"We're disappointed in you."

"You've made the wrong choices."

"Totodile was right; you should have listened to him."

"You're going to break his heart."

Those words tormented me throughout the night. It wasn't peaceful; I had another dr...um, nightmare. Except this time I didn't have Silver to wake me up...since Mr. 'I-can't-sleep-over-all-the-noise' has been sleeping the whole time, unfazed by my struggles in my sleep. ...And no, that doesn't mean I appreciate him waking me up! But my nightmares seem so real, so real that I've been wondering if this was my real fate. 

I looked at the clock. 2 o'clock am. This is going to be a long night, isn't it? I just laid down for what felt like the thousandth time, and closed my eyes trying to sleep.

It was all the same...my grave, Giovanni, my parents...everything. But after Feraligatr attacked me, my dream continued. I didn't have any silver eyes to glare at me when I was 'being noisey'. 

So I laid there, bruised and bleeding to death (if I was even alive to start with), looking up at Feraligatr and my parents. Feraligatr grinned; pleased with his work.

"Did you think you'd go to heaven and see us again?" They asked. "For everything you've done, Arceus has decided to send you to hell."

The ground started violently shaking, and the ground started cracking open. You'd expect fire, right? But it was pitch black. It continued opening, until finally I fell in. I wanted to scream for help, but I couldn't do anything as they watched me fall.

It was dark everywhere, but I felt a presence. I didn't move thinking that if I did then the creature would attack.

I saw bright red eyes through the darkness. 6 glowing red spikes joined it, floating in the darkness. It screeched out, the sound echoing through the darkness, sending the 6 spikes straight for me at an incredible speed.

I woke up panting and gasping for air. I looked at the clock once again...7:30 am. I didn't want to fall asleep again, so I sat up straighter. I had no idea when breakfast would come...but I wasn't even hungry anyways. I just wanted something to look forward to. 

