Work Text:
Silver sat on the sand of the artificial beach, enjoying the cool nightly breeze coming off the sea. This was one of his favorite spots on the island to come relax alone after a day of training or battling. Or as alone as he was allowed to be. It always seemed that someone would come to bother him every time he sought peace and silence, Ethan and Scottie still trying to get him to be their 'Friend'.
And although the thought of actually being friendly with someone no longer made the teen bristle, their constant energy was exhausting to even look at and he still would like to just be left alone sometimes.
As if summoned by the thoughts of being interrupted alone, sand crunched under footsteps behind him. However, before he could tell whoever came to bother him off, the person spoke. And it was the last person he wanted to hear.
"A lovely night, isn't it?"
That voice had Silver jumping to his feet, whirling around to face none other than his father, a hand resting on Sneasel's pokeball. "What are you doing here old man?"
Giovanni responded with a smirk. "What, I can't simply be out on a relaxing nighttime walk?"
The teen scoffed at him with a scowl. "Nothing you do is ever just for relaxing." His eyes flicked to the Persian standing lazily by his father's side. Despite the teen's venom filled words, a long buried memory surfaced.
A boy rested on a plush couch, a large Persian draped across his lap and a warm hand on his shoulder. The boy leaned against his father, lulled by the sounds of a fire crackling in the hearth, a deep purr from the Persian, and the occasional rustle of paper as his father turned a page in his book.
It was truly a perfect relaxing moment that Silver wished would last forever.
As he shook off the unwanted memory, his father gave his response, that aggravating smirk still on his face. "I promise it's the truth."
"Do you seriously expect me to believe anything you say for even a second? After every lie you've told me?"
"Oh? Then pray tell, when have I ever lied to you?"
He could feel something snap in him then. "How about every time you told me you were the strongest trainer there ever was? Or every time you offered to show me something when I got old enough to be a trainer? How about every time you promised you would always be there for me, that I would never have to be afraid to be alone or hurt because you would always be there for me!" He felt a grim satisfaction seeing that smirk finally disappear, even as he could feel his own emotions spiking to a dangerous level. "You fed me lies my entire life and then you just-!" Silver turned his back on Giovanni; a foolish decision, really, but he refused to let his father see the tears starting to cloud his sight. "You abandoned me like I was nothing!"
He heard the sand shift behind him, and part of him hoped that the man would strike. Just to prove him right for being angry. To prove him wrong for still holding on to meaningless memories of happiness.
Instead of giving a snap of his fingers that would signal Persian to pounce, Giovanni simply spoke again, a strange tone to his voice. "Leaving you back then is one of my biggest regrets-"
"WHY?! Because you see how strong I've gotten?! Because you regret leaving something that could've been useful to you?! Because you can't have me as one of your executive lapdogs now?!" Silver refused to turn around, his eyes burning.
Another shift, but still no attack. "I will admit, you have become quite a formidable trainer on your own, my son" The teen released a scoff at 'son'. "But your strength isn't why I regret leaving you behind. It was returning to a son who held nothing but venomous hatred toward his father-"
Silver whirled around with a deep scowl, forgetting the tears that were now escaping. "And whose fault is that!? I was eight when you left! I had to spend three years surviving on my own because of YOU! I couldn't ask for help because of your stupid Team Rocket Legacy, and even if I could I would end up in a fucking shelter because you left me alone with nothing! I had to steal my first Pokémon from some lab in another fucking region instead of getting to actually choose my own!" As he paused to catch his breath, another buried memory resurfaced.
A boy played on the back of a large Nidoking, the normally ruthless Pokémon being extremely gentle with the child as he attempted to climb and wrap his small arms around its neck. His father stood off to the side, watching the 'battle' with an amused, but warm, smile.
"Gotcha!" Silver shrieked out a laugh as Nidoking dramatically flopped on the ground, turning to Giovanni with a wide grin. "Did you see daddy?! I got him!"
The man responded with a chuckle. "I saw. With tenacity like that, I'm positive you will be a great trainer one day."
