"Mommy, look what a pretty day it is! Can't we go to the pond today?"

Mica was standing at the side of an unnaturally large bed. It towered a good ten feet over her. Pudgy hands reached up and tried to grab the edge of the impossible lofty bed. It was very dark in this bedroom; it always was. Even during the brightest days, thick curtains were pulled across the window, and the door was firmly shut. Everything in the room seemed completely oversized- the night table and television stand all towered just as tall as the bed.

Mica wasn't supposed to come in this room- Daddy told her not to. Mommy was sad, and she had to let Daddy make her happy again. But Mica was sure that if she could get Mommy outside and play with her like she used to, everything would be okay again. Mica could make Mommy happy.

A set of bright blue-green eyes peered over the bed. They would have been identical to Mica's, had they not been dulled with apathy and rimmed in black circles that indicated a lack of sleep. Dirty blonde hair fell over the edge, and seemed to reach down to Mica. As she looked, the eyes and the hair were all she could see.

"Not today, Mica." A feathery voice echoed. The eyes disappeared over the edge of the bed, and the hair that had been falling down towards little Mica slowly began to creep away. "Mommy's not having a good day."

"N-No! You gotta come, Mommy!" She reached up and grabbed some of the retreating hair with her child's hands and let it pull her up the side of the bed. "It is a good day, Mommy. You just got to go see-"

Mica stopped talking. She had reached the top of the bed, only to find that her mother was not there. There was only a tumble of blankets and a mess of hair. The eyes that had peered down at Mica were gone, and there was no face visible that they could have belonged to. She began desperately searching through the forest of blankets, trying to find where her mother could be hiding.

The room swirled, and her father's voice echoed out; "She's gone, baby." He was doing that thing that adults do, where they have to cry, but instead of letting it out they hold it in and it makes their voice sound all thick and pressured. "She's not here anymore."

The room kept swirling, and Mica kept searching. Of course her mother was still there- where could she have gone? She just had to find her. The problem was that something kept pulling her back by the shoulder, and she couldn't search properly.

"Mica!"

"H-huh?" Mica jerked awake, and found herself looking into the concerned faces of Kate and Horatio.

"You okay there, buddy?" Kate asked. "You were squirming all over the place and muttering to yourself."

"Yeah." Mica looked blearily around the room. It seemed to be fairly early- most of the girls were still in bed, and the sun wasn't quite all the way up. "Bad dream," she said by way of explanation.

"That sucks," Kate said sympathetically. Then, very seriously, "Do you want me to make a toodlepop?"

Mica looked at the clock. It was six-thirty in the morning. "A what?" Horatio had gone over to the edge of the bed, and was helping Zefyre climb up to join them.

"A toodlepop." Kate repeated, as if this would explain everything. Zefyre had made his way onto the bed with Horatio's help, and the two fire-types were squirming and cuddling into Mica's sides, with Zefyre carefully holding his tail away from the flammable bed.

"What's a toodlepop?" Mica asked.

"It's a really chocolate-y sweet hot drink that I used to make for my little sister when she was feeling upset. My mom made it for me when I was little too. It really helps make you feel better."

Mica smiled. "Thanks, Kate, but I'm good. I got these two." She gave Horatio and Zefyre a little squeeze, and they both squealed happily.

"Too bad! I've decided- I'm making you one anyway. I was going to last night, but it was kind of late. So this is to make you feel better about that fight, and your bad dream." Kate grinned widely, quite positive that she was some kind of saint. "Stay right there." And she left to go sneak into the kitchen and steal the necessary ingredients for her toodlepop.

"What did you dream about?" Zefyre asked once Kate had left, tilting his head to look at Mica through his good eye.

"My mom," Mica said simply. Zefyre looked at Horatio, who simply shrugged. He decided not to press the subject.

A few minutes later Kate returned holding a steaming, elaborately decorated drink in her hand. There was a swirl of whipped cream on the top, zigzags of caramel and chocolate syrup, and a dusting of colourful sprinkles on the top. Mica drank it while chatting with Kate, and did find the overt sweetness to be incredibly comforting. Once she had finished the drink, the two girls left the dorm and joined the rest of the students who had since woken up and gone to breakfast.

