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Description
Part 1: Torn Roots

The wagons and plants were being pulled around Tao and the surrounding forests. Pokémon went in with saplings or bags of seed, and came out with piles of dead wood. Silver put down his seeds and sighed. "Doesn't it seem weird that some flyin' green thing says she can make all this grow in a second?" he asked.

Maurice lifted a sapling out. "It doesn't really matter if it's true," he replied. "It gives everyone something to be hopeful about."

"So what happens if she can't?"

"Well…uh…"

"You spend hours planting and you see the results later," snapped Coco. She pushed a shovel into Silver's chest. "Get digging. Let's fill this area quickly so we can plant a few berries by our house."

He groaned and got to work. Coco had marked where she wanted things planted. Every time Silver thought he was done, he found the Skitty had made some more marks for places to dig. "Coco, I've been in this forest forever, an' this stuff is too close t'gether. If these act'lly grow no one can move on the ground. If they all grow."

"Excuse me, as team leader, I make the decisions," she replied. "Besides, someone needs to manage you. Keep digging so you can start planting when Maurice gets back with everything."

"Why don't you lift a paw?" Silver leaned against a bag of seed and closed his eyes. "You never do anythin'."

"Alright kiddo, what do you want to add the list of things you don't think I can do right?"

"Maybe the list wouldn't be so big if ya weren't so bossy."

"I call it being a decisive leader."

"Does bein' a leader mean bein' mean?"

"Wha- Only bad workers would say something like that!"

"Since I'm a bad worker, why don't you do this without me?" Silver walked off. He didn't really care where he ended up; he could probably figure out his way back from wherever. When he finally stopped he found himself in a broken clearing. It was the clearing he used to go to back when he was in Slasher's Gang. His family used to live there before his parents vanished. He'd never bothered to check the clearing after he learned that Slasher's ghost was working in Tao. He sat at the base of the tree they used to nest in. "Ma, Pa, why didn't ya come back? We need ya, an' Ice was still just an egg." Silver sighed and leaned against the tree, his eyelids were feeling heavy. It may have been the heat or all the shoveling, he didn't move a lot on most days.

Silver woke up. He thought he heard a branch crack.

"Were ya cryin' t' Ma an' Pa again?"

Silver recognized the raspy female voice. "Frost, whaddya want?"

Another Sneasel stepped out of the clearing. She had a short cloak that covered most of her burns. Silver spotted a small, claw-shaped bulge in his cloak. "Is that a…"

"I'm goin' ahead with everything, and since yer against it, I'll be goin' against ya." Frost swung a fist forward. The Brick Break brushed against Silver's ear feather as he dodged.

She swung again, but this time Silver blocked it with a wall of ice. "Frost, c'mon," he pleaded. "We're brother an' sister, we can't fight."

Frost broke down the wall and swung at Silver's chest, knocking the air out of him. She then jumped on him and raised a claw, stabbing it into his paw. As she did this, her body started to stretch. A tail feather dropped while other feathers sprouted from her neck and head. Fur sprouted on the new skin that came from the evolution, and some sparse bits of dark fur appeared on the remaining burns. "This is what ya get fer bein' weak." She cackled and twisted her now larger claw. Silver screamed and cried and tried to shake the Weavile off.

A light colored blur swung through the clearing and knocked Frost off of Silver. Silver could just make out Maurice through his tears. It was only the second time Silver had seen the Mankey angry, and each time, he was even more scared. There was barely a second between Maurice's hits, even though he was switching attacks every blow. Coco seemed to notice Silver staring and moved her body between them.

The Skitty examined Silver's paw before turning and shouting, "Maurice, finish up quickly! He won't die, but his paw's in horrible shape."

Silver could just make out Maurice slamming a Thunder Punch into Frost's stomach. She doubled over, then a claw glowed red and Maurice was flying into a tree. Frost turned towards the other two Pokémon.

"It's such a hassle when people don't do the job they're asked," whined Coco as she stepped forward. "I'll deal with you myself." They rushed at each other. The Skitty stopped and sent a Thunderwave at Frost, forcing her to fall, twitching. Coco ran forward and began to slap Frost with her tail, until finally Frost lifted a glowing red claw and smacked Coco away. The Skitty immediately fell unconscious.