Dratini was asleep on the floor, all curled up. Silver was on the chair (which he somehow got comfortable in) sleeping peacefully. If you didn't know the guy, you'd think he was the sweetest thing; he didn't have a scowl on his face, no frown (but no smile either) and his mouth was opened just the slightest. He wasn't an obnoxious sleeper...like people who drool everywhere or snore loudly...he was a clean and quiet sleeper. 

~~~

I've been sitting here for 2 hours, bored and tired. Now it's 9:30 am, and Dratini and Silver have been sleeping the whole time. I'm kinda jealous that I'm not granted a nice dream like them. My eyes were heavy and every now and then my head would tilt over, only with me snapping my head back up. I'd constantly hold in my yawns, knowing that everytime I would yawn, I'd just lay back down and sleep. Then I'd be tourtured again in my sleep.

After what felt like forever, the door opened with the nurse and her Chansey walking in (and their big smiles). Dratini and Silver woke up by the sound of them entering.

"Good morning." She said. "Ready to check your leg?"

"Yeah." I sat up and swung my legs over the edge. I slowly slid off the bed until my feet touched the ground, and I felt no pain, even when I put pressure on it or shifted my weight over. Well that's a relief considering that Silver is probably going to make me walk the whole way to Blackthorn with him in a day. 

"Well your leg seems fine, so I suppose you're ready to leave?" I nodded. She smiled (again) and led the three of us (including Dratini) out.

"So you're going to want to leave right now, right?" I asked Silver once we left.

"Since we lost about a week of traveling...yes." He replied, already making his way to Route 44, hands stuffed in his pockets. "Route 44 takes about an hour to walk through, then there's Ice Cave at the end. That takes about 2 hours, if you don't get lost...or have any wild bats attack us."

"That was not my fault!" I yelled.

"Says the one who's yelling, didn't yelling get us into that whole battle in the first place?" I gritted my teeth and held back the urge to just tackle him and rip that red hair out. 

I sighed. "Whatever."

"So when do you plan on leaving me alone? Since obviously you don't like my company."

"You're right, I don't like your company. Maybe I'll leave right now." I said, beginning to turn around. Dratini stopped me, pushing me back with his head. "What?" I growled. He shook its head no, saying that he doesn't want to leave. "Why not? Do you actually like that jerk or something?" Dratini didn't shake or nod, just tilted his head a little. I'll take that as an 'eh.' 

"Is it because of what I said in the Pokemon Center? About learning to battle?" Silver asked. Dratini nodded, determination in his eyes. Silver smirked. "Dratini doesn't want a wimp like you training him, he prefers me."

"You take that back!" I hissed.

"Why? Dratini is technically the one who said it." Silver said, walking with Dratini following. "Besides, look at Croconaw; he prefers me over you. You're just stupid and weak...can't even train a little dragon." 

I snapped. I tackled him to the ground, him landing face down in the dirt.

"Take that back!"

"Why should I?!" I under estimated his strength, because next thing I knew I was pinned down with a glaring red-head on top of me.

"Because you want my help, don't you?!" I kicked him in the stomach, and he released his grip on me. We stood up, ready to attack each other one more time. Dratini was squeaking constantly, probably trying to get us to stop fighting.

Silver was panting, probably trying to get the air that I kicked out of him back. He growled, pushing my back into a tree and pinned me to the tree with his one hand. He raised one hand, rolled up into a fist. 

"You wouldn't hit a girl, let alone punch a girl, would you?" I said, pulling an innocent look on my face. I saw his fist and his jaw tighten. His eyes were covered by his bangs. And then the whole time, Dratini's pleas got louder and louder. 

After a long hesitation, Silver finally moved. Unfortunately, it was him going to punch me in the face. I closed my eyes and looked away, bracing for it. 

A loud 'dratini!!' came from the dragon type, and then he was shrouded in a blinding white light. Dratini grew bigger and longer, earning some new features like wings on its head. I opened my eyes and saw that Dratini just evolved into Dragonair. 

Both me and Silver were surprised, and he let go of me. Dragonair, still angry, glared at Silver. Silver backed up a little, but my Pokemon only slithered closer. Hey, I'd be pretty nervous to have a dragon glaring at me too. Dragonair started powering up dragon rage, aiming it for Silver. Without thinking, I ran in between Silver and Dragonair, letting the dragon move hit me. Why I did that? I don't know. Silver kind of deserved it, but apparently I didn't think so. 

I was rammed back, right into the Silver. I landed on top of him, holding my left arm, which was hit by the attack. Silver groaned in pain from being slammed to the ground, and probably my elbow hitting him in the stomach. He'll have a bruised stomach by the end of the day, no doubt about it.

"What the hell did you just do?" Silver asked, sitting up and letting me sit on his lap, still clutching my arm. 

"I kinda wish I knew." I said weakly. I tried to sound a little stronger, knowing that Silver would probably call me weak from this, but I failed. A dry chuckle escaped my lips.

"One minute you attack me and the next you save me? You make no sense." I reached for Dragonair's Pokeball with my left arm, and quickly regretted that. My arm was in a world of pain right now. So instead, Silver took Dragonair's Pokeball and returned him for me. 

"Thanks..." I muttered.

He didn't reply. He only leaned against the tree I was pinned against earlier with his arms behind his head. I was still on his lap, but I didn't relax. Most girls would probably lean their head on his chest and wrap their arms around him, but this guy almost punched me in the face, no way am I gonna get comfortable.

"If you don't want to be on my lap then get off." He said. I got off of him and stood up. 

"Well don't you want to get to Blackthorn today?" I asked.

"Yeah, it would be better sleeping in a room other than outside."

"Then come on; we still need to get through the rest of Route 44 and then Ice Cave."

"We just got into a fist fight and you already want to leave?"

"The sooner we get there the better, right?"

"Your arm alright?"

"Since when did you care?"

"I never did, I just...I just wanted to know if you were alright to travel." He stuttered. "If not then I'm just leaving you here."

"I'm fine. I'm standing, aren't I? I'm sure I can make it to Blackthorn." I said, starting to walk away. I still held my arm, because it still hurt, but I didn't want to stay outside in the cold at night, or be in a cave named 'Ice Cave.' 

Silver caught up, walking in front of me eventually, and led us to the cave. There were trainers in the way, but Silver took them down with ease. In no time, we found ourselves at the entrance of the cave. Wordlessly, we walked in. 

You know that feeling when you're at the grocery store and suddenly you walk in the frozen food department? That's kind of what it felt like now, except colder. I would have hugged myself to stay warm if it wasn't for my pained arm. I looked over to Silver, and he seemed fine, considering that he had that black jacket on. It doesn't surprise me; that jacket covers more than half of him (including his neck), and its a dark color so it absorbs more heat. His hands were shoved in the pockets of his jacket, which were also covered by gloves. I envy this kid at the moment.

"Will you stop staring at me?" Silver snapped.

I was staring? I looked away, trying not to blush (from embarrassment!). "I wasn't!"

"What an obvious lie; I saw you looking me up and down." 

"The only way you'd know that is if you looked over at me, so aren't you guilty of checking me out?"

"I never said 'checking out', I said staring. And I only looked over because I felt your eyes on me for a while now." Shit, did I practically just admit that I checking him out? 

"Alright, I admit it, I was staring. But I wasn't checking you out!"

"I never said you were."

Stop it Umber! You're only making this worse! "J-Just shut up!"

"Stop yelling, remember the last time we were in a cave and that happened?" 

I just stayed quiet, not wanting to get into another fight or argument. I kept my eyes glued on the ground, walking beside Silver.

