She shouldn't be seeing him like this.

He should always be strong, intimidating and cold, never taking so much as a second look at the opponent before he creams their entire team with only one Pokémon.

He should not be weak, struggling to keep his balance and trying desperately to leave before he becomes unconscious or something.

But then again, life always enjoys making him utterly miserable.

"Silver?" The familiar voice sounded as if it was underwater, becoming a strangely muffled sound that sounded as if it was miles away instead of only a few feet in front of his face. "Are you alright?"

Silver groaned as he reluctantly lifted his head from his swirling feet and the twisting ground towards the brunette girl beside the nervous wreck that was her recently evolved Bayleaf. He felt his head pound as the duo multiplied before his very eyes, two, four, six annoying rivals and twelve pesky Grass Types. No, wait. There's only one now, and she's coming closer with a blurry look of worry as she stretches out her right hand towards his swaying self.

"Go away!" The yell sounded more like a moan as he tried to back away, only to find himself struggling to keep his knees from buckling under him. "I-I'm fine, Marshmallow-Butt. Get moving!"

The incorrectly spoken insult only made her come closer, her worried Bayleaf looking at the redheaded—and oh so pale—boy as if he might just hurl all over the brunette's overalls and the Pokemon's nicked leaf. "Silver, what's going on?"

Oh, how he loathed himself at this very moment!

He just had to lose and deprive himself of the only means of a quick escape because his worthless Zubat fainted along with the other two of his team! Now he was stuck here with this brat and her anxiety poster-child of a Bayleaf.

He weakly tried to swat her hand away, only to make himself lose his balance with the sudden motion. "Leave me alone, Darling!"

Oh Lugia, could he just spare himself the trouble and die right now?! Why must the great Pokémon of Vengeance torture him so?!

Silver found himself being pitched forward, his face racing to greet the muddy ground below him. He half-heartedly winced and prepared himself to taste the disgusting goop that remained from the recent rainstorm, but the impact was a lot gentler than he expected. Instead, he found himself being stopped halfway by the familiar denim of his rival's overalls, his chest being held up by the spine of his supposedly weak rival.

"Gotcha'!" The exclamation reached his pounding and absolutely throbbing ears as a gurgle that sounded more like gibberish. He then dully noted that he was being hoisted upwards as his rival and her Bayleaf pulled him back to his feet. A petite pair of hands suddenly found a place on his cheeks for only a heartbeat—although they were the equivalent of around seven of Silver's frantic pace—before they recoiled with a shocked gasp.

"Oh Ho-Oh, you're so hot!" Silver shook his head weakly at her garbled statement, feeling utterly repulsed by the sudden declaration of his appearance by this little midget. "You're even warmer than Quilava when I pet him!"

Oh, so Lyra had only meant it in terms of temperature. Well, that made more sense.

"Back away, Pigtails." Silver felt a moment of pride as he finally managed to say an insult correctly for once, but it soon dropped into the sea of nausea as the next wave of dizziness struck him.

"We've gotta do something about this!" Silver found the doppelgangers returning with even more of those little starters at their heels, making him let out a groan of frustration that sounded like a suffocating Magicarp out of water.

"Bay," The least blurry of the brunette rivals pointed towards his face with a swaying finger as her yellow Grass Type turned towards his master. "Help me grab him!"

This gurgle of a command automatically set off warning signals in the redhead's mind, making him take a quivering step backwards with a groan. "No way...don't come near me!" The yell once again was reduced to a whimper in his mucus-coated throat, making him sound even more pathetic than he already did.

The duo he dreaded ignored his protests and just headed towards him, the Bayleaf already readying a Vine Whip for some dastardly purpose.

Silver took his remaining chance to try to run away from them, but he found himself falling forwards instead of dashing backwards, making himself once again fall towards the soaked ground.

His rival seemed to be hoping for this, for Lyra immediately positioned her back under him and let out a muffled grunt of impact as Silver's chest now found itself being held up by her spine once again. Horrified by her actions, he tried to lift himself to his feet and run away only for her to grab the back of his thighs and try to lift him up piggyback-style.

An utterly humiliated yelp rang out on the edge of the small village of Azalea, drawing the delayed reactions of a few Slowpoke that were still out and about after enjoying the refreshing rains after being kidnapped by Team Rocket, the clean water having washed away the blood on their tail stumps and the lingering tearstains from the pain.

