Icy Mask Rescue Ch. 1

Chapter 1 – It All Started in Kaohsiung

I suddenly opened my eye and looked around in the middle of the night. The surrounding was half dark because I left the window's curtain open for the night. Outside the window is the suburb of a city from 13 stories high. I looked at the clock at the night table. 2:32 am. I looked around me and realized Red and Gold are still fast asleep next to me. Green, on the other hand, slept soundly on the sleeping bag next to my bed. I slowly walked out of the room and headed for the kitchen for some water.

In front of the kitchen I turned my head toward the living room and peek at the other boys. Ruby slept on the couch with his blanket on the ground, right on top of Emerald. Emerald looked like he's having some sort of dream because of Ruby's blanket. Sounds to me he's gonna have a long night. Wally slept soundly next to Emerald, on a separate sleeping bag. Diamond and Pearl slept on the other side of the living room, by the dining table, together on an air-inflated bed. Diamond slept with his saliva dripping down along his face, and Pearl was sleeping on top of Diamond's saliva after a roll toward Dia.

Kinda hard to imagine what'll happen the next morning… I thought quietly smirking. Bosco and dad slept in their own room and I decided I'm not going to peek on them.

It was Mar. 24, 2012, my birthday and I decided to bring the boys to my second home: Kaohsiung City, Taiwan, for some weekend tour of the city. The same night the 11 of us slept in my family's condo in Zuoying, a district located in northern Kaohsiung City. The suburb I mentioned before out of my window is in fact the street view of Zuoying from my condo.

Right before I walked into the kitchen, I figured out that Silver's sleeping bag, which is next to the balcony, was empty. And the front door of the condo was unlocked. Don't tell me… I thought as I slowly walked out of the front door, turned to the stairway next to the door, and made my way to the roof. Bingo, Silver was standing at the edge of the roof, leaning at the concrete wall and looking out with his Weavile next to him.

I walked to the spot next to him and saw him playing with the Silver Wing while looking out at the moon, and the view toward downtown Kaohsiung.

"Hey," I said, "can't sleep?"

Silver turned toward me, looked surprised.

"Oh, hey," he replied, "how did you find me here?"

"By the fact that you left the front door unlocked," I explained.

"Heh…" Silver smiled, "can't fool you at all, can I?"

I chuckled and I looked toward the same direction Silver looked to. Silver held up the Silver Wing and concentrated on it.

"You still carry the Silver Wing I gave you?" I asked.

"Yeah…" Silver replied, "It reminds me of many past memories…both good and bad."

"Something like being kidnapped by Pryce and meet up with Blue there?" I said, then suddenly realized something. "Oops, never mind."

Silver smirked a little. "It's okay," he said, "they told you everything?"

I nodded.

"It isn't until after we utterly defeated him to know about his past…" Silver said, "You know, I used to hate him back then."

"Then?" I asked.

"After hearing the story about him from the Day Care couple, I suddenly felt sorry for him for that particular moment."

Now it was my turn to have a surprised face.

"Seriously?" I chuckled a little bit, "Never thought that you would have that sweet and pitiful side of yours."

Silver laughed. I laughed. Silver then turned back to downtown view of Kaohsiung City.

"Can't believe it's been 7 years since what happened in Johto…"

"Trust me; you'll have the same feeling you have right now for the rest of your life." I said.

"Hmm… maybe."

"Actually, if Pryce ever show up in front of you again, what'll you do?" I asked.

That put Silver in some miserable position.

"He disappeared in the Time Ripple and he is ultimately disappeared," Silver replied, "I would rather not think about it."

"Nice choice of answer, Silver," I said, patting his shoulder. Silver smiled a bit.

"Well, if you say so…"

"But still, think about it because maybe one day you'll have to face him again."

"You really think that?" asked Silver.

"Nothing is impossible," I said, "Think about it."

"Before that…" Silver let out a yawn, "I'm going to sleep."

I laughed as Silver walked toward the stairway.

"Oh, and Max," Silver said right before he entered the door, "If Pryce ever showed up, I don't think I'm going to get revenge from him. I might actually thank him. Without him, we might not have met each other at all."

After Silver left, I stood there alone to look at the night view of Kaohsiung, think about what Silver said.

"Heh… I guess you are right, Silver…" I murmured to myself. Then I turned around and walked back down to the condo and continued my sleeping.

For the last three quarter of a decade what really happened in Kanto and Johto wouldn't even happen if Blue and Silver didn't get kidnapped by Pryce. Silver's right. The Masked Men incident was what bonded all 11 Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn Pokédex Holders together in the first place…