~~~

You expected some big battle or me being attacked by a wild Pokemon, didn't you? Well none of that happened, so I'm not wasting your time explaining what happened! Nothing important happened anyways...

We walked out of the cave, and it was only probably around 3 o'clock. So Silver could even fit in some training or even the gym battle today, and then be off for the Elite Four.

"Hey!"

Or not.

As we entered the city, we were greeted by Gold and Lyra. Did they decide to travel together or something? Well, that's none of my concern.

"You two finally made it here, what took so long?" Lyra asked.

"And why is Umber wearing Silver's jacket?" Gold asked, blushing. I looked down, remembering that I was wearing his jacket. I said nothing important happened in the cave? Well it wasn't important! It's just a stupid jacket.

"You're shivering." Silver stated.

"N-N-No du-duh..." I said through chattering teeth. I was only wearing a white tank top and shorts, so I obviously wouldn't find the Ice Cave warm in any way.

I felt something warm wrap itself around me. I looked over to Silver, now jacket-less. He put his jacket on me, and helped me get my injured arm through the sleeve.

"What was that for?" I asked, surprised by his actions.

"It means nothing." He said, continuing on.

I was still surprised, but I couldn't help but smile to myself. "Thanks." I said.

"Just give it back to me when we get out."

"I was cold, alright? And why are you blushing?" I snapped.

"It looks like you're only wearing his jacket..." I looked down, and did notice that this jacket went past my shorts. 

"P-Pervert!" I yelled, red to the face. I quickly took off the jacket and shoved it in Silver's chest. 

"You never answered my question!" Lyra shouted, changing the topic.

"I got injured and stayed at the Pokemon Center for a few days, happy?" 

"No! That sounds horrible!" She said, covering her mouth with her hand.

"You don't even know what happened..." I muttered to myself. "Can you leave us alone? Silver needs to train for the gym."

"I'm probably already strong enough." Silver said.

"Whatever..."

"The gym leader is actually pretty hard to beat; it took us more than one try to beat her." Gold said.

"Because you're wimps."

"We're not!" Lyra shouted.

"You just don't want to admit it." 

"I am not a wimp! We can battle and I can show you I'm not!" 

"How about a double battle?" Gold offered. "Me and Lyra against Silver and Umber!"

"Two on two, no subsitutions." Silver said. 

"So you're in?" Lyra said.

"Of course, right Umber?" 