The boy grinned even more, showing off the gap in his smile from a recently lost tooth. "Yeah!" He hopped off the Nidoking, the Pokémon remaining on the ground to doze in the sun while it still could. "I'll be the greatest trainer! With the best Pokémon! Something big that could even beat Nido! A super cool water type!"
"Oh? Like a Blastoise perhaps? I'm sure old Oak still has a Squirtle"
Silver giggled. "Nope! Even bigger!"
Giovanni raised an eyebrow, clearly amused. "Even bigger? A Gyarados then? Magikarp are easier to find, but take a lot of patience to raise properly."
Another giggle. "Nooooooo, something even stronger and COOLER than that!"
"Even cooler than a Gyarados you say? I'm not so sure such a Pokémon exists." At Silver's pout he chuckled, walking over to pick his son up and holding him on his hip. "Now now, none of that. I'm sure once you're old enough, you will find the perfect partner."
The pout lessened, just a little, the boy looking at his father and holding at his shirt. "Promise you'll be there to help me choose?"
The man ruffled the boy's already messy red hair, earning another giggle and slaps from tiny hands. "I wouldn't miss that day for the world."
Silver couldn't wait.
Once again he shook off the memory. Giovanni stood by silently, an unfamiliar expression on his face. Or, unfamiliar on him, anyway. He made no move to interrupt as Silver continued. "Imagine my surprise when some random kid said the Team Rocket was back! Thinking you were back, just to find out you were still gone! No one knew where you were! Not even your obsessed followers! Do you know how it felt not even knowing if you were still alive or not?! I spent years thinking you were DEAD! And then I get to find out that you finally decided to show your face here?! And you went right back to your evil plotting! Did you even try to find me? Did you even care?! Did I.... do I just mean nothing to you now?"
Energy spent, Silver reclaimed his seat on the sand, knees pulled up to his chest and arms wrapped around them. He didn't care about appearing weak to his father anymore. Not after pouring every ounce of emotional pain he'd kept bottled up for the last six years. Once more he heard the sand shift, once more he wished for the expected attack.
Once more he wished for something other than the cold indifference.
And finally, something did happen, something that surprised the teen; he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder as Giovanni sat next to him. His head snapped back up to look at his father, finally close enough to recognize his expression. An expression he'd seen on others, an expression he'd seen on himself at times.
Pain. Regret. Longing.
"Silver. Nothing in this world is more important to me than you are."
Silver barely resisted the urge to shove the hand off his shoulder. "Then why did you leave? Why do you act like I'm just.... just another thing in your way now?"
Giovanni was the first to look away, a deep sigh escaping him. "I admit I was... blinded by my defeat and too focused on my goals to remember how important you were to me until it was too late." As he finished, his gaze came back to meet Silver's
This time the teen did shove the hand away, looking away once more with a scoff. "It was too late the day you left." He watched Persian stalk over to his other side, but before he could think to tense, she lay on the sand, forcing her large head onto his lap with a deep meow. With some hesitation, he started to pet the large cat Pokémon, receiving deep rumbling purrs in response.
"Looks like she missed you. You always were the only other person she tolerated."
"At least someone did."
Another deep sigh. "Silve-"
"You didn't finish answering my questions." Silver returned his glare to Giovanni.
The man's steely gaze held his glare, but that look was still on his face. The teen wished he would stop looking at him like that. It was too unfamiliar on him. "I assumed you wouldn't wish me to associate so closely with you while you were attempting to thwart my plans. Especially not when we were in the company of your companions or my admins. That is part of why I came to find you here alone. I was hoping to finally have this opportunity to discuss everything without anyone unsavory interrupting."
Silver's glare lessened, but only slightly. "I guess you have a point." He held back a shudder at the thoughts of what rumors would spread if anyone like Team Plasma found out his true connections to the Team Rocket Boss. Lance finding out before the PML was a stressful enough time on its own.
