Hey peoples.

Well, I was going to post this in my upcoming oneshot collection for humanxhuman pairings, but since that is still in the planning stage, I thought I would just post this outside of it. I wrote it for Galbinus, and it was quite a fun try.

However, I have never written with the characters of Gold or Silver. Hell, I haven't even read the manga 'cause I'm lame like that, and also happen to live by bookstores who sport everything BUT what I want to read.

-sigh- Story of my life.

Anyway, enjoy this, at least, seeing as how my writing time has been cut short a lot lately...

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or the song: "If Only", which belongs to Hoobastank.

Edit: Edited a few things a little, although it's mostly barely-noticeable stuff.

-ooo-

Tap…tap…tap…

Gold’s shoes clacked against the clean tiled flooring of the Rocket HQ, its white halls surrounding him and overhead lights shedding an overlapping array of flashes across his facial skin, which sweat began to roll down from his forehead. His yellow and black hat was flipped backwards, a long bang of obsidian-colored hair (which he flipped out of the way of his goldenrod eyesight every now and then) protruding from the back hole. With gritted teeth his narrowed eyes scanned the empty grounds of the underground base, tension rising within his weak muscles as he prepared himself for an ambush. Despite that isolation decked the hallways, the sixteen-year-old Pokemon trainer was certain there were Rocket grunts waiting to pounce on him around every corner.

Tap…tap…tap…

He continued forward, turning left and right as he maneuvered through the labyrinthine HQ, scowling himself when coming across a pair of stairs he had obviously passed by before. His sweat that was partially forming from both nervousness and frustration reached the palm of his hands, which he wiped impatiently onto his jean shorts before adjusting the goggles that were tied around his hat. His eyebrows furrowed, growing angry at the fact that, regardless of his attempts to overrun the Rocket base and prevent any evil deeds the leader, Giovanni, was planning to accomplish, he was lost within the deserted-feeling halls.

“Damn it,” he spat to himself in the form of a hissing whisper, clenching his damp hands. He quickly snapped his head around, his goldenrod eyes sailing across the colorless surroundings and stainless, mirroring floor, somewhat expecting that a grunt was in the act of sneaking up on him.

But nobody was there.

Gold sighed in annoyance, turning his eyes to the hallway next to him, the only sounds that echoed throughout it being the slow growling sound of the air vents above. The obsidian-haired trainer could even swear he felt quite claustrophobic for some reason, although the hallways were quite wide and empty. Exposing his gritted teeth once again Gold immediately shot down the hallway, his sneakers tapping against the tiled flooring once more, squeaking, even, when he made instant turns into different tunnels of encompassing white.

Tap…tap…tap…

Gold halted in movement when his envious eyes caught sight of a pair of stairs that led downward, which was the only thing among those hallways he hadn’t seen. Taking off his hat for a second so he could rub a hand through his hair (which gained an oily feeling due to his sweat), he made his way down the hall and descended down the stairs, a Pokeball clutched tightly in his hand, ready to be launched at the first sight of an enemy.

-ooo-

He took in a deep breath when he came upon a door at the end of another hallway, listening closely to it with focused eyes. Mumbling was heard on the other side, and Gold could easily tell that the rough, deep voice of one of the vocalizing peoples was none other than Giovanni himself, while the other younger, yet still somewhat dark tone sounded familiar, although Gold couldn’t think of the owner for some reason.

Placing his thumb on the opening button of his Pokeball, Gold burst through the door, narrowed goldenrod eyes gaining a piercing hue when they fell upon the rough body structure of Giovanni, who turned his own glare towards the intruding boy. However, despite that Gold had found the person he wanted to defeat, his eyes widened when he recognized the sixteen-year-old that stood by Giovanni – the owner of the familiar dark tone.

Silver.

The scarlet-haired trainer’s silver-ish eyes narrowed as well, although his frowning mouth displayed no surprise on the fact that his rival had just crashed into the room unexpectedly. The sixteen-year-old remained quite monotonic, a snort of repugnance rising from the bowels behind his lips as he turned his attention to Giovanni, arms crossed.

“Silver?” Gold squeaked in doubt, eyes widened, although his glare returned when he added, “Get away from Giovanni, Silver, don’t you know who he is?” The boy raised his clenched fist that carried a Pokeball before tossing the said container towards the ground, allowing it to open and release a vicious Typhlosion, who snarled at Giovanni and Silver almost instantly upon release, recognizing them as enemies.