"Uh, yeah." I said, a bit unsure how this whole challenge started. But without an arguement, I sent out Dragonair. Gold sent out Typhlosion, Lyra sent out Meganium, and Silver sent out the same Pokemon that tore me to shreads in my dreams, Feraligatr. 

"When did you evolve Croconaw?" I asked, trying to hide any fear in my voice.

"While you were knocked out at the Pokemon Center." Silver said. 

Gold stopped to check out Feraligatr on his Pokedex. I held back a scream, or anything else when that damned device decided to say, 'When it bites with its massive and powerful jaws, it shakes its head and savagely tears its victim up.' Well that was some very nice information, you stupid encyclopedia.

"Feraligatr, ice fang on Meganium!" Feraligatr, on all fours, quickly ran to Meganium, landing an icy bite on its neck. Megainum cried out in pain. 

"Meganium, shake it off and use petal dance!" Meganium shook itself, and Feraligatr let go. Petals flew all around Feraligatr at a fast speed, scratching him all up. 

"Typhlosion, swift!" Typhlosion shot stars at Feraligatr and Dragonair.

"You helping me or not??" Silver yelled at me. 

"O-Oh, yeah, Dragonair use dragon rage on Meganium!" Dragonair attacked, and since Megainum wasn't the fastest Pokemon around, it got hit easily. 

I heard Silver mumble 'finally' under his breath, and then proceded to command Feraligatr's further attacks.

~~~

The battle ended, with me and Silver losing. The red-head returned his water type, letting a 'tch' escape his lips. Gold and Lyra cheered and hugged, with Gold letting go just realizing he hugged her, with a red face and rubbed the back of his head. Lyra just giggled at him and called him 'cute.' The two happy trainers walked over.

"Looks like Silvy does need some training." Lyra said, with a grin on her face.

"Shut up." He snapped. "I could have won if..."

"If?"

"I-If I didn't have to battle alongside this girl!" He said, gesuring to me.

"So now you're blaming me?!" I yelled.

"Well you zoned out at the beginning of the battle!"

"Because..." I started. I didn't want to tell him about my nightmares, so I just ended it there. "Tch, fine. Whatever, you lost because of me!" I pushed Gold and Lyra out of the way, walking to the Pokemon Center. 

"Hello and welcome to the Pokemon Center, how may I help you?" The smiling (as usual) nurse asked. I placed Dragonair's Pokeball (with him inside) on the counter wordlessly. "It'll take about 10 minutes, alright?"

"Can I also get a room?"

"Of course." She said, giving me a card key to a room. I took it, walking off to my room for the night.

I walked in, laying on the bed to relax for the next 10 minutes. I looked over to the clock. 6:30 pm. 

The ticking of the clock filled the room, almost luring me to sleep. That is until a knock at my door. I sighed and got out of my comfortable position, and opened the door. There stood the guy who was bitching about how I made him lose.

"What do you want?" I asked.

"Just wanted to talk." He said, allowing himself in.

"I never said you could come in." 

"Oh well." He said, sitting on the bed I was previously laying on. "What was your problem earlier?"

"What do you mean?" I asked, sitting besides him.

"Why did you zone out? You said 'because...' and just stormed off."

"I don't want to talk about it." Especially to him. 

"Why not?"

"Because I don't like you." I simply stated.

"I don't like you either, but I still want to know." 

I gave up. "Fine. I'll tell you, but only if you tell me why to stuttered before you blamed me for your loss."

I could see his eyes widen in surprise a little and he looked away. "It was nothing."

"Really? Normally you wouldn't hesitate to piss me off." I smirked a bit.

"I just needed an excuse! I mean, they trained for that gym battle, of course they'd win." He said. "And they had to know how to deal with dragon types so Dragonair was easily taken out."

"So it wasn't my fault?" I asked, calming down a bit.

He hesitated again, and then shrugged. Well that's a start...

"I guess I can tell you what's been bugging me now..." He looked back at me with his silver eyes. 

It was quiet...well besides the breathing and ticking of the clock.

"Well?" Silver broke the silence. "You gonna tell me?"

I sighed, and began opening myself up to him without even knowing it.