"Now where were we?" asked Frost as she stumbled towards Silver.

"Sis, please!" shouted Silver. He tried to pull himself up, but every time he moved, his paw hurt. He could barely sit up.

"It's too late." Frost raised a glowing violet claw, but stopped when several blue flames appeared around Silver. "What?"

"What's going on here?" shouted a Prinplup. He was standing next to a Houndour who was lighting the clearing with more blue flames.

"S-s-s-she attacked me an' my teammates," Silver managed to squeak.

"Begging for help from the ones who maimed your poor sister? Pathetic." Frost raised her claw again. This time a small stream of red flame appeared between her and Silver, forcing her to stop back.

"Whaddya mean by maimed?" asked the Prinplup. "We're Rescuers, we don't do that."

"But don't ya remember? Drivin' yer beak into my knee? Or how 'bout yer little girlfriend burnin' me up? The right half of my face, my body, and part of my right arm, all the fur was burned away by her little fires, she even got so much skin burnt away that it wouldn't heal unless I evolved. All over a little blue flower."

"We needed those flowers for medicine, not some sick power game. We did what we had to! Right Nel?"

The blue flames in the clearing went out. "I-I-I did that to someone?" whispered the Houndour. "I don't understand. I thought fire was the safer type. It wasn't as…unless the Nasty Plots…Flamethrower was never supposed to do th-"

"Nel, I need those flames!" shouted the Prinplup. His wings became coated in metal and he looked around, constantly moving his wings.

Silver realized that the bird probably couldn't see well in the dark. He caught side of Frost sneaking towards the Houndour. "There! On the other side of your teammate!" he shouted. The Prinplup created a column of water and used it to jump over the Fire-type and swing a Metal Claw at Frost. She fell to the ground.

The Prinplup wandered over to Silver and held out a wing. "Thanks, for the help," he said. "Name's Poppins, that's Nella. Who are you?"

Silver ignored it. "She's not dead, is she?"

"Uh, no, don't think so. Here, why don't you show me where your friends are so we can get them to the village?" He pushed his wing closer. Silver slowly reached out to grab it. He stumbled with Poppins to show where Coco and Maurice had landed. The Prinplup place Maurice on his friends back and picked up Coco before leaving.

It seemed to be getting darker instead of lighter and the trees were getting thicker. "Is this the right way?" asked Silver. His eyes were feeling really heavy.

"Yeah, we're leaving the way we came, right Nel?" said Poppins. Nella nodded.

"Okay," mumbled Silver before he passed out.

Silver woke up in a low bed in a clean looking building. There were a few Pokémon in the building who were bandaged up, and he saw a Happiny in a white hat moving between beds. It must have been the new building for the medics. His right paw felt numb and his arms and back were sore. Coco and Maurice were having a whispered conversation at the foot of his bed.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Maurice.

"I don't have a choice. If she's still out there, I'll need to change my moves. Double Slap is useless," snapped Coco. "Besides, if he won't let me evolve, new moves are the next best thing."

"Are you sure it'll come to that?"

"She ambushed him today and attacked us when we tried to help. If our team, if Silver, is going to be safe, I need to go through with this."

"I was hoping when we had an extra scroll and can finally learn some less damaging moves."

"When you change, you better have a Fighting move and be able use the others well. You're afraid of your strength, but I'm afraid of being defenseless, and I'm sure Silver is too." Silver nodded and whimpered, drawing their attention.

They walked over to Silver. "You're up?" Maurice asked. Silver nodded. "Did you…" Maurice let the question trail off. Silver just shook his head and curled up into a ball.

"Silver, I'm sorry," said Coco. One of her paws hovered over Silver's shoulder. "I assumed you'd be fine in the forest-and well, I guess I was a bit mad-but the point is, we're going to do a better job looking after you. Maurice, stick with Silver until I get back." Coco picked up the scroll and left.

Maurice knelt down next to him and began petting his head. "It's okay, we're going to look after you. We won't let anything hurt you. We should have looked for you sooner, but we assumed you'd be safe in the forest. That won't happen again." Silver nodded a little and curled up tighter.

