrower!" Mason retorted.

  Ares lunged forward, eyes gleaming maliciously as the Flamethrower attempted to bathe her. She ignored it completely and bulldozed through the flames, closing the distance between her and the Charmeleon immediately.

  Almost exactly like their last encounter, she slammed her skull directly into Charmeleon's midsection, getting the fire type to gag...

  "Smokescreen!"

  ...For a moment. I watched with an impressed gaze, as the Charmeleon snarled through the pain and belched the smoke from her mouth, bathing Ares in the black fog.

  "Shel!" Ares shouted in surprise, stepping back in surprise at being completely obscured.

  "Alright nice! Now use Dragon Breath!" Mason urged.

  Charmeleon scrambled about at the opportunity, blood in her eyes, and lunged backwards. She opened her mouth and roared, firing a Dragon Breath that crashed directly onto Ares shell.

  Ares roared, more in surprise, and turned a hellish glare towards the Charmeleon.

  The ground dented with her short charge this time and I winced as she completely bowled over the Charmeleon. She snarled and turned towards the floored fire type and bathed it in a Dragon Breath immediately afterwards...

  Or attempted to. The Charmeleon was returned to the ball and Ares directed a glare towards the excited Mason.

  "Alright! I give up! It's your win!" Mason said, not sounding very upset about that.

  I raised a brow and shrugged. "Ares get back over here. You can get back to training," I instructed with a small shake of my head.

  She grumbled and marched off... to Loki's position. They exchanged words before my first pokemon huffed in amusement and the two walked towards an isolated area.

  "Wow, she doesn't uh... seem very happy," Mason pointed out, not missing the deep glare Ares shot him.

  I grunted. "She didn't expect the Charmeleon to land a single meaningful hit on her. Ares takes great offense when weaker enemies put up a fight," I mused.

  "She really is your little dragon!" Green cackled. "That was good Mason! I didn't expect you to improve so much!"

  Mason blushed bashfully and rubbed the back of his head.

  "I just prepared a lot for Silver and he still made it look easy! I promised Charmeleon we'd at least surprise that Shelgon so I'm glad we did!" he exclaimed.

  I stared at him and snorted. "Good for you. But you're still weak. You need to improve your firepower. What's your team?"

  Mason jumped at that. "Um... Charmeleon, Fearow, Gloom, Sandslash, Shuppet and Shuckle!" he exclaimed, standing straight at my question.

  I hummed, raising a brow at the final two. "Shuppet and Shuckle huh? Those are probably more recent but they'll serve you well in the battle."

  Mason nodded eagerly. "Do you have any tips for me?" he asked hopefully.

  I raised a brow. "Sure. Those two can be fairly tricky pokemon. You said you want to fight Sabrina right? I'll introduce you to a fun playstyle," I smiled benevolently.

  For some reason, the jittery boy shuddered and Green let out a loud groan.

  I shrugged.

  Apparently, after my advice to her, Jasmine had entered a new realm of terrifying to face. The Gym Leaders actually sparred sparingly but on my command, I had ordered she go battle the other ones.

  Turns out she was terrorizing her Gym Leaders with the stuff she taught Skarmy and Fortry. Soon, I was going to teach her some fun strats!

  I guess I could share some of that horrible knowledge with this kid here.

  For him? Oh of course not! I didn't really give a damn about really helping him succeed.

  But I'd do anything to piss Sabrina off. I hoped she could feel the sheer vitriol in my body through her battle with Mason here.

  "Alright, let me tell you about a move called Sticky Web..."

  "Silver!"

  I glanced up, only to tense at seeing Janine's serious demeanor.

  "You were right. Silph Co... no, all of Saffron is under attack," she said urgently.

  Our group jumped at that.

  "So they really did come?!" Gold scowled, surging up as his team followed suit.

  "Why didn't you call?" Crystal asked in concern.

  Janine shook her head. "I couldn't. Team Rocket did something. Some type of interference. I attempted to call anyone on the way here, even Father. Nothing came through. Crobat has already flown out of the city to relay the information but since our training grounds are so far out, I had to come here myself."