"Nngh, Bay!" Lyra's constricted and submerged call was slow to reach Silver's ears as they burned on the sides of his head. The boy tried to squirm off of her back, but found himself bending along with her spine and unable to escape lest he knock the girl over and send them both sprawling into a mud puddle for further murder of his pride. "Help me out here, bud! Jerky here isn't exactly a featherweight!"

A small squeal of pain entered the damp air as the tendrils of the Herb Pokémon found a hold on his back and pressing against his rear. "Stop it, Stupid!" Silver found himself desperately wishing that his Quilava hadn't fainted so that the Fire Type could burn the vines and free his master from this utter humiliation as having his butt being pushed on as if he was a overfed Teddiursa in a child's storybook.

"Up!" Lyra suddenly jolted her back up as to coax the flushed boy upwards, making him let out another squeak and a moan of protest. "C'mon, Bay! Push!"

"Let me go-!"

His cries were interrupted by his numb body sliding upwards as the girl had hoped, letting her pick up his legs and lift him as to carry him. Silver scurried with clumsy arms to grab the brunette's neck as she stood up straight and let him fall a little ways.

"Got 'em!" Lyra let out a bubbling shout of triumph as Silver tightened his grip on the girl's scrawny neck as to keep himself from plummeting to the drenched grass and mud below them. "Thanks Bay!"

"Ba bay, lea leaf?" The Bayleaf trotted to behind the girl, holding out his vines just incase support was suddenly needed.

The girl let out a muffled hum of thought as her rival squirmed with the silent battle of actually producing full thoughts in his befuddled head as he mentally waged war over which prospect was a harsher blow to his pride; was being carried like a toddler worse than falling butt-first into the mud and having the undeniable chance of taking his rival down with him? With his luck, she'd probably fall on him and suffocate him underneath her dumb hat.

"Nah," The brunette finally responded as Silver found himself unsure as to which of those options would be the worst of the two evils. "I think I've got him. He's kinda heavy, but only in the dead weight kind of sense, ya' know?"

"Sh-shut it, Marshmallow-Face!" Silver felt the last of his dignity leave him as the girl just laughed at his whimpered insult-which wasn't even right to begin with.

Ugh, perhaps falling in the mud wasn't as bad as he previously thought.

"Alright, Bay. How about an Aromatherapy?"

The Pokémon let out a shrill cry that rang in Silver's ears, forcing a groan out of him. As he opened his mouth to complain, a sweet scent similar to his mother's perfume suddenly filled the air, making his mouth slowly close and his eyes droop with exhaustion.

The last thing his metallic eyes saw was the brunette pigtail closest to him swaying gently in a breeze filled with miniscule raindroplet that had fallen from the nearby trees and the ghost of a smile mocking him on the girl's face.

"I thin...com...Silv..?"

Strains of quiet words met his half-awake ears as Silver struggled to surface from a hard slumber. The long rest wasn't haunted with all-consuming flames and failure as it normally was. Instead, it was filled with peaceful fields outside of Viridian City where he used to play with his mother and her Pokémon, a slight breeze allowing his substantially shorter figure to smell the gentle perfume his mother favored.

The dream had felt so real, he had almost forgotten that he wasn't a five year old anymore. That he wasn't a little boy without a care in the world and oblivious to the evils of his father.

Almost being the key word in that sentence. The fact that he was a short little thing kinda gave it away there.

It was then that Silver became aware of a light pressure on his forehead, followed by the sensation of liquid trailing down between his nose and eyes and it raced down from that earlier mentioned pressure.

The cool moisture helped to lessen the heaviness of his eyelids, allowing him to snap them open with a groan and look up at a shocking sight.

There was his rival, looming over him with a smile on her face and her worrying Grass Type standing a short distance away with his vines ready for action.

Silver let out a squeak of shock and abruptly sat up, making his head throb and whatever was on his forehead to splat onto his lap. Lyra immediately let out her own exclamation and firmly grasped his shoulders. "Silver! You have to lay down!"

"Let me go!" Silver took a quick glance to his lap and found that the wet object was a washcloth, drenched with cold water. He instantly snatched up the cloth and felt disgusted as he found the piece of fabric had left a wet spot on his lap, almost as if he had wet his pants like a weakling.

"Silver, you have to rest!" Her yelp of complaint soon faded into a gurgle of displeasure as the pounding of his head returned to its normal rhythm. His brunette rival then forced him to recline with the help of her starter, making him feel utterly humiliated once again. "You have a fever, idiot!"