Description
Part 1: Torn Roots

The wagons and plants were being pulled around Tao and the surrounding forests. Pokémon went in with saplings or bags of seed, and came out with piles of dead wood. Silver put down his seeds and sighed. "Doesn't it seem weird that some flyin' green thing says she can make all this grow in a second?" he asked.

Maurice lifted a sapling out. "It doesn't really matter if it's true," he replied. "It gives everyone something to be hopeful about."

"So what happens if she can't?"

"Well…uh…"

"You spend hours planting and you see the results later," snapped Coco. She pushed a shovel into Silver's chest. "Get digging. Let's fill this area quickly so we can plant a few berries by our house."

He groaned and got to work. Coco had marked where she wanted things planted. Every time Silver thought he was done, he found the Skitty had made some more marks for places to dig. "Coco, I've been in this forest forever, an' this stuff is too close t'gether. If these act'lly grow no one can move on the ground. If they all grow."

"Excuse me, as team leader, I make the decisions," she replied. "Besides, someone needs to manage you. Keep digging so you can start planting when Maurice gets back with everything."

"Why don't you lift a paw?" Silver leaned against a bag of seed and closed his eyes. "You never do anythin'."

"Alright kiddo, what do you want to add the list of things you don't think I can do right?"

"Maybe the list wouldn't be so big if ya weren't so bossy."

"I call it being a decisive leader."

"Does bein' a leader mean bein' mean?"

"Wha- Only bad workers would say something like that!"

"Since I'm a bad worker, why don't you do this without me?" Silver walked off. He didn't really care where he ended up; he could probably figure out his way back from wherever. When he finally stopped he found himself in a broken clearing. It was the clearing he used to go to back when he was in Slasher's Gang. His family used to live there before his parents vanished. He'd never bothered to check the clearing after he learned that Slasher's ghost was working in Tao. He sat at the base of the tree they used to nest in. "Ma, Pa, why didn't ya come back? We need ya, an' Ice was still just an egg." Silver sighed and leaned against the tree, his eyelids were feeling heavy. It may have been the heat or all the shoveling, he didn't move a lot on most days.

Silver woke up. He thought he heard a branch crack.

"Were ya cryin' t' Ma an' Pa again?"

Silver recognized the raspy female voice. "Frost, whaddya want?"

Another Sneasel stepped out of the clearing. She had a short cloak that covered most of her burns. Silver spotted a small, claw-shaped bulge in his cloak. "Is that a…"

"I'm goin' ahead with everything, and since yer against it, I'll be goin' against ya." Frost swung a fist forward. The Brick Break brushed against Silver's ear feather as he dodged.

She swung again, but this time Silver blocked it with a wall of ice. "Frost, c'mon," he pleaded. "We're brother an' sister, we can't fight."

Frost broke down the wall and swung at Silver's chest, knocking the air out of him. She then jumped on him and raised a claw, stabbing it into his paw. As she did this, her body started to stretch. A tail feather dropped while other feathers sprouted from her neck and head. Fur sprouted on the new skin that came from the evolution, and some sparse bits of dark fur appeared on the remaining burns. "This is what ya get fer bein' weak." She cackled and twisted her now larger claw. Silver screamed and cried and tried to shake the Weavile off.

A light colored blur swung through the clearing and knocked Frost off of Silver. Silver could just make out Maurice through his tears. It was only the second time Silver had seen the Mankey angry, and each time, he was even more scared. There was barely a second between Maurice's hits, even though he was switching attacks every blow. Coco seemed to notice Silver staring and moved her body between them.

The Skitty examined Silver's paw before turning and shouting, "Maurice, finish up quickly! He won't die, but his paw's in horrible shape."

Silver could just make out Maurice slamming a Thunder Punch into Frost's stomach. She doubled over, then a claw glowed red and Maurice was flying into a tree. Frost turned towards the other two Pokémon.

"It's such a hassle when people don't do the job they're asked," whined Coco as she stepped forward. "I'll deal with you myself." They rushed at each other. The Skitty stopped and sent a Thunderwave at Frost, forcing her to fall, twitching. Coco ran forward and began to slap Frost with her tail, until finally Frost lifted a glowing red claw and smacked Coco away. The Skitty immediately fell unconscious.