  I grunted. "Alright. Good work."

  It had been 2 weeks since our battle with Sabrina and we had decided to just camp out in the city.

  I knew Team Rocket weren't going to just attack at the whims of my arrival, but I just knew that they attacked around the time frame of getting your 5th or 6th badge.

  Turns out my hunch was correct. It wasn't often, but my outside knowledge did come in handy every once in a while. I was beginning to doubt if they were actually going to show up. I had actually been about to give it one more week before leaving the place.

  "Remember what we discussed. We need to make sure Sabrina knows their target. I bet they've got distractions for her to get away with robbing Silph Co for free," I grunted, beginning the process of swapping my already dark outfit, to something darker.

  I ignored Crystal's gaping at the fact that I was changing right in front of them. She grew up with Gold, I'm sure they saw things as childhood friends.

  "I can go warn her," Janine said, gazing at us in concern and ignoring my changing of attire. "Just… be careful. I'll be as fast as possible. Act as if an Executive can stop you at anytime."

  "You do the same. They won't attack Sabrina with a bunch of grunts. There's gonna be an Executive there," I warned.

  Janine nodded, determination on her features. "All the better if it's that bastard," she said darkly, dashing off.

  "Keep your head screwed on! Don't let your emotions cloud you!" I shouted.

  "You as well, our partnership is still intact after all," Janine warned, vanishing.

  I watched her go with serious eye.

  Executives... here's to hoping my mom wasn't here. No particular reason, I just felt like she was the last Executive you wanted to run into.

  I nodded my head and turned towards my group. "We'll sneak in and eventually split up into groups of two. Gold come with me. Crystal, with Green. Just follow our lead," I instructed.

  The reason for the pairings was obvious. Green and I were very well versed in stealth now and since I was the more skilled of the two, I'd take the rowdier of the duo.

  "Right." Crystal agreed with a frown.

  "Gotcha." Gold nodded with a scowl.

  Green and I exchanged a glance.

  "We'll stay nearby, but traveling in groups of four, is too noticeable," I muttered to her.

  She nodded in agreement. "Stay away from the top floor until we're ready, right?"

  "Yeah exactly. Stay vigilant. Don't trust anyone that's dressed as a scientist. Rocket probably has moles," I grunted.

  With that single warning, the four of us stealthily departed to Saffron.

  I flicked out my pokegear and furrowed my brows at not having any signal go through.

  Was that how they planned on getting in and out of Saffron without attracting the entire region? Some type of EMP that disrupted connections?

  Damn it. I was growing less and less sure of Team Rocket invading, that I decided against warning Lorelei. Maybe I should have trusted my instincts...

  No matter. We just needed to stall for Sabrina and make sure they didn't accomplish their mission. I'd learn from this and trust my instincts from now on.

  Saffron was in chaos. Rockets were all over, causing mayhem. Considering we were hiding ourselves, it was hard to make out what was happening but from what I could see, the rockets were neck and neck in combat with the police force of Saffron.

  Conveniently, the sounds of combat got quieter the closer we got to our destination...

  We (my companions) contemplated jumping in to help some, but the cops were handling it well and we had more things to worry about, especially considering we were probably the only ones who knew their true targets.

  Silph Co... the biggest building of Saffron loomed over us, far quieter in comparison to other parts of the city.

  There was a man guarding the entrance, eyes vigilant as he stood wide awake…

  But even despite that, he never saw me approaching at all.

  "!" The man almost wailed in agony before being forcefully silenced.

  I landed a solid kick directly onto the rockets crotch with full power, before forcefully covering his face with a rag seeped in Sleep Powder. I didn't even flinch at the sound of something cracking, far too used to my above average strength.

  The rocket was stuck between reaching for his sweet spot and struggling against the hand forcing the rag to cover his face so as a result, he was trapped in a hellish purgatory of indecision.

  I stared ruthlessly at him, unmoving from my spot as tears of exertion formed in the rockets eyes from his fruitless struggles. I just held the rag over his face with a steady calmness.

