Escaped from the Rockets' lair and busted up Viridian good, shit, that sounded a little too familiar. They weren't from the same world somehow, were they? But Starr had said her world didn't have a Silver, and the guy was pretty public, it wasn't like he could have just been some sibling dear old daddy had been neglecting to mention. So what...
The torracat's second question drove all the speculation from his mind. "Uh," he said, eyes darting around in search of escape routes without him even realizing it. He wracked his brain for anything he knew about the torracat, other than the fucking huge deal with her being Giovanni's kid. She'd never said she'd actually been involved with the team, though. And she pretty obviously hated the guy's guts, so... not a fan of Rocket in general, no doubt. Probably best to keep things under wraps.
"They took my pokémon," he said. "Didn't really like me trying to get them back, neither. So I guess you could say we knew each other pretty well."
"Well, yeah," Rocky said. "You were a Rocket, too! Of course they knew you."
Nate's chest tightened, the breath catching in his throat as he whirled towards Rocky. This fucking guy. "You--you fucking--"
"He was so bad at it that they fired him!" Rocky cheerfully told Starr. "That's how we met. I saved him from, you know." He dragged a finger across his throat, letting his tongue loll out. Then he ducked a hydro pump, giggling, tail flicking playfully.
"I am going to fucking--you bastard you can't just go around saying that. It ain't fucking funny!" But Rocky was ready for more attacks, and he didn't have trouble dodging Nate's anger-blind strikes. He didn't even have time to deal with this joker, he realized with a cold shock. The fucking torracat.
Nate spun back in her direction. "Look, it ain't like that, all right? I ain't a fucking Rocket. I fucking hate them. That was years ago! This joker just thinks it's funny to bring it up every five seconds."