"Now where were we?" asked Frost as she stumbled towards Silver.

"Sis, please!" shouted Silver. He tried to pull himself up, but every time he moved, his paw hurt. He could barely sit up.

"It's too late." Frost raised a glowing violet claw, but stopped when several blue flames appeared around Silver. "What?"

"What's going on here?" shouted a Prinplup. He was standing next to a Houndour who was lighting the clearing with more blue flames.

"S-s-s-she attacked me an' my teammates," Silver managed to squeak.

"Begging for help from the ones who maimed your poor sister? Pathetic." Frost raised her claw again. This time a small stream of red flame appeared between her and Silver, forcing her to stop back.

"Whaddya mean by maimed?" asked the Prinplup. "We're Rescuers, we don't do that."

"But don't ya remember? Drivin' yer beak into my knee? Or how 'bout yer little girlfriend burnin' me up? The right half of my face, my body, and part of my right arm, all the fur was burned away by her little fires, she even got so much skin burnt away that it wouldn't heal unless I evolved. All over a little blue flower."

"We needed those flowers for medicine, not some sick power game. We did what we had to! Right Nel?"

The blue flames in the clearing went out. "I-I-I did that to someone?" whispered the Houndour. "I don't understand. I thought fire was the safer type. It wasn't as…unless the Nasty Plots…Flamethrower was never supposed to do th-"

"Nel, I need those flames!" shouted the Prinplup. His wings became coated in metal and he looked around, constantly moving his wings.

Silver realized that the bird probably couldn't see well in the dark. He caught side of Frost sneaking towards the Houndour. "There! On the other side of your teammate!" he shouted. The Prinplup created a column of water and used it to jump over the Fire-type and swing a Metal Claw at Frost. She fell to the ground.

The Prinplup wandered over to Silver and held out a wing. "Thanks, for the help," he said. "Name's Poppins, that's Nella. Who are you?"

Silver ignored it. "She's not dead, is she?"

"Uh, no, don't think so. Here, why don't you show me where your friends are so we can get them to the village?" He pushed his wing closer. Silver slowly reached out to grab it. He stumbled with Poppins to show where Coco and Maurice had landed. The Prinplup place Maurice on his friends back and picked up Coco before leaving.

It seemed to be getting darker instead of lighter and the trees were getting thicker. "Is this the right way?" asked Silver. His eyes were feeling really heavy.

"Yeah, we're leaving the way we came, right Nel?" said Poppins. Nella nodded.

"Okay," mumbled Silver before he passed out.

Silver woke up in a low bed in a clean looking building. There were a few Pokémon in the building who were bandaged up, and he saw a Happiny in a white hat moving between beds. It must have been the new building for the medics. His right paw felt numb and his arms and back were sore. Coco and Maurice were having a whispered conversation at the foot of his bed.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Maurice.

"I don't have a choice. If she's still out there, I'll need to change my moves. Double Slap is useless," snapped Coco. "Besides, if he won't let me evolve, new moves are the next best thing."

"Are you sure it'll come to that?"

"She ambushed him today and attacked us when we tried to help. If our team, if Silver, is going to be safe, I need to go through with this."

"I was hoping when we had an extra scroll and can finally learn some less damaging moves."

"When you change, you better have a Fighting move and be able use the others well. You're afraid of your strength, but I'm afraid of being defenseless, and I'm sure Silver is too." Silver nodded and whimpered, drawing their attention.

They walked over to Silver. "You're up?" Maurice asked. Silver nodded. "Did you…" Maurice let the question trail off. Silver just shook his head and curled up into a ball.

"Silver, I'm sorry," said Coco. One of her paws hovered over Silver's shoulder. "I assumed you'd be fine in the forest-and well, I guess I was a bit mad-but the point is, we're going to do a better job looking after you. Maurice, stick with Silver until I get back." Coco picked up the scroll and left.

Maurice knelt down next to him and began petting his head. "It's okay, we're going to look after you. We won't let anything hurt you. We should have looked for you sooner, but we assumed you'd be safe in the forest. That won't happen again." Silver nodded a little and curled up tighter.