  It didn't take long at all, for him to eventually lose consciousness and I dragged his body away, hiding him in the alleyway the rest of my companions were camped out in.

  "You… are genuinely terrifying," Crystal muttered, shaking as she stared at the unconscious body of the man I just violated.

  Gold scratched his head. "Guess you really were just looking for the pokemon. After what I just saw, I think if you wanted the Prof gone… he'd be gone."

  "He did nothing to me. No reason to attack. I panicked and used too much force on him. My goal was just a pokemon and a pokedex, along with some supplies to survive better," I grunted.

  Crystal looked thoughtful at that. "I've seen your skills first hand. How did you even get caught? The professor isn't the most aware person."

  I raked a hand through my hair. "I was having a very off day. An almost out of body experience if you would."

  Both her and Gold hummed in unison at that.

  "Alright, Let's go. The coast seems clear for now. Communications seem to be sabotaged so that probably means they can't communicate with each other either through conventional means..."

  I ruffled in my bag for a second and pulled out two walkie-talkies.

  I tinkered with it a bit, before speaking lowly into the device. I grunted at the shrieking static of two being so close to each other but it died down eventually and I handed it over to Green.

  At least this worked... sorta. The voices sounded very muffled and more than once it cut off, but it would get the job done.

  "You're so resourceful," Crystal mentioned, awe on her face.

  "Seriously, how many things do you have in that bag?" Gold asked curiously.

  "Any answers to that question, may lead to further incrimination of me. You'll just have to wait and see in the future," I muttered.

  Gold stared at me and shrugged. "Well, you let us use all those TMs so I guess I can't be too curious."

  "I'll pretend like I didn't hear that," Crystal sighed.

  They sure did take the liberty to use all the TMs they could.

  "I got these after realizing Green and I could get separated at any time. Keep that one with you. We won't go too far from each other. Use it sparingly, I don't think it'll be perfect with whatever is messing with comms," I grunted.

  We all nodded in unison, perfectly accepting that plan.

  The four of us snuck into the building, only to immediately recoil at the sight of the prone bodies of what had to be security guards.

  I don't know what animal got to them, but I'm pretty sure it was a fire type and a strong one too.

  Crystal let out a gasp of horror at that, clutching Gold tightly as tears welled into her eyes. She shut her eyes and her breathing picked up.

  Gold stared, mouth set into a grim line as he pushed her ahead of the bodies.

  I did the same with the emotional Green, sighing as she clutched me tightly.

  "It's so horrible... how can they treat human lives so callously?" Crystal asked, a hitch in her voice.

  "That's all they do... all they do is hurt people," Green mumbled, shutting her eyes tightly.

  "It's okay. Just let me guide you through until it's time to split up," I soothed to the best of my ability, eyes darting to and fro for signs of any rockets.

  Green nodded shakily, allowing me to push her forward.

  Silph Co wasn't riddled to the brim with Warp Tiles like its counterpart so I was thankful for that, but the building was still a complete maze to navigate. Turns and rooms everywhere... without a guide, Silph was really fucking annoying.

  To access the higher floors as well, we needed the Card Key…

  "Look for a Card Key. You can't navigate upper levels without them. Once either of us find it, we'll meet up again," I grunted.

  "Were you planning on robbing Silph Co? You know way too much about it," Gold asked randomly, gazing at me with wide eyes.

  "That's not a bad idea…" I murmured.

  Naturally, I'd probably pick some things up while exploring but that wasn't my main objective. Taking out Team Rocket was the priority for me so spelunking was my secondary.

  A cool feeling washed over me and I took a deep breath, gaze turning cruel and clinical.

  I had an organization to fuck over.

  "Wait hold on! We're supposed to be having a pokemon battle—"

  The speaker squealed in pain as I stomped on his knee, huffing to myself as the distraction caused the man's Mightyena to glance back, giving Gold's Scyther, Scytaro, enough time to slash into its midsection.

  "Save your battles for someone who gives a fuck."

  I ignored the wolf's pitiful whine and turned towards the final person there, the scientist who was shivering next to an unconscious Magnemite.

