Torinoko Hall of Games

[Meryck]

Gold, on the other hand, had gone through a long experience that was not one, but two hacks back-to-back for his end. What started as a twisted version of his climb on Mount Silver- snow included and exaggerated- to a slow, gory trip that slowly ripped him to pieces quite literally as well as forcing him to kill something that looked like Silver- with his own Feraligatr no less! But even in this state, he wouldn't believe it to be true.

What else would he had have to live for otherwise, if not even Silver would be waiting?

The boy stumbled forward and enveloped the redhead into hug, burying his face into the young Italian's shoulder. "Oh, G-God," he hiccuped, "Thank God....you're alive, a-a-alive, oh God...."

The ex-Champion lifted his head as he recognized the street. "We're going to the market?"

[Glyph]

Silver flinched. He couldn't help it. To go a year without any sort of friendly contact, to hear nothing but disappointment and scorn... and then to be hugged by someone he'd watched die, violently, out of the blue? It was enough to unnerve even the most iron-willed.

Silver looked sick. Silver felt sick. He was white as a sheet, and shaking from the tip of his cowlick to the soles of his boots. He stood there, limply, stunned to silence in the shadow of the Radio Tower once again...

But he didn't try to stop Gold.

"I am." Silver didn't pause to glance back at the former-trainer--just kept his eyes forward, trusting his feet to remember the way. "And if you're going to keep following me, then, yes, I suppose we are..."

[Meryck]

Which was good, as it seemed Gold would have refused to let go anyway. His fingers clutched at Silver's jacket as he sobbed and hiccuped and babbled incoherently about Silver being totally alive and whole and here. Eventually, he wore himself into silence, weakly clutching at Silver with only a fraction of the previous fervor.

He had tired himself out looking for and crying over his best friend.

Gold tilted his head. "Why?", he asked curiously, in a way that could have been described as innocent if there wasn't a strain of falsehood in it.

[Glyph]

"Don't be stupid." He rasped eventually, swaying where he stood, "W-where else would... would I be?"

His voice came as a low croak, and his eyes were half-lidded in pain at some distant memory. At his own words--his own, weak voice--he shuddered and gritted his teeth, twisting his head to the side. He didn't want an answer to that question. He didn't want to know.

Once the spell passed, the former-trainer lifted his gaze once again to Gold, still pale as death. He didn't seem to mind the clinging--he could only stare, through haunted, shadow-rimmed eyes, at the friend he hadn't seen for months... and who he'd nearly lost hope of seeing ever again.

Silver shrugged the question away, ignoring the tone. "Because I feel like it." Because I need to blow off some steam. He snapped a glance Gold's way, "Do I need a reason?" You won't like it.

Leaving it at that, the redhead turned away again, eyes searching the sides of the buildings. The department store would be up ahead... somewhere... Hadn't it been across the street from the Pokemon Center?

[Meryck]

Gold's own eyes shifted to look at Silver. A pause. Followed by a hiccuping chuckle.

"Y-you look like hell", he mumbled tiredly, not really having any room to say anybody looked like hell, considering his own state, "D-dammit Silver, what happened while I c-c-couldn't find you?" It was a weak jest, but Gold was just hysterical enough to go for it.

The boy blinked at his shorter companion, then shrugged, idly, looking around the area once again.

[Glyph]

Silver glanced at Gold, and his expression would have been incredulous it hadn't been so exhausted. "... Looked in a mirror lately?"

Bandages and bruises, with a pair of gold eyes peeking out. Gold looked a mess... but at least he was in one piece.

Silver shook his head, slowly, flinching. His voice came but faintly--he couldn't quite dredge up the same careless attitude as he used to. After all, he'd been doing his best to forget about what he'd been doing for the past few months. "... I've been around."

Shoe store, grocery, Pokemon Center... yup, there was Goldenrod Department store, right across the street. For a moment, Silver wondered how he could have ever forgotten where the behemoth shop stood. Then he remembered that he really hadn't been paying much attention the last time he'd been here, and quickly turned to other thoughts.

