On the southernmost island of the four Whirl Islands which entrance is guarded by a whirlpool and waterfall, Silver walks up to Lance who’s sitting on a throne on the far end of the secret chamber, and returns to him the hyperball containing Tyranitar. The boy remarks that while he has put the Pokémon to use at some point, it wasn’t for what they intended. Lance grins that it doesn’t matter as he lent it to Silver just for backup, and Silver says there were unexpected twists during the mission which delayed his return, during which he honestly felt himself getting stronger. The red haired boy’s face then darkens a little as he emphasizes on his growth in strength and fighting skills, and his Sneasel all of a sudden creeps up on Lance from behind to fasten its claws around the young man’s neck.

Lance regains his composure after a moment of surprise, and puts on a grin as he asks what Silver has in mind. Silver states that he has already followed Lance’s orders for half a year, believing all missions are to assist him in his revenge, and he thinks that it’s about time Lance reveals to him what he knows about the masked man’s real intentions. The two stare down at each other for a moment, and Lance grins that the determined look in Silver’s eyes never changed, as he seems to recall the exact same look the boy gave him the night they met for the first time not too long ago…

It is evening in Johto. At the construction site of the Battle Tower in Olivine, Lance walks along the lonely steel platforms under the moonlight. Suddenly, he feels a hostile presence around, and gets into the combat mode which he hasn’t adopted ever since he moved to Johto following the battle on Cerise Island. Sensing a flying creature drawing close, he sends out his two Dragonairs, but the black bird, which is in fact a Murkrow, dodges with ease under the cover of the night’s darkness. Lance decides to retrieve his dragons due to their disadvantage in battling with poor vision, but his assailant orders a pursuit from the Murkrow, and Lance switches in his Pupitar just in time to take the attack.

A red-haired boy named Silver appears, and Lance demands to know what he wants. But without waiting for an answer, Lance places his hand over Murkrow’s head, and reads from its mind that Silver is wishing to know if Lance himself who wanted to possess the giant flying Pokémon is related to the kidnapping incident 9 years ago. Silver gets stunned immediately that Lance already knew his intentions, and Lance grins that he has the power to read Pokémon'ss minds and memory, and Murkrow probably heard Silver talk about his plan with someone else in the past.

Silver realizes it is the mysterious power of Lance he has heard about, and wonders what his next move should be. Lance, on the other hand, turns around casually to say that the Cerise incident has made him see and understand much, but he is sad to tell Silver that he has no relations to the kidnap 9 years ago at all. He used to wish to possess Lugia which immense power would assist the Elite 4 greatly in their plan to create ideal utopian world for Pokémon, but all that was in the past, abandoned and left behind.

Knowing that he has come to the wrong person, Silver says he wouldn’t bother Lance any further and decides to leave. But then, Lance stops him and remarks that a trainer ought to show his Pokémon care occasionally if he really loves them. He comments that he can see Murkrow being deeply hurt by Silver’s lack of attention to it, and says while he himself has done the same thing in the past by placing his own self at the centre of everything, he has come to realize his mistake and even discover that the mental condition of a Pokémon directly influences its strength. Silver seems bothered by Lance’s words, and Lance carries on to say that from what he sees, Silver’s current strength is definitely no match for the man he seeks revenge against. His remark made Silver see that the man in front of him perhaps know more than he seems, and demands full information on the masked man. However, Lance refuses to disclose it just yet, and eventually strikes a deal with Silver…

And so for half a year, Silver took Lance’s orders and went on various missions, strengthening himself in the process and fulfilling what he promised to do in exchange for information. Now, Silver has fully completed his part of the deal, and demands for his reward. He doesn’t care for the reason why Lance helped to train him in the first place, the only thing he wishes to know is information that will assist him in defeating the masked man. He mentions about his previous failure in the fight against the man, but says he can feel the moment of final showdown nearing, and is determined to win this time.

Taking another look at Silver’s determined face, Lance removes Sneasel’s claw around his neck to stand up, and places his head on the weasel Pokémon'ss head. He reconfirms with Silver that Sneasel is the Pokémon that the boy escaped with from the masked man, and proceeds to read the memory stored deep in its mind. He sees six masked children in training, and Silver explains that they were divided into groups of two, one boy and one girl each, and were trained separately under different specialties. He adds that the field Blue and himself studied was evolution and trading, and Lance momentrily recalls all the troubles the girl caused him in the Cerise incident.

Lance then sees a scene of Blue and Silver escaping, and notices that Blue is holding something she stole from the masked man. He wonders if Silver knows what it was, and Silver thinks hard for a while before finally remembering it being a pair of rainbow and silver coloured feathers. Upon hearing that, Lance bolts with a start, and realizes why Mask of Ice has been constantly searching for Lugia and Ho-Oh. It is time that the masked man intends to control.

Meanwhile, Yellow slowly wakes up in an unfamiliar room, and turns around to see fisherman Wilton is sound asleep. She recalls being washed away by big waves when they encountered the giant flying Pokémon they sought on the seas close to Olivine, and starts to wonder who could have saved them. Slowly pushing apart the gliding door that leads to the backyard of the room, she sees several pairs of male and female Pokémon cuddling with each other lovingly out on the grass, and marvels at the happy and harmonius scene in front of her. She then hears the voice of an old man and old woman coming from behind the gliding door on the other side of the room, and from their conversation realizes that they are listening to the Pokémon League Tournament broadcast on the radio.

Just then, the door slides open, and Yellow sees Pika and Chuchu together with an old Grampy and an old Granny who’s holding an egg in her hands…

Thanks To Coronis For Writing this for us