  Oberon wiped his claws idly, snarling as he forced the meager scientist to the ground with his deceptively high strength.

  "H-Hold on! I was being forced to work with him! You gotta believe me!" the man shouted in terror, shaking as I silently approached him. He was very clearly disturbed by the fact that I shattered that man's leg.

  "Oh yeah?" I asked curiously, stepping on the floor harder than necessary and making him flinch back from the stomps.

  He nodded rapidly, eyes wide in hope.

  "Okay then... where's your Card Key?" I asked with a small smile.

  "...I-I don't have one! I'm not high enough rank for one!" he exclaimed hastily.

  I mulled that over. "Who would have one?"

  "Definitely people on the higher floor! If you find a scientist up there, there's a chance they'll have one!" he shouted eagerly.

  I nodded my head, before crashing a foot against the man's face.

  He never saw it coming and I watched him slump over, blood spurting out of his nose.

  "Damn. You've got legs made out of steel," Gold whistled.

  "Who was going to believe that dumbass?" I sneered, making sure to place the card he was hiding on his chest for the world to see that he was allied to Team Rocket.

  Silph Co, even without the warp tiles, was a nightmare to navigate. The entire building was a labyrinth that was made to confuse and halt anyone from doing what Team Rocket were currently attempting to do.

  Gold and I were navigating the floors easily despite that, taking out Rockets and traitorous scientists alike. There was a bunch of foot soldiers on the earlier floors so it had been easy... but there was still a fair bit of them.

  That's when I got creative. No point letting my pokemon waste their energy on the early floors... so I mostly assaulted them from the shadows.

  Very effective. The few we did battle, were with scientists and that was because we needed their card keys.

  Gold and I, surprisingly, had almost perfect synergy with each other and that detail wasn't lost to either of us... but we didn't comment too much on it, just accepting the small mercy.

  It was better than us having no synergy. That would be a disaster.

  I grunted, ruffling through the traitorous scientists pocket and finding nothing of note besides a wallet with his identity in it.

  "Nothing?" Gold asked, crossing his arms and leaning against a wall as I mugged him.

  "Nah," I muttered, pulling out a wad of cash from his wallet and handing him half of it.

  Gold blinked at the action.

  "It's your cut. Wouldn't want any dissension because you're upset about not getting money," I informed him.

  "You have a messed up way of thinking… but I respect and agree with that at least. Should we really be stealing this guys money though?" he asked with a raised brow, not really put out with what I said at all.

  "He's a traitor. Do we care?" I returned, raising my own brow.

  Gold pursed his lips at that and opened his mouth, before shutting it and nodding in agreement. "Fair point. Don't mind if I do then," he conceded, taking the money out my hand and stuffing it in a red and gold colored wallet.

  That was another good thing about Gold. His morals were a lot more in line with mine without much tampering on my end. Green would accept the money after a lot of pestering by me and Crystal probably wouldn't take it no matter what I said, only to end up with it in her wallet anyways.

  My counterpart though, had no problems with my cheating and crafty nature. In fact, he was much the same himself and that was why we had such good synergy.

  Neither of us had qualms getting down and dirty if it called for it.

  When I decided to save energy by just assaulting the Rockets myself, Gold nodded and pulled out a billiard cue.

  Before he could begin utilizing it as a weapon, I just gave him one of my modified stick weapons, this one a staff.

  He seemed to appreciate that quite alot. He could keep it if he wanted. I had a ton of these weapons at the ready.

  I would be more surprised... but Gold was a 12 year old gambler. I guess I shouldn't have been too shocked that his mind was a tad skewed.

  Regardless, it made planning with my current partner very easy.

  With our pact in set, Gold and I began looting any traitor or Rocket of their valuables, making sure their teams were fully incapacitated as well while filling our pockets.

  "Do you hear that?" a Rocket whispered with a puzzled expression. She turned around quizzically, only to grunt in confusion at not seeing anything.

  "Hear what?" the other replied.

