With the sun glaring down onto Cianwood City's sandy coast, the air was blistering. The nearby tide splashed against the coast, as Wingull flew around the cloudless skies.

In the distant horizon, two silhouettes could be made out approaching the littoral. As they came closer, even a simple pedestrian could see the Politoed and Feraligator swimming side by side, each with a trainer on its back.

Upon finally reaching land, both boys jumped off of their steeds, and returned the Pokemon to their capsules. The black haired boy, wearing a red hoodie and shorts, grinned and began to stretch, "That sure was a long ride."

The other, a red haired male in a black jacket and long jeans, rolled his eyes, "What'd you expect?"

"I dunno, something shorter, I guess," He sighed. Suddenly perking up, the boy looked up with wide eyes at his sullen colleague, "Silver, can we go challenge the gym now?"

Silver merely glared, "No."

Gold pouted and began to whine, "Aw, come on, Silv! Don't be a downer!"

"Don't be annoying."

Before either could speak, the two's bickering was interrupted by a shrill voice yelling both names. Gold and Silver curiously looked up at the commotion, only to give with entirely opposite reactions. Gold's eyes widened in delight, while Silver's in horror. As the ravenette cheered, Silver whispered to himself in apprehension, "Dear Arceus, no..."

Lyra Katone ran down the sandy beach towards the water, where her two childhood friends stood. She immediately tackled Silver, hugging him before he had the chance to escape. Small curses could be heard emanating from his lips as the vice grip continued.

Once Lyra released Silver from the embrace, he quickly retreated, distancing himself from the perky brunette. Ignoring his dramatics, Lyra and Gold exchanged hugs and pleasantries, asking how the other has been and recounting stories from their journeys. The trio hadn't reunited since initially parting at the beginning of their adventure.

Throughout the conversation, Silver continuously rolled his eyes at the two. Growing bored, he finally interrupted them, "Gold. You wanted to challenge the gym? Let's go already."

Gold looked up. He smiled sheepishly, "Er... Actually I wanted to battle Lyra first. You know, for old time's sake." Seeing Silver's pissed expression, Gold averted his eyes. Trying to break the awkward tension building in the air, he looked back at his friend, "Maybe you can book us a room at the Pokemon center?"

Rage flared in Silver's face, and he venomously spit out a, "Fine," Before turning and storming away from the water and instead towards the city.

When he was out of sight, Lyra looked sadly down at her feet. She sighed, "Why does he hate me?" Gold gave no response other than to envelop her in an embrace.

~~~~

Silver made his way through the bustling town, pushing past tourists and ignoring street vendors selling souvenirs and food. He turned street corner after street corner, still fuming over the argument. Thinking about the two of them together, Silver deepened his glare. "I can't believe he would rather hang out with her than me," He muttered to himself.

Amid the dark thoughts in his head, Silver was entirely oblivious to his surroundings. Before he could even react, our Hamlet found himself sprawled on the ground, a petite blonde facing him, also on her ass.

The girl quickly scampered to her feet. Her eyes widened when she saw Silver, "Oh my gosh!" She rushed to his side, "Are you okay?! I am so sorry!" As Silver picked himself up, she continued to ramble, "I-I didn't watch where I was going and, and I was in a rush to get to--" She stopped suddenly.

With wide eyes she ran away. The girl did, however, manage to call over her shoulder before disappearing, "Sorry! I'm really really late for something!"

Silver blinked. That was an odd encounter. Shaking his head to regain his bearings, he scowled and continued on towards the Pokemon Center.

Upon entering the building, the first thing that Silver noticed were the decorations. Streamers and balloons were placed everywhere, in varying shades of yellow and orange. Giving them a weird look, Silver approached the counter, "Er..." He said to the Nurse Joy in front of him, "What's with all this?"

"Oh!" She exclaimed, "It's for our Sun Festival!" Seeing his confused look, Nurse Joy continued, "Every year around this time, the sun stays up longer than usual. During that time, all of our Corsola gather to absorb the light as it goes down. For some mysterious reason, it's only at this time that the light will reflect against their shells, creating a gorgeous incandescence. The added brilliance makes the sunset absolutely breath taking. The town holds a party on the beach every year to watch the sun go down."

Silver nodded, uninterested, "Can I book a room? For three--" Lyra's face flashed into his mind, causing anger to bubble up. He cleared his throat, "I mean, two. A bedroom for two."

Joy smiled and handed him a key, "We hope to see you again!"

Silver handed her the money, and left without a word. Once again, he was left to his own dark thoughts.

~~~

Gold fell back against the sand, absorbing its warmth as he smiled in satisfaction. The match between him and Lyra had just ended, with him as the victor.

Lyra crossed her arms and pouted at him, "That wasn't fair! You have more Pokemon than me!"

Lazily shrugging from his spot on the beach, the trainer grinned slightly, "Then you should've caught more. It's not my fault that I'm so awesome."

She sighed and sat herself next to Gold. Staring off into the distant horizon, she asked suddenly, "Do you think Silver is okay?"

Gold nodded, "Yeah. He's just being a primadonna. He can't go a day without causing some kind of drama." He laughed, "Just the other day, he completely snapped at a waitress. She brought him the wrong order. He yelled that she should've spent more time working and less time flirting with me. The entire restaurant was staring at us."

Lyra laughed along with him, "That sounds like Silvy. Flipping his shit onto a poor waitress."