Idiot? Who was she calling an idiot?! That's his insult for her, thank you!

"Nngh, leave me alone!"

"And let you get even sicker?!" Lyra just glared at him as she took the washcloth and placed it back on his head. "No way! You're going to stay here until you're feeling better. I'm not going to let you just run loose when you're seconds away from just toppling over."

Silver took a shaking look at his surroundings to find himself in the center of a camp, a canopy of trees above his head and focusing the beams of light into narrow strips of gold. A campfire was already prepared nearby, a spit looming above the flames and hoisting up a black cooking pot probably used for stews and soups. A Leyba-spotted tent was set up on the outskirts of the space, standing tall as it waited for the Marshmallow-Head to return to its depths in the evening. A wild Pidgey was sitting on a nearby branch, seemingly staring him down from his high perch.

Even with his pounding skull, Silver could tell this was the pesky rival's camp.

"Nngh, where the heck—"

Lyra didn't miss a beat in explaining everything. "You're in my temporary camp inside of Ilex Forest. I decided to train here for a while until I ran into you..." Her voice drifted off as she lifted a hand to her chin. "I couldn't take you to Nurse Joy because I thought she might call you in, ya' know?"

Silver had to close his eyes for a moment as he found his rival multiplying again, only to find that he now felt as if he was spinning around endlessly. His metallic orbs burst open to find the girl looking towards a tree with distant look in her eyes.

"I couldn't just turn you in, not like this..."

Silver was about to question what kind of motive she could possibly have to keeping the authorities off of his trail when a sudden wave of nausea crashed into his stomach. He instantly let out a moan and leaned his head back, hoping that he wouldn't puke up whatever may remain in his stomach.

Lyra immediately took notice of his pain and jumped to her feet. "Ack! You've gotta be starving! I'll go start the stew!" She then scurried over to the fireside, leaving him laying on some sort of fabric.

"Nngh," Silver struggled to sit up after she left. Despite what she had said, he wasn't about to just stick around and let his remaining shreds of dignity be stolen away by this...torture. "I've gotta get out of here—"

A sudden breeze suddenly made the hair on his arms rise, forcing himself to rub the exposed skin with a shiver. Wait a second...

Where the heck was his jacket?!

"Where is my jacket?!" The yell came out as a whine, drawing the cooking brunette's attention away from the chopping of the chicken.

"Oh," Lyra pointed to the Pidgey's tree and shrugged. "You were sweating a lot so I just took off your jacket for you. I also took the liberty of washing it since it reeked so bad. It's just drying in the tree over with Pidge."

Silver slowly turned his attention back to that Pidgey to find the bird standing beside his jacket, the familiar fabric just slung over the branch to dry. Horror swirled inside of him as he realize that his rival had actually removed his outerwear while he slept.

Feeling his sense of personal space violated, Silver let out a roar that sounded more like the squeak of a Teddiursa. "Don't touch my stuff, Marshmallow-Cheeks!" Silver then let out a groan of frustration and let himself fall back to the ground, only for his impact to be swallowed by a cushion of some sort.

Lyra just laughed and shook her head. "I'd rather you yell at me than start sweating like a Granbull again. You were sweating enough to put even Professor Elm to shame!"

Silver just rolled onto his side and prayed to Lugia that he would be spared this living Hell and skip straight to the death part.

It was about an hour of on-and-off sleeping that eventually lead to Lyra calmly walking over to her rival with a bowl in hand and a small smile on her face. She kneeled beside the sleeping redhead with a chuckle, resting the bowl safely on the grass beside her. With a gentle nudge and a coo, she attempted to wake him from his fever-induced sleep.

"Silver...c'mon. Food's done and ready to be eaten, Jerky."

Silver just let out a groan and rolled onto his stomach, feeling as if his head had been submerged once again. He waved her off with a shaking hand before letting the limb slam back onto the sleeping bag Lyra had provided for him to lay on.

The brunette frowned and just shook her head, deciding that if Silver was that tired, she should just let him sleep. She slowly stood up with a sigh and headed back to the pot, using the time it took the redhead to wake up to distribute bowls to their Pokémon.

One by one, Pokémon lined up and waited patiently for their serving. Silver's team gave the girl cautious looks as she walked down the line with a stack of bowls, setting one in front of each Pokémon with a gentle grin.