The redhead stopped across the street and stared at it for a moment. Lights were on inside, but only out of courtesy to the security staff--it was getting late in the day, and NOTHING ever seemed to stay open late on weekends anymore... Sigh...

[Meryck]

Gold blinked at the store, then at Silver. "Um...it's closed."

Then it hit him. Golden eye widened as their owner briefly panicked.

"W-Wait a second, you're not gonna--!?!"

[Glyph]

"So it is." Gold would have probably panicked even more at the sight of the sly, calculating smirk that twitched across Silver's face for a second's span. Then it was gone, and he raised his brows at Gold in his best impression of innocent confusion.

"Not gonna... what?"

Unfortunately, Silver wasn't in the best mood to be very good at acting for long, and the smug expression curled his lips again against his will. Struggling to keep his face straight, the redhead whirled away and across the street, casually, as if he had no ill intentions toward the darkened store at all...

[Meryck]

"Silver!", the ex-Champion hissed lowly, catching up to him, "You nearly got caught last time, what are you going to do if they do catch you this time!"

The fact that Silver was a habit thief grated on Gold's nerves some days.

[Glyph]

"I already told you--I knocked that box over on purpose." Silver snickered at the memory. The look on the guard's face had been priceless... And so had the ghost stories that had circulated for days after. "Who do I look like, Petrel?" Please. The guy couldn't steal a newspaper from his own front porch. "Do you really think I'm stupid enough to get caught?"

Without waiting for an answer, Silver rolled his eyes and turned down a sidestreet, already looking for the alley that jutted past the store's back loading dock.

[Meryck]

Gold decided that saying yes, yes he did think he was that stupid would probably end badly and said nothing. He stubbornly stopped in front of the alley, sat down at the corner, and crossed his arms. "You better not. I'm not bailing you out this time if you get in trouble."

A lie, of course- Gold was always willing to stick his neck out for Silver. Didn't mean he had to be happy about it all the time.

[Glyph]

"Oh, spare me." Silver rolled his eyes, scowling and waving the warning away. Whether or not Gold had any faith in him, he did know what he was doing. He'd been practicing for years. Considering he'd been raised with Team Rocket, breaking and entering wasn't even all that impressive. Anyway, it wasn't like he was doing any harm. They probably wouldn't even realize he'd been here...

Briefly, Silver considered asking Gold if he wanted a soda or something, but then decided against it with another smirk. He'd probably blow a gasket.

"Won't be gone long; half an hour, forty-five minutes, tops." With a final shrug, the redhead hoisted himself up the stone wall running past the department store, but instead of dropping down to the other side, he stood and started off across the narrow top as casually as he'd walked down the street, taking advantage of the blindspot on the security cameras. "

[Meryck]

Gold made an effort not to look up and take advantage of the view. Mumbling inaudibly something about stupid, stubborn, and overly seductive Rivals, he forced himself to stare unhappily at an indeterminate spot ahead of him. Sometimes, being gay had it's problems.

[Glyph]

If Silver had noticed, he'd probably have fallen off the wall, and the whole stunt would have ended then and there. Fortunately--or unfortunately, however you want to look at it--the redhead had stopped paying attention to what was going on behind him to focus on what was in front of him.

There was an art to breaking in. It wouldn't be too difficult to slip into the cameras' blindspots and pick the lock, or even get past the motion sensors set to go off when the door was opened. No, the real fun came when he got near the gaurd's station in the basement... but if he'd judged the previous shift-change right, sneaking in and turning off the security would be a piece of cake...

Smirking wickedly, Silver silently slipped over the edge of the wall and disappeared from sight.

[Meryck]

And thus, Gold was left to sulk, depressed, until his friend got back, jolting at every instance it sounded like someone was coming for them and mentally cursing everything about Silver, from his kleptomania to his stupid, handsome smirk.

He also looked slightly feverish, but that might have been from embarrassment of being in this situation in the first place.