Silver paid no heed to Gold’s warning, mentally scowling the teen for worrying about his safety, and also implying that Giovanni was his enemy to take down. The scarlet-haired trainer only stepped in front of the leader of Team Rocket, annoyed expression remaining tight to where Gold quirked his eyebrow in the act of bewilderment. What was wrong with his rival?

Giovanni chuckled, wrinkles spreading across his built face in response. Gold’s confusion lingered around him, both at Giovanni’s unexplained cackle and at the fact that Silver was standing in front of him, silent, as if he was some sort of soldier loyal to the leader of Team Rocket. Gold's Typhlosion remained eventless, quite confused itself on the situation.

“Why, this is the perfect time, Silver,” Giovanni then started, his tone a mixture of arrogance and vileness, “to prove your loyalty to Team Rocket.”

Gold paled, his mouth gaping. His rival…a part of Team Rocket?

Silver narrowed his eyes into slits, although the scarlet-haired trainer then grabbed a Pokeball from his pocket, clutching it somewhat tightly in his hand. Obviously understanding the implied order within Giovanni’s words, Silver, whose dark voice remained just that with no side emotions, muttered, “Yes, father.”

Gold nearly fainted then and there. His irises paled, his muscles becoming weak, coldness rushing through them like rising water after a disastrous dam break, and he could feel his heart pound against his chest.

F…f-father?

Before Gold could even question the fact that Silver, his rival since the very start of his Pokemon journey, could possibly be the son of Giovanni, the leader of Team Rocket, the said scarlet-haired trainer released his Feraligatr, who roared ferociously, convincing Typhlosion to kneel into an intimidating position. Gold, on the other hand, remained frozen in place, a look of pure shock covering his face. He had known the mysterious character that was Silver for quite some time, and, despite their rivalry, had been in the process of forming a possible friendship with him.

But now, as if the revealing of Silver’s father was Armageddon itself, Gold fell to his knees, utter disbelief causing his breathing to quicken. How could the person he admired so much turn out to serve as the role of his worst enemy? It made no sense, and Gold didn’t want to believe it. He refused to believe it. But even then it didn’t change the fact that it was the truth, and the obsidian-haired trainer could feel tears begin to bottle behind his eyes.

“Ah, my son,” Giovanni then snickered to Silver, who was eyeing Gold’s breakdown with heartless emotion, despite that his eyes darkened with slight sympathy every now and then (he knew that Gold was taking the truth hard), “for many years you have forced yourself to be distant from others, to be a loner beyond what you wanted to be. I know you did it all in the act of proving your loyalty to me – to prove that you would fit the role of the next leader of Team Rocket when my time is done. I must say, Silver, so far, I’m quite impressed.”

As Gold’s Typhlosion and Silver’s Feraligatr remained without movement, waiting for their masters’ calls, Giovanni began to circle around the two rivals, his speech continuing. “However, you have not quite proven how dedicated you are to the Rocket organization, and even with the fact that I can see how much you have always wanted to follow in my footsteps, Silver, you need to perform one last act to earn my blessing.”

Silver locked monotonic gazes with his father, ignoring the fact that Gold was on his knees, widened eyes focused on the ground. The scarlet-haired trainer, despite that he wasn’t showing it, was waiting impatiently for the required act to earn his rank on the Rocket organization.

Giovanni’s devious grin grew bigger, practically reaching ear-to-ear, his voice leaking with vileness. “Show me how heartless you can really be, Silver,” the leader of the Rocket organization then hissed, “take care of this nuisance who has been bothering Team Rocket for quite some time.” He switched his eyes to Gold, who returned it with a pale and widened gaze, gasping as the very command that would help Silver earn his place among Team Rocket poured from Giovanni’s chapped lips.

“Kill Gold.”

Silver’s mouth gaped, his emotionless face immediately contorting into that of shock like Gold’s. His own skin paled, his widened eyes turning to Gold, whose own orbs contained a mixture of hurt and surprise rather than the anger he held a few minutes ago, and now the scarlet-haired trainer could feel his heart plummet.

Kill…his rival? Kill him?

“Prove to me that you’re more heartless than every Rocket grunt in this organization, Silver,” Giovanni spat, obviously trying to egg his son into doing the sinful act. The loner sixteen-year-old shot a look of disbelief towards his father, while the said leader only narrowed his eyes even more. Silver’s Feraligatr, who was somewhat surprised by the command, looked towards its trainer for guidance, while Typhlosion, who was expecting trouble, gained its defensive battle stance. It wouldn’t allow anyone to touch its trainer, even if the said obsidian-haired teenager showed no signs of wanting to be saved.