"Ah, ladies, good timing! Come, sit down, sit down." Keith hailed them as they walked out. "And may I say you both look absolutely radiant."

Kate and Mica looked at each other. Both had hair sticking up every which way, and were wearing their pyjamas. Mica giggled.

"I have sex hair, don't I?" Kate deadpanned, running her fingers through tatty hair.

"I like it," Mica said innocently. Keith nodded.

"It gives you that, 'I'm sexy and I know it' look." Kate smiled and luxuriously swung her hair back. "Anyway," Keith continued, "I was just saying to dear Kellyn here that we have been rather dull in the tom foolery department as of late."

"It's because I wasn't here to be your fearless leader," Kellyn said mildly, picking at his food.

"Whatever you say, bud." Keith rolled his eyes, and quickly stole half of Kellyn's toast.

"Fear not, comrades. While on my way back from the kitchen this morning I stopped by the chemistry lab and found something rather fun to try out during class."

"During Kincaid's class, you mean?" Keith said, smiling over at Mica. This was his idea of comfort for the girl.

Mica, however, had not been paying particular attention. She was dishing out food for her three pokemon (mixing Biv's pills in with her food) and staring intently at Tauros's pokeball.

"Do you think it's safe to let him out?" She asked. "I mean, he needs to eat. But do you think he'll go all nuts on us?"

"He was perfectly calm after being captured yesterday." Keith considered.

"Yeah, that's because that's what capturing does. What was he so mad about yesterday, anyway?" Kate asked.

"I don't know." Mica shrugged. "There was a pichu on his back, it kind of looked like it was giving orders."

"Eh, only one way to find out. I say let him out!"

"And I say ignore Keith and release him once you get outside. Then at least you won't be on the second floor of a building if he gets mad about something," Kellyn said, shooting Keith a dirty look.

"Heh, yeah, I think I'll do that." Mica replaced the pokeball in her pocket, noting with unease its irritated shuddering. "So what did you take from the chemistry room, Kate? And furthermore, why does a ranger's school offer a chemistry coarse?"

"Organic chemistry," Kellyn said shortly.

"Wellllll," Kate began, pleased to have the attention back on her, "Keith, do you remember that one time when we got in trouble for almost putting a certain chemical in the waste bucket with another certain chemical?" Kate asked mysteriously.

"Ah, yes. We never got told what would happen if we had put those two together." Keith nodded, remembering their old bat of a chemistry teacher and his complete overreaction.

"Well, I Moogled* it and found out. It's gonna be a fun class." And that was all Kate would say with regards to her plan.

The four of them finished their meal and headed off in separate directions. Mica to the grounds with her big bowl of food she thought Tauros might like, and the other three to their respective classes- they wouldn't be together in Kincaid's class until second period. Kellyn promised he'd join her in her training after lunch, when his study period was.

Mica made her way across the grounds, away from Ascension Square, the school, and Mr. Kaplan's and Ms. Clair's portable. She was about to open Tauros's twitching pokeball when she remembered her decision to call Lucian in the morning. Being a highly respected Pokemon League elite, she rather thought he'd have some tips on handling Tauros. So she pulled out her pokegear.

She listened to it ring a couple times, and then Lucian picked up the phone. "Hello?"

"Hey, Lucian. It's Mica."

"Hey, Mica! How's it going?"

She sighed. "Could be better. Do you have a while?"

Thousands of miles away, across the sea and land, Lucian's brow furrowed and he took a seat. Training could wait. "Yes, I have a while. What's wrong?"

His brow crept closer together as he listened to Mica's story, and his eyes grew tense behind his violet-tinted glasses. This girl simply could not catch a break.

"Cellular Hyxlemia, hm?" He started once Mica finished her story. "I knew a trainer a while back who had a growlithe with the same condition. Her life was significantly shortened, but thanks to her trainer's dedication, it was also a lot more fulfilled and happy than a lot of pokemon get. If you dedicate yourself, Biv will be the same way. She'll have a happy life, and probably not even care that she can't battle like the rest of her teammates. Even with 30 years cut off her life, Biv can still live to be around forty years old with the proper care. Clampearl have very long lifespans."