Lyra's Bayleaf, Pidgey, Sentret and Mareep wasted no time in devouring her cooking, letting out happy cries as they ate the chicken stew with gusto. Silver's Quilava, Zubat and Gastly however gave the girl hard stares as she gave them each a bowl. The Volcano Pokémon gave her a glare of mistrust as she kneeled before the trio and grinned wider.

"Go ahead you three, eat up!" She just motioned to the bowl and nodded to the Pokémon, trying to coax them into eating the food she had spent so long in preparing.

Quilava gave a nervous glance to the other Pokémon that were already eating their fill before looking down at the food before him. A pale yellow cream was filling most of his bowl, with chunks of meat, carrots and celery floating about. The food looked edible... It smelled delicious...

But why would his master's enemy waste her precious resources in feeding them, her sworn rival and nemesis' Pokemon?

Lyra shook her head sadly before lifting a hand in the air. Quilava automatically flinched in reflex, feeling the fear of being struck fill his mind. His body stiffened as he found the girl rubbing down his back with gentle fingers, carefully rubbing his short fur with her fingers spread apart.

"Don't worry, that's for you." Lyra removed her hand from his back with a smile, the small Fire Type looking up at her with wide eyes. "Go ahead and eat, Quilava."

The serious Volcano Pokémon took another look down at his bowl before deciding that he might as well risk the chance of being scolded and eat the food offered. He eagerly dug in to find to his pleasure that the stew was savory and warm, slipping down his throat and filling his gnawing belly with something for the first time in a week.

The remaining members of Silver's team, now witnessing their unofficial head member eating the offered food, happily followed suit. Lyra chuckled in pleasure as she found them scarfing down the chow as if they hadn't ever eaten before. She slowly stood up, brushed off her knees and smiled.

"That's better."

She then slowly turned to find her rival giving her a cautious glance from his spot, a lone metallic orb burning a hole into her back as he watched her interact with his Pokémon. He hid his face as she walked over, unwilling to let her know that he was watching her.

"Hey," Lyra kneeled once again beside Silver's makeshift bedside, picking up the bowl of stew with a small smile. "There's some for you, too. There's plenty to go around, so you can eat as much as you want, Silver."

A mumble slowly leaked out of the pillow Silver was using as a shield, sounding suspiciously like 'why should I eat anything you made, Marshmallow-Face?'. Lyra just rolled her eyes and clutched the bowl tighter.

"Because I'm certain that you haven't eaten anything in a while, redhead. You should at least eat something so you don't feel so sick."

Silver hesitantly looked over his shoulder to find his rival giving him a look of both frustration and worry, her hazel eyes lock tightly onto his face as he peeked out at her. Finally, after a heated staring match, Silver gave in.

"Fine." He slowly turned over to rest on his back before sitting up with a cringe. "I'll eat it if it'll make you shut up."

"Good." Lyra promptly handed him his share and stood up. "I expect that to end up in your stomach, no one else's. Got it?"

Silver's gut decided to let out a roar of agreement as the scent of the stew wafted up to his nose. His pale face gained a slight tint in his cheeks as his rival just laughed at his hungry stomach. "That's what I thought, redhead."

She then walked off, leaving him alone on the edge once again. Silver thought for a moment about rejecting the food handed to him to spare a bit of his dignity by not stooping so low as to accepting food from a weakling but...

Oh Lugia he was starving!

The sick boy decided to forfeit his pride for once and eat the food offered to him, just so that he could fill that empty void in his gut.

...Not that he needed handouts from such a little girl.

The rest of the night passed by in a blur, most of which consisted of Silver trying to complain and Lyra giving him a glare or two as he tried to insist that this was unnecessary. The brunette finally won the argument when Silver nearly fell on his face when he managed to rise to his knees, the only thing that prevented him from taking a face-full of dirt being the anxious Bayleaf's vines around his back and his rival's hands on his chest. With a grunt and a few mutters, Lyra managed to get him to at least spend the night in her camp until he could see how he felt in the morning.

Silver now found himself looking up at the arched top of Lyra's tent, the darkness long since closing in on the two children. Silver frowned as he curled up tighter in the small tent, hoping that he could have his jacket back before he was forced to sleep.