"As for your other question... I did try to find you. When I had heard this island was a gathering place for many of the world's strongest trainers, I recalled how you wanted to become the strongest yourself."
That shocked the rest of the glare away. Father had looked for him? Had heard such a simple phrase and remembered something nearly every child wished, had specifically remembered him having that wish and connecting it with this place? "......and did you? Before we stopped Ghetsis from stealing Zekrom from N?"
Giovanni turned his gaze back to the calm waves, frown deepening. "I had heard rumors of a boy with red hair who'd paired with the legendary Ho-oh, but regrettably I chose not to pursue them. I didn't learn how poor a choice that was until I'd seen you that night."
Silver looked back down at the Persian still occupying his lap. "If you did... if you found me before you started building Team Rocket again... would that've changed anything?"
"Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps if you'd been with that new friend of yours when he tried to convince me to stop and just enjoy the tournament I would have considered the offer a bit more seriously."
The teen let out a half hearted scoff. "Scottie isn't my friend. He's just another rival."
The man beside him let out a light chuckle. "Of course. The title of 'friend' goes to your other rival. Ethan, wasn't it? You two were quite the formidable pair when you fought together. Much more in sync than other teams I'd observed"
There was something in his father's tone that caught the teen off guard, his head shooting back up to the man still gazing out at sea. He noticed that the deep frown was replaced by a light smirk. "I- we're not- he's just a friend! I-I mean rival!" He could feel himself burn red as his father laughed. "S-shut up old man!"
Thankfully, the laughter died down quickly, the gaze turning back to him being another unfamiliar, yet also familiar expression: pride. "You've grown into a fine young man in my absence. I wish I could've been here to watch."
"Yeah, well. You can thank Lance for that. He helped me unlearn a lot of the Tauros shit you left me with." He didn't need to mention the embarrassing defeat when he mistook the champion for a new Rocket exec back in Mahogany.
"Oh really? I'll have to thank him the next time he sticks his nose in my business."
"Hmph, just make sure I'm not there. I don't need to see you two argue over who was the better dad."
That had Giovanni raising an eyebrow in interest. "Do you see him as a father figure?"
The teen smirked. "He has his moments. Offering me a place to stay and teaching me more about how to treat my Pokémon are some."
"Does he know about..." He didn't have to finish the question for Silver to understand what he meant to ask.
"At first, no. He didn't. When I found out who he was, I assumed he did. When he made his offer, I thought it was a trap, to get me to tell him if I knew where you were hiding. I'd yelled as much to him, but when all I saw on his face was confusion I knew I'd fucked up. But then he just. Didn't care. No questions, no arrests. His offer stayed open, and I took it."
"Good." For a long moment there was nothing but the sound of the waves and Persian's purring to fill the silence. After what felt like hours but was likely only a minute or two, Giovanni continued. "I'm grateful to hear that you've been doing well for yourself now. I wish I had stayed to watch you grow."
"Tch, don't get so soft old man. I'm still going to take you down one day. Without any help from anyone!"
Giovanni let out one last chuckle before standing up, beckoning Persian to follow. Silver would not admit to missing their presence already. "I look forward to the day you succeed my son. Until next time."
As his father left, one last memory resurfaced.
A boy lay in bed with a plush Substitute doll in his arms, his father tucking the blankets over him and a large Persian jumping up to lay by his feet. The boy stared at the man, curiosity dancing in his eyes.
"Daddy?"
"Yes Silver?"
"Will I ever be as strong as you?"
"I believe with all my heart that you will become even stronger than me, my son"
"Really?"
"Of course. And I look forward to the day you succeed. Now, off to sleep with you." With a kiss to the boys forehead, the lamp was turned off and nightlight turned on. As Giovanni left the room, he turned back to say one last thing. "Goodnight my son. Until next time."
The boy yawned, a tired smile as he closed his eyes before responding...
"Goodnight dad. Until next time."
Silver sat on the sand of the artificial beach, enjoying the cool nightly breeze coming off the sea.
Tonight his heart felt lighter.