"R-right. Thanks."

"As for your Tauros...I've never raised one myself, but they're known to be rather combative and quick-tempered. Despite that, they still have individual personalities. I can only give you so much advice without actually being there is to observe your new pokemon. What does he like? What doesn't he like? What are his quirks and triggers? Once you get to know him and understand why he does what he does, it'll be easy for you to control him and form a bond. Until that happens though...make sure to be ready to recall him if things go south. He'll likely be cranky about it, but at your level it's better safe than sorry."

"That makes sense." Really, he hadn't told her anything that she didn't already know. But it made her feel more confident having such specific questions in the forefront of her mind. "Thanks Lucian. Really, I feel kind of better now."

"Glad to hear it," he said, then frowned. "How are you doing over there? Really?"

Mica paused, understanding that this question went beyond her problem with Tauros. "It's...tough sometimes. But I have friends here, and they're really great at being supportive and stuff, even if they are a little too nosey. But still, they're good people. Kate made me a toodlepop."

"That's...good to hear." I guess... Supportive friends were good, but Lucian's mind had become hung up on who 'Kate' was and what in the world a 'toodlepop' consisted of.

"Yeah...what about you? How are you doing?" As she asked this, Mica realized that they had never really talked about Lucian and his life. Lucian himself was a bit surprised, and pleased, to hear the question.

"Fairly well, thank you."

"What's life like at the League, anyway? I don't think I was there for long enough to really get it."

Lucian smiled, and happily told her about his coworkers and the regular challengers that came through. It had been a while since he had gotten to talk about himself. People never really cared to ask him.

"Wake up." Silver was standing over Ben's bed, having grown tired of waiting for him to wake up. He himself had been awake and prepared for the day for the past hour. Though he wasn't too keen on sticking with Ben, he wasn't about to venture out of his room and into ranger headquarters alone. Something about the place just rubbed him the wrong way. It was likely all the smiling.

Ben grunted, smacked his lips a few times, and continued snoozing. The boy was sprawled out on his back, so it was quite easy for Silver to ball his hand into a fist a drop it onto Ben's stomach. Forcefully.

"Oomph!" Ben curled into a ball and blearily opened his eyes. Noticing the glaring redhead above him, he quickly shut his eyes again and rolled over. "Oh no."

"Get up, you lazy blob. I want to leave."

"What time is it?"

"Eight in the morning! You're sleeping in." Silver, surprisingly, was a major morning person. And applied words such as 'lazy,' 'useless,' and (of course) 'weak' to anyone who enjoyed sleeping in past seven thirty. Eight was simply unacceptable. He was a busy man. He had things to do. Like figuring out how to get out of East Shit Nowhere when he had no valid ID or money to purchase any kind of transportation tickets.

"Eight in the morning?" Ben asked, incredulous.

"Yes," Silver said, relieved to have finally gotten through to Ben. "Eight in the morning."

"Oh, okay." Ben once again made himself comfortable. "Well, that's not sleeping in then."

At which point Silver grabbed Ben's arm and dragged him out of bed and onto the floor with a resounding 'thunk'.

"Up. Now," was all he said.

By nine the two boys were exiting the Union and Silver was watching moodily as Ben captured a conveniently located staraptor, and not to transport Silver out of Almia.

"Sorry I got to leave you all alone like this." Ben apologized as he mounted the massive bird.

"I doubt he minds." Pichu drawled from Ben's shoulder, ignored by all.

"But you know, protecting people and pokemon is my job!" Ben continued excitedly, holding his styler aloft. "If you keep going down this path, you'll find Altru Park. There'll probably be something interesting going on there. Make sure you don't take a wrong turn and end up at Peril Cliffs. It's known for bad accidents involving novice hikers."

"And convenient accidents involving people you don't like!" Pichu smiled adorably.

"If nothing's happening in Altru Park, keep going east and you'll find Chroma Highlands. It's perfect for training!"