His attention snapped back to the tent's opening and found his rival spinning around as she walked inside of the small enclosure, Silver's jacket slung over her shoulder. "Hey redhead." Lyra gave him a short wave as she walked over to her own sleeping bag. "Your jacket's all dry and warmed up for you." She gave the outerwear a lazy toss and smiled as Silver quickly snatched it off of his chest and slipped inside the comforting piece of clothing.

"You better not have shrunk it, Marshmallow-Butt."

Lyra just laughed and fluffed her pillow. "I made sure it was still as oversized as when I took it from you. Your jacket is still big enough to cover most of your neck and the sleeves are long enough to hide your deck from your opponents."

Silver just gave the girl a grunt of confirmation and curled back up in his spot, feeling a substantial difference already as the heat became trapped in the dark fabrics.

He glanced over his shoulder to find his rival's Bayleaf now in the tent, giving him a nasty glare as he headed towards his trainer. The duo exchanged a few smiles and embraces before they settled in for the evening, Lyra sleeping in her white and pink sleeping bag and the Herb Pokémon deciding to take the spot next to her—separating the two rivals with a live barrier, no doubt.

"Goodnight, Silver. Don't do anything stupid while I'm asleep, alright?"

Silver just grunted and turned away from the duo. "Whatever, runt. I'll do what I want."

He didn't add that he felt too exhausted to even lift a single eyebrow.

Silver soon found to his utter frustration and bafflement that his fever still remained the next morning, along with most of his symptoms.

Perhaps staying out in that thunderstorm to train instead of taking shelter was a bad idea after all.

His rival however expected as much and explained that she was planning on staying in the Ilex Forest for around a week before moving on to the next Gym in Goldenrod City. She also told him that he might as well get comfortable, for she was going to keep him here until his illness was gone. Silver tried to argue, but was quickly silenced by the throbbing in his head and the dark scowl across her face.

Now he was once again sitting out in the grass with a frown as his head still throbbed. His rival had decided to go train for a few hours after breakfast, leaving the redhead in the camp to be guarded by the girl's Bayleaf. And after about three hours of sitting in place, Silver was dead bored.

Silver gave the creature a scowl and relished how the Grass Type flinched in reaction. "Pfft, you're so pathetic. Even a Jumpluff could be braver than you."

"Leeaf!" The Bayleaf let out a roar of protest and shook his head, making his leaf swish around with a smooth motion.

"Don't backsass me, runt!"

"Bay abay lee leaf!" The Bayleaf mimicked him with a smirk, trying to make himself look braver than he felt.

"Oh, shut up!"

"Silver?" The ill boy flinched as he found the brunette back with a new Pokémon on her shoulder, the creature's rear being the only part of the Pokémon visible. "Are you being mean to my Bay again? I'm not going to let you take out your frustration on my partner, Jerky."

"I can do whatever I want, pest!"

Lyra suddenly gained a devious smirk and snatched the Pokémon off her shoulder, thrusting it into her rival's face. Silver let out a girlish scream as he found it to be his worst nemesis, higher ranked than even the girl in front of him.

"Meet my newest teammate, Silver!"

The Pokémon's eyes shimmered with pleasure as he wiggled his small feet in the air, squirming in perfect health. Silver felt as if he was going to be sick as its giant nose quivered.

"His name is Weedly!"

It was at that exact moment that Silver fainted. Lyra just cocked her head in confusion before laughing at her antics. Sure, perhaps acting this way towards someone who's sick isn't the nicest thing to do, but he wasn't much better. It was about time someone gave him a taste of his own medicine.

And she was going to enjoy every spoonful.

Author's Note: Oh look, something for my Stubborn!Lyra again! It also seems that I've tried my hand at an old favorite, the 'I'm-not-sick' and 'I'll-nurse-you-back-to-health' clichés. Well, if it makes it more interesting, Lyra isn't going to be a model Nurse. She still has to get back at him for the events that occurred back in the Bellsprout Tower. (In my headcanon for Pokémon HeartGold and Stubborn!Lyra, Lyra nearly falls down through the hole around the pole and Silver just watches like, "Oh yay. One less weakling for me to worry about." But Lyra just pulls herself up and starts ranting at him for being a jerk and the Elder's just like, "Please don't fight, children. We must have peace..." Therefore, Lyra really isn't on good terms with him right now.)

Anyway, this is actually dedicated to StellaMuffins! It's kinda a bit of an early birthday present. So, happy birthday, Stella!

Oh, and these two are only ten years old—eleven in Silver's case—in this one. So hurray for young fluff!