Giovanni snarled, taking Silver’s hesitation to pull through on the command unacceptable. “Kill him! Kill Gold now!”

Silver turned his widened eyes towards his rival, who was too distracted by the utter disbelief of it all that he was still on his knees, eyes practically glued to the ground. His Typhlosion walked in front of him, acting as some sort of barricade ready to take every hit that was to be thrown towards its trainer.

“Do it, Silver,” Giovanni groaned between gritted teeth.

The scarlet-haired trainer, whose breath began to quicken even more than Gold’s, immediately remembered the time he had met Gold, how they used to fight, and the friendship that had begun to form between them in the midst of it.

The obsidian-haired trainer…he amazed Silver to the highest extent, even if their rivalry and the loner attitude that he gained from it didn’t allow him to show such a thing.

“Kill him!” Giovanni repeated.

Silver remembered the times Gold had saved him, and the times the obsidian-haired trainer had tried to cheer him up with his childish antics when he was down. Although he displayed annoyance towards such things, he appreciated his rival’s attempts, which such generosity Silver had failed to see in anybody else he had come across during his travels.

“What are you waiting for, son?”

He remembered the times he and Gold had to take separate paths, and part of the motivation in Silver’s travels was not only for the obvious reasons, but for the fact that he found himself envying to see Gold again.

“Do it!”

Gold…he was so alive, unlike him. He was so friendly, unlike him. He was brave and trustworthy, unlike him.

His rival had a heart…

“Kill him now, Silver!”

…unlike him.

“NO!” Silver finally roared, and, as if on cue, his Feraligatr snarled viciously before turning towards the stunned Giovanni, who barely dodged the alligator Pokemon’s claw swipe. Gold immediately rose his eyes, surprise leaking from his expression, as Giovanni struggled to reach a button on a console in the far side of the room, in which pushing it caused a hidden door to open up on the colorless wall.

Before the leader of Team Rocket could escape through the revealed elevator, though, he shot his furious eyes towards his son, who was glaring at him as well, his Feraligatr ready to attack once again.

“You are weak!” Giovanni spat. “And no longer a son of mine.”

With that, Giovanni disappeared into the elevator, the wall closing behind him and sealing it off. Because of this Silver and Gold could only stare at its prior entrance, somewhat disappointed at the fact that the leader of Team Rocket had made a clean getaway.

However, despite this, Feraligatr calmed down, joining Typhlosion, who was glaring at Silver with hints of leftover suspicion, in watching the scarlet-haired trainer make his way over to Gold, who was still on his knees, more utter disbelief covering his shocked expression.

“You…you didn’t kill me…” Gold muttered, eyes still somewhat pale. “You wanted to be in Team Rocket so much…your father…but you still didn’t do it…why?”

Silver sighed, his eyes darkening and turning away as he towered over his rival. Eventually, though he returned them to Gold, immediately meeting his curious, yet still somewhat worried orbs. The scarlet-haired trainer's dark tone remained free of emotion (apart from implications of compassion) as he then spoke, “My so-called father isn’t worth it – Team Rocket isn’t worth it. Besides…”

Silver held out his hand to his rival, his expression serious as usual, although Gold swore he saw him smile for a split second.

“No one’s heartless enough to kill a friend.”

The obsidian haired trainer could feel himself smile before grasping his riv – friend’s hand, allowing the scarlet-haired trainer to hoist him up onto his feet.

All of a sudden, though, Gold embraced Silver, whose eyes widened upon the unexpected contact, a blush forming across his cheeks. Despite this, though, he couldn’t help but give in and wrap his arms around his friend’s thin torso, pulling him closer, basking in the warm feeling that thrived inside of him in response.

“I’m sorry, Gold,” Silver mumbled as he pulled away from his friend, coming across Gold’s shocked face.

“What for?”

Silver sighed. “Your life was in jeopardy today, and all because of me. If only I hadn’t been so obsessed to be like my father, then such a risk wouldn’t have been experienced.”

Gold’s expression softened before he embraced Silver once again, causing the scarlet-haired trainer to blush once more as he wrapped his arms around him. “You're worth it," he then whispered into his ear, his infamous goofy smile making an appearance. Silver rolled his eyes in a playful manner, his blush still strong.

Yup, even in the aftermath of such a dark moment, his childish friend - no, his childish crush ceased to amaze him.

-ooo-

Oy, random. It didn't go quite as I planned, seeing as how originally it was supposed to be tragic...

-shrug- Eh.