  While the female rocket was standing around, the male was ruffling through the cubicle he was in, looking for anything of value. He grabbed a Super Potion and nodded, storing it away...

  Only to freeze at the strangled shriek that left his companion. He jolted, attempting to stand up only for a staff to smash against the back of his head.

  The girl shivered in terror, as the illusion dropped and she was forced to see the razor sharp claws of Loki holding her neck hostage.

  I effortlessly kicked her pokeballs away from her, crouching down and ruffling through the man's outfit, even as Gold stared at his staff with a gleam.

  "Don't just stand there and gawk at the weapon molded to perfection. Go search the girl," I grunted, tossing him the Super Potion.

  Gold caught the potion easily, spraying down Ataro with it before my words registered with him.

  "Search the girl?!" he asked incredulously, eyes wide.

  I paused in my ruffling and turned towards him. "...You take your hands like this," I began, raising my hands slowly.

  "Then you start digging in pockets like thi—"

  "I know what searching is, dickhead!" Gold interrupted. "I'm just... not gonna search a girl."

  At his low mumble, I completely stopped and peered at him.

  "Seriously?" I sighed, pinching my nose and marching towards the slightly confused rocket member. "I didn't think someone with your personality would get nervous around the opposite gender. Learn something new every single day."

  "Shut up," Gold muttered, only to splutter as I began searching her with no hesitation in my bones.

  She yelped loudly at my prodding hands, only to go still at Loki's threatening snarl. It didn't take a genius to understand his message and she just shivered in compliance.

  "You're a criminal but get uncomfortable when someone touches you? Fucking ridiculous." I raised a brow, scoffing in a completely unimpressed manner, as I ruffled through her pocket.

  I continued searching the girl, pulling out jewelry, money... before finally pulling her shirt up slightly to pull out a pokeball.

  "Save your reservations when it comes to criminals. Going easy on one of them because of gender, will get you killed," I said calmly, watching her go pale as I revealed the hidden pokeball. "You should only get nervous if it's Crystal."

  "S-SHUT UP DUDE!" Gold hissed loudly, trying his hardest not to shout.

  I tossed the pokeball into the pile of the others and stared at her. "Anything else you're hiding? I'm not adverse to searching more. I'm not nearly as merciful as my partner here," I warned, tugging a piece of her clothing to get my point across.

  She shook her head hastily.

  My eyes narrowed.

  "I-I have a bit of money on me!" she squeaked in defeat. "Just... please let me grab it instead..."

  I tilted my head, before a look of realization made its way to our face as she pulled it out of her... shirt.

  I snatched her wallet out of her hand and opened it, shamelessly ruffling through it and sighing to myself at not seeing what I was looking for.

  "I feel like the criminal," Gold muttered, turning his head away.

  I ignored it.

  "Where's the card key?" I asked.

  "I-I don't have one."

  I narrowed my eyes at that. "Who's the one running this mission?"

  The girl shook. "I-It's a joint mission by two of the Executives. I don't know which ones... no one but the highest ranking grunts do. We were just told to look for something!"

  Two executives? One was no doubt distracting Sabrina... so that meant the other was here.

  Hm.

  "Gaia knock her out," I grunted, not even watching the vines wrap around the Rockets face to asphyxiate her.

  "Jeez man, you sure don't hold back," Gold whispered, watching her body hit the floor.

  "I don't hold back against people who wouldn't hold back themselves. Besides, Gaia's a girl so it's fine isn't it?" I replied, leaving the discarded bodies there.

  I'm fairly sure I was trained by or with some blonde and that was why I didn't discriminate between genders.

  Flashes of that color appeared whenever I thought about my above average physical training. It was probably a blonde girl by the looks of it but I didn't dwell on it too much.

  The neat thing about the rockets, is that their pokemon basically never left their balls of their own accord. Whether that be fear or drugs? Probably both to be honest.

  Oh well. I was also beginning to realize, not many pokemon released themselves from their balls. Perhaps it just depended on the bond between them. My team released themselves from the ball often enough.

  "You have any idea where a Card Key could be?" Gold frowned, as we continued our pace.