"Right." Silver had absolutely no intention of stopping in Altru Park. If he was going to be stuck here, he might as well get some training in. He might also be able to think of a plan to get Mica away from the idiots surrounding her before she became even more like them. He wouldn't stand for his rival to become some wishy-washy little wimp.

Because that's what he had decided Mica was. His rival. She was faintly insane, it was true, but she was also clearly a decent battler. After all, she had tied against him. Even allowing for his weak pokemon, this was quite a feat. Therefore, Mica was his rival. And the hug had been some kind of ingenious psychological warfare designed to confuse him.

"Well, have fun!" And with a wink and a wave and a 'fare-thee-well' Ben was gone from Silver's side, where he had been constantly for the past two days. The longest two days of Silver's life. Silver huffed, turned on his heel and started down the path that would lead him to Altru Park, and later to Chroma Highlands.

He trudged down the path for a good thirty minutes, glaring at the various happy-go-lucky pokemon surrounding him. They didn't even pause in the various forest-related activities to watch Silver as he went by, so used to human company were they.

Stupid pokemon...don't even have enough instincts to realize I'm not like the lovey-dovey humans that they're used to!

Their nonchalance about his presence grated on his nerves until he finally snapped as a beautifly flew right up to his face before flapping casually higher to dodge him. Infuriated by this disrespect, Silver Violently chucked Zubat's pokeball at the easy-going beautifly.

"Teach it some manners with Wing Attack, Zubat!" Silver commanded. Zubat obediently began flying at Beautifly with powered-up wings. Being speedy and accurate by nature, he managed to land a direct hit on the bug. Confident that the single, super-effective attack would be enough to finish Beautifly, Silver prepared to recall Zubat back. "Good. Now, return...huh?"

Beautifly had not been knocked out by Zubat. In fact, it didn't even look like it had been phased by the attack. It fluttered within range of the eyeless pokemon and promptly hit it with Stun Spore.

"The hell? Whatever. Zubat, Wing Attack again! And hit it properly this time." Quite positive that Zubat must have simply grazed Beautifly with his wings, Silver crossed his arms and watched, assuming the knock out hit would be next.

"Bat zu! Zu!" Zubat, however, knew that he had nailed Beautifly dead on. Paralysed by a combination of the Stun Spore and his own apprehension, Zubat could only watch as Beautifly began to flap her wings harder than before. Silver dust began to whoosh off her wings and into Zubat's body, revealing themselves to be as hard and sharp as glass shards. The flapping grew harder, pushing the silver dust on harder and faster into Zubats body and kicking up so much dirt that Silver had to block his eyes.

Finally, the Silver Wind attack ended and the dust died down, revealing a thoroughly defeated Zubat. Silver's jaw dropped, and the hand holding Zubat's pokeball fell limply at his side. Beautifly looked at him expectantly and then, seeing that the boy was clearly in shock, fluttered down to where Zubat was lying.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asked sweetly, but then ruined the effect slightly by poking him roughly in the stomach with one of her stubby arms.

"Not really. Body and pride are both hurting pretty bad," he replied glumly.

"Aw, don't worry about it! Least you got the guts to battle- I was such a coward when I was a wee wurmple!" When Zubat only grunted she helped prop him up with her stubby arms. Silver watched this interaction with suspicious eyes, still unable to believe Zubat had been taken out in one blow. "Here, this'll help." And she somehow managed to use Morning Sun on Zubat, who could feel his wounds healing as the glass-like dust worked itself out of his body.

"Th-thanks," Zubat said, surprised by this totally random hospitality.

"No problemo! Have a nice day, cutie," she said, and then fluttered off into the forest. Zubat turned to Silver, utterly confused.

"Did that actually just happen?" Silver asked no one in particular, being not much better off than Zubat. He examined his pokemon, and realized that he was left with no evidence that he had done anything more than simply release him from his pokeball. No sign of such a bizarre battle was left anywhere- even the dust had settled back to where it originally was. "Whatever. Return."