With the crowing dying down, Gold pulled himself to his feet, lightly brushing off the sand stuck to him, "We should go to the center." Lyra stood up as he spoke, dusting herself off. "Both of our Pokemon need healing, and I want to challenge the gym as soon as possible."

She nodded, "Yeah, of course. Let's go."

The two of them took their time traipsing through the town. At the vendors' carts, they browsed through each selection, occasionally buying trinkets and souvenirs. There was also foods of all types being served. Gold was a vacuum, eating everything he saw. His Pokemon were no different. Quilava and Aipom mischievously stole their master's meal when he wasn't looking.

After what was a rather enjoyable time, the dual trainers made their way into the Pokemon Center building. They looked at all of the decorations, confused. At the counter, both handed their teams to Nurse Joy.

"Hey, Nurse Joy," Gold started, "What's with all the decorations?"

~~~

Silver was still aimlessly walking the streets. At this point, he had no idea where he was. He had somehow wandered into an alley of sorts, and there was no one who could possibly give him directions. Not that he would have asked, regardless.

Stray Meowth sat atop trash cans and window sills, silently watching him with wide eyes. The silence enveloped the area like a dense fog.

To collect his bearings, Silver stopped. Piercing the silence, the faint sounds of music could be heard. It was then that he remembered what Nurse Joy had said about the festival and its customary beach party. Taking a deep breath, he walking with purpose towards the babble.

After making a few wrong turns into dead ends, Silver found himself at the beach. The sandy coast was covered in flaming torches and picnic tables piled high with food. A stereo could be heard blasting said music. People were in random clumps, dancing or simply talking or eating.

Silver wandered through the festivities, not quite sure of what he should do. He settled for standing away from everyone else. Doing absolutely nothing.

He noticed that he wasn't the only one with this brilliant plan. A few feet away from him was a short girl with blonde hair in a pixie cut. She was wearing a red dress with a leather jacket over it. Every once in a while, she would tug the hem of the dress down, almost as if she was trying to extend its length. That's when he realized that it was the girl who had knocked him over earlier.

He frowned slightly and walked over to her, "You ran into me." With a puzzled expression, the girl looked up at him. Quickly recognizing Silver, her eyes widened in horror and embarrassment. Silver continued to speak, rolling his eyes as he did so, "It's fine."

"I-I really am sorry..." She stuttered, avoiding his gaze.

He glared slightly, "I said it's fine." She nodded. They stood in an awkward silence. He sighed, deciding to break the tension first, "Where were you in a rush to get to?"

She glanced at him before looking away again, "Um... To, uh, help out here."

"I see."

"Yeah." Most likely to avoid another silence, she continued on, "My friend volunteered me to help decorate for the festival. She's really into parties and stuff. I don't really like social events, but I would have felt bad if I cancelled on everyone. Then my friend ended up dragging me here with her, and somehow got me into, " With disgust the girl gestured down at her dress, "This."

Silver didn't really care about what she was saying. But he made an effort anyways, "You don't like dresses?"

"I hate them."

"I see."

They relapsed into silence once more. The girl cleared her throat, "Er... I'm Alice."

"Silver."

"That's a pretty name."

Before Alice could do anything, Silver gave her the meanest glare he could muster. Her only response was to burst out laughing. "What's so funny?" He snarled.

She continued to giggle, "You trying to be imtimidating."

He gave a small huff, "I am imtimidating." She only laughed more in return.

A third voice chimed into the conversation at that point, "...Silver...?" Both Silver and Alice turned their heads to see Gold, a look of hurt painted across his face.

Before anyone could say anything, Gold ran away. Silver looked between him and Alice, unsure of what happened. She looked in the direction that Gold had run off to, "You should probably go after him." She pointed at to other blondes, one shorter and one much taller than herself, who were talking to each other, "I have my own friends who I should probably go check up on."

Silver nodded, and left, running to go catch up with his friend.

~~~

Gold had gone to the other side of the beach. He sat in the sand stroking his Quilava. 'Why did I react like that?' He thought, 'He was only talking to that girl...' Heaving a sigh, he buried his face in his Pokemon's fur.

"Gold!" At the sound of his name, Gold looked up to see Silver running down the beach towards him. Reaching him, the red head sat himself down next to his friend, "Why'd you run off like that?"

Gold sniffled, "I dunno." He took a deep breath and returned Quilava to its Pokeball, "I guess I didn't like that you were with her instead of me."

Silver scoffed, "How do you think I felt about you and Lyra?"

He shrugged, "That's different and you know it."

"No it's not. You know that I can't stand her, and you still decided that you would rather hang out with her than me." Silver looked Gold straight in the eyes, "You're supposed to be my best friend."

"I am!" There was a pause and they both turned back towards the sunset. Gold whispered softly, "It really is beautiful."

Silver turned back towards Gold, "Yeah."

Their eyes met. Gold eased in closer to Silver, their breath mingling. Just as the sun was swallowed by the swelling sea, the scarlet haired boy smirked, his forehead touching Gold's. The golden eyed trainer became as red as his friend's locks, his heart feeling as if a Butterfree was caged. Seconds from any sort of action, Silver's thin lips parted, "You're still annoying."

With that, the pale boy broke away and strode down the shore. Gold took his time trying to settle from what just occurred mere moments ago. He watched how Silver's boots laid marks in the sand, only to be washed away by the foaming ocean.

"You coming?" The brooding trainer called over his shoulder.

"Y-Yeah!" Gold stuttered. He quickly jumped to his feet and chased after Silver.