  I mulled it over.

  Honestly, using my knowledge of the games was pretty good... so where did you find the card key there?

  Once again, my impeccable memory came into play and I huffed as the details came to me clear as day.

  That was still mighty suspicious, but I'd just chalk it up to the privileges of being forced into a new world and this body being clearly genetically superior to an unnatural, but probably not all that by this worlds standards, level.

  "Let's go to the fifth floor," I said suddenly, beelining it to the elevator.

  "Alright," Gold grunted, keeping pace with me as we head there.

  A lounging rocket, who was guarding our means of transportation, suddenly lunged up at seeing us approaching.

  "Stop right there! You're not getting through me! I am one of the Four Rocket Brothers—"

  "Gaia. He seems annoying."

  As the rocket scrambled to reach for his pokeballs, Gaia lashed out with her vines and slammed the criminal into the wall. Just me mentioning that he was annoying me, was enough to put her in go mode.

  The man crumpled instantly, wheezing weakly as his hand went limp. "A-At least let me battle..." he rasped, falling unconscious.

  "It's hard for me to identify who the real criminal is," Gold said idly, kicking the man's two pokeballs away.

  "We're both criminals," I said gruffly, walking up to the elevator and stamping the man's head into the pavement, in the same movement.

  With a single press, I watched as the elevator came down.

  I frowned in contemplation and dragged the unconscious body of the Rocket in the elevator.

  "Just in case," I murmured, beckoning the confused Gold in.

  I pulled out the walkie-talkie and put it to my mouth. "We're going to floor five to check something. Stay nearby."

  I twitched at the ridiculous static but ignored it as Green's broken voice came to life.

  "Roger. We're conserving energy on our end by avoiding battles," Green replied.

  "Good. Keep it up," I grunted, turning it off.

  "This is crazy," Gold muttered, fiddling with his quiff.

  "The city is under attack too… They're distracting all the enforcers by spreading out through Saffron too."

  I nodded. "Gives them free reins to attack Silph Co. By the time they get done out there…"

  "The rockets will be done in here," Gold finished my sentence grimly.

  I nodded, picking up the discarded body of the rocket and planting it directly on the door.

  As the elevator stopped, the doors opened and allowed the unconscious body to fall through.

  "Huh?" A voice muttered in confusion, watching the body hit the floor. "Wait… HUH?! Big bro?! WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!"

  Guess we found one of the other Rocket Brothers.

  It finally seemed to register to the voice that something was wrong with the fact that a body of his ally just dropped out of the elevator because he immediately peeked into it.

  "What? What's going on?"

  His brows furrowed in confusion at not seeing anything in there and he boldly, and stupidly, took a step inside.

  How unfortunate for him. He truly had no self preservation skills.

  Ataro immediately lashed out with one of its tails, batting it against the man's side before he realized there was even anyone in the elevator, and flattening him against the wall.

  He wheezed weakly at that and fell unconscious right next to his brother, the brute strength of a pokemon proving to be too much for him.

  "Not bad," I muttered to Gold, grabbing the man's pokeball to hide.

  "You've got crazy sense for these things. I wouldn't have thought there'd be someone waiting for me outside," Gold muttered, staring at the slumped bodies in awe.

  "It's just all too predictable," I replied back.

  We watched Ataro effortlessly carry both the bodies into an isolated area.

  "You think the Card Key is on this floor?" Gold asked curiously.

  "Not positive… but I have a strange hunch," I muttered, taking off in a random direction.

  The two of us continued to jog through the floors, dodging the eyesight of the lingering Rockets, and it only took me a few minutes to spot a scientist lingering about.

  Blood entered my eyes, at how rapidly he seemed to be patting down his body.

  "Where is that damned…" he muttered to himself, before freezing as I allowed him to feel my presence.

  As I stepped into view, I watched him go pale in horror. He began stepping back, still patting down his body... If anything, he got more urgent doing so. There was a sheen of sweat on his body and it would be odd that a 12 year old was getting this reaction... if not for the sheer amount of bloodlust I was radiating.