A few more wild encounters, however, proved that Beautifly was not a freakishly strong pokemon in her area. All of the pokemon Silver encountered easily KO'ed his pokemon in a single hit. Even the ralts he sicced Haunter on.

I don't believe this...Ben wasn't joking when he said there were loads of strong pokemon here, Silver thought, eyes lighting up with greed like a child on Christmas morning. All I have to do is train Haunter up just enough to be able to hit one with Curse and I'll be able to catch it. Another delightful thought occurred to him. And it won't even be illegal! I get off Scott-free!

And so it was with a spring in his step that Silver emerged into Altru Park, looking around vaguely at the neatly trimmed grass and precisely placed fountains that dotted it. In the centre was a prettily painted white stage on which what appeared to be a four-piece band was setting up. Ignoring this, Silver peered across the park until he spotted what must have been the path to Chroma Highlands. He began deliberately striding across the park towards the path, pausing only once when he was about ten feet in front of the stage with the band on it.

"Holy Arceus- my ears!" He bellowed, gripping his ears against the horrifying shriek that was coming out of the guitar of the man in the middle.

"Whoa...easy there, bro," said the one on the end, in a white overcoat.

"Hmmm, do you think I was a little sharp there?" He asked mildly, and began fiddling with the strings on his guitar. The girl at the other end giggled.

"A touch," she said.

"That," Silver glared at the four, "was the most horrific bit of noise I have ever heard. If you don't have any talent, you shouldn't be on a stage."

The one with the guitar raised one eyebrow at Silver. "Well, well. And good morning to you too," he said, being deliberately polite just for the sake of further annoying Silver. "My name is Billy, this is Garret," the bassist of the band played a short riff, "Clyde," the drummer played, "and Tiffany," the girl with the violin smiled and played a few flirty notes. "We are ever so glad to meet you. What's your name?" By now Silver had gotten a closer look at the four, and he realized that they all had similar feature and platinum blond hair. Clearly, the four were related.

"Go piss on a rope." Silver snarled, unable to think of a better comeback to Billy's overt politeness. Even though he was clearly still being rude at the same time. The complexity of the insult was kind of overwhelming for poor Silver.

"Tsk. Rude. If that rope is used to tie a gag to stop that unholy little mouth of yours, I'll gladly piss on it. Deal?"

"Billy. Really, in front of little Tiff?" Garret said, feigning shock and motioning to the girl.

"Oh please." Silver scoffed. "She has very clearly said, heard, and done dirtier things than that," Silver said, pointedly eyeing the girl's incredibly short dress.

"Hey, who do you think you are?" The drummer, Clyde, snapped and made a move like he was going to go after Silver, who promptly readied Croconaw's pokeball.

"Calm down Clyde. No need to start something in the middle of the park. It wouldn't be good to be in the middle of a fist fight when the Altru CEO comes along. You do remember how badly we need to make a good impression, right?"

"Is that not him there?" Asked Garret, eyes focusing on something in the distance.

"I believe it is," said the guitarist, catching where his brother was looking. He directed his gaze at Silver. "Scram."

Silver, however, had stopped paying attention to the band's conversation. He instead was eyeing a man who had split off from the two important looking, suit wearing businessmen and was heading off down the path Silver had just left. Unlike his two cohorts, this man was not wearing a suit, nor was he particularly important looking. He was wearing a simple black jumpsuit. A very familiar black jumpsuit.

Team Rocket? Silver though, incredulous. Here? In Almia? What the hell are they doing? Are they stalking me? Idiots! He gripped Croconaw's pokeball and quickly slunk after the man. I don't care why they're here- they've crossed my path again, and now I have to destroy them!

A small smile creeped onto Silver's face as he followed the man, anticipating violence. He was back in the forest within minutes.

"Weird kid." The guitarist commented mildly, before turning to greet the two CEOs.

*Moogle. It's what Google would be called in the pokemon world. Yes.

An update :o And a late one. Shit happens. Life happens. Blah.

This chapter is dedicated to Skyfire146- the 100th reviewer for this story! * confetti falls * Be on the watch for a one-shot in the Definition of Weakness universe that she has requested of me. It'll be up. I swear.