  "Looking for something?" I asked peacefully, watching as he took another step back. Despite that, I didn't move from my spot. I continued to peer at him and he shuddered for reasons unknown.

  Perhaps he thought if he made a single wrong step, I'd jump on him. It was like being in a situation with a predator, maybe he was assessing when the perfect time to run was.

  "U-Um..." he stammered hesitantly, before turning on a dime and bolting.

  How unfortunate for him. Didn't you know that you were never supposed to turn your back to a predator? You were especially not supposed to run from them either.

  He should have just cooperated. Now, I was going to actually have to treat him like he were prey.

  My eyes narrowed and I exploded forward, closing the distance between me and the woefully unathletic scientist, in a matter of seconds.

  I lunged and tackled the man to the floor with the momentum, ignoring his scream of horror and forcing my hand over his mouth.

  "One more noise out of you and I'm breaking a finger. Don't test me, I don't give second chances," I warned quietly.

  The scientist's struggles intensified as I flipped him over and I narrowed my eyes.

  He tried to reach for a pokeball that had rolled away but I effortlessly kicked it further, before growing tired of his antics and stamping my foot against his hand.

  "I warned you. Why do they never listen to the first warning?" I asked calmly.

  Gold winced at the man's attempt to scream, but vines wrapped effortlessly around the scientists mouth and nose, muffling him completely.

  "I was a little confused on why he took Gaia... but now I totally get it. Those two belong with each other," he muttered, scratching his head.

  "You're with Team Rocket right?" I asked lowly, fishing in his outfit and pulling out the card that allowed all the Rockets to identify the traitors.

  The man gasped, face turning blue before I had Gaia release him. He gasped heavily and began inhaling as much air as possible.

  "P-Please let me go!" He begged, shaking in terror as my Meganium loomed over the both of us.

  I pondered his request and nodded easily. "Sure. But where's your Card Key? You look a step above those other traitorous scientists so you must have one. Keep it down by the way, if I think you're getting loud on purpose, bad things will happen to you," I requested, staring down at him coolly.

  He shook his head. "I-I don't know what you're talking about! I don't have a Card Key!"

  I tilted my head. "Oh. That's a shame. Gaia."

  She lashed out again and the man only had a moment to squeal before the vines wrapped around his face again. This time, Gaia put the slightest amount of pressure and for a Meganium, that was still a dreadful amount for a human to deal with.

  "Gaia here can lace her vines in poison very easily. You think you'll find help in time?"

  He began urgently speaking.

  "I can't hear what you're saying," I said calmly, crossing my arms as his panic increased tenfold.

  "What a way to go. You thought you were going to cash out big with Team Rocket but instead, you're going to choke on your own saliva in a dark little corner where no one will check up on you. The poison will paralyze you first, then you'll find it hard to breathe... and then you'll lose feeling in your body. Scary stuff," I drawled.

  That broke the coward and I distantly heard "I'll tell you! I'll tell you!" coming from his mouth.

  I stared at Gaia and nodded, watching as she released the vines around his head with a scoff.

  "Ready to be honest with me? One more slipup and it's the end for you," I informed him.

  He was staring at me like I were the devil itself, panting harshly and clutching his chest.

  "I-I do have a Card Key but I don't know where it is, honest! I must have dropped it somewhere!" he panicked.

  I hummed. "Did you lose it on this floor?" I asked.

  He nodded hastily. "Yeah it's definitely here! I-I'll help you look for it! I'm sure if we work together, we can find and get out of here. Team Rocket forced me to join them so—"

  Whatever he was about to say, never came out because I curb stomped him onto the pavement, knocking him into dreamland.

  "Why would I collude with a traitor? So you could betray me?" I mused, standing up and leaving the "For the Glory of Team Rocket!" card on his chest.

  I adjusted my gloves out of habit and turned to Gold. "Card Key should be somewhere on this floor. Look on the floors."

  Gold nodded, gazing at the body on the floor before shrugging.

  "You know. Part of me thought of the starters, Totoree actually fit you the most."

  I raised a brow. "Yeah?" I asked, eyes trained on the floor.

  "Yup. You two have the exact same aggression and temper... but now that I see you and Gaia, I change my mind. You two are perfect for each other," he snorted.

  I huffed in some amusement, running a hand against the pleased Gaia. "Of course. Gaia is Gaia and I'm me. We were bound to succeed with each other."

  "Meganium!" Gaia cheered, batting her head against both Gold and I.

  Gold grinned fondly at her. "I'm glad we managed to clear up the air, Silver. Thank Mew for Crystal because you and I probably would have brawled it out throughout the region."

  I snorted. "I should be thanking Gaia for calming me down. I almost did something I was going to regret if it wasn't for her."

  "You two really are good for each other. It's cool that you picked her. She probably used those vines to pull that stick out your ass," Gold mused.

  I twitched at that. "Wait till this is over... and didn't I tell you to look at the floor?"

  I bent down and snatched up a discarded card off the floor, inspecting it and smirking crookedly at finding my target.

  "Seriously, the things you say seem so random but they always payoff... I should take you to gambling one of these days," Gold pondered, inspecting the Key Card with a grin.

  I snorted. "Our ideas of getting money from a Game Corner are very different."

  "Steal from them after they cheat us out of our money. I'll already milk them dry once I enter," Gold said dismissively.

  I actually laughed at that. Some hero Gold was.

  The Walkie-Talking surged to life as I spoke into it to alert the other group. "You guys, take the elevator to Floor 5… Gold and I will meet you there."

  "Yes sir. Found the Key Card?"

  "Yeah. We can group up and make it to the top floor now."

  "Alright. This way, Crys!"

  As the comms cut, Gold and I rushed over to the elevator and waited outside, ensuring that no other Rocket approached in the meantime.

  Team Rocket didn't have an infinite amount of soldiers and a ton of them were outside distracting the police. I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't that many left. It's no wonder they added the mole scientists to their mix.

  "Don't let your guard down, Hero. You never know what could happen."

  Gold nodded, expression turning serious. "We'll tackle it. Don't worry so much, we got this!"

  I grunted and nodded, before turning as the elevator opened up.

  Gold, rather blankly, and I watched as a body dropped out of the elevator, before identifying it as an unconscious Team Rocket member.

  I smiled proudly, as Green poked her head out soon after, due to the lack of reactions, before a smile broke out on her face at seeing me and Gold staring.

  Gold looked at the body of the Rocket, then he looked at Green, then he looked at me.

  Then he gave up trying to understand and took his spot next to the exasperated Crystal.

  "Are you two alright?" Green asked in concern, ignoring Gaia using her vines to shove the body away.

  "I feel like I'm becoming more and more twisted the longer I stay in you two's presence," Crystal admitted.

  "W-What?" Green spluttered. She had a confused look on her face. "Are you still thinking about all those Rockets we knocked unconscious? Or was it the looting? I know the interrogation looked bad but I knew what I was doing! I told you it's best if we put the Rockets body in the elevator to catch anyone off guard!"

  I mussed up her hair. "Well done. You did everything right."

  "She did the exact same things you did," Gold pointed out with a look of disbelief.

  "Exactly."

  Crystal rubbed her nose slightly. "You found the Card Key?"

  "Yeah," I grunted, flashing it to them all.

  "We need to strike them fast. We're wasting time battling all these rockets," Gold mused.

  "Come on, let's make our way to the top floor then. If we can stall the Executive, Sabrina and Janine will show up in time," I decided.

  Well all nodded in agreement. "Alright. Let's go!"

  Hey there! I hope you enjoyed the climax of Saffron! Next chapter a lot of things will happen. Silver wants to go to Seafoam... I wonder why!

  Haha, as always I'd like to thank everyone for the support. It's not required but it sure is welcomed and I appreciate it. If you have anything you want to ask me, I'd suggest joining the discord server! You'll get an answer very quickly from me there! The code is discord.gg/BFFtXAXFU7 so join at your own discretion!

  That's all from me! I'll see you guys next time!