A World of Black & White

Rating: T (for language)
Genre: Adventure/Friendship
Preview: Being transported to a world of Pokémon is one problem; putting the world in your own hands is a different story. Join Ashlee and her new friends, in the world of Pokémon, as she tries to find a way back to her own world and solve the mystery of Team Plasma and the Pokémon Trainer, N. Will she get back home? Or remain in the Pokémon world forever? N/OC & slight Cheren/Bianca

~~

Prologue​

"Man... Why does high school always have finals?" I complained as I started walking out of my Spanish Two class with my heavy turquoise-white backpack. I had all sorts of books and papers in there to help me study for these big tests called finals that tests everything I learned for the semester. After all, I had only eleven days of school left; besides, the finals are twenty percent of my semester grade and I don't want to fail any of my classes this semester like last year.

"Hey Ashlee!" someone called to me. I turned to see a girl with brown hair, brown eyes, and is carrying a black laptop looking backpack on her shoulder. I instantly recognized her.

"Hey Alex!" I said while waving to her and avoiding other students that are trying to get to their lockers and homes. I started walking with Alex to our lockers since ours are close together, but I didn't need anything in my locker so I waited for Alex until she got what she needed and continued walking to the main lobby. We didn't talk much, but I don't mind. I saw the person, he had dirty blond hair, blue eyes, and wearing glasses as well as a yellow outfit, I was looking for. I waved by to Alex and walked to the boy.

"Hey Clayton, it's time to go," I said to him as I texted my mom to let her know Clayton and I are walking home. Either he ignored me or didn't hear me, I noticed Clayton was still talking to his friends. I looked at my turquoise watch with an impatient look on my face. I wanted to get home, so I can study on my finals and then get some rest. When I saw him noticing me and walking to the door, I immediately followed him. As soon as I walked out, my mother replied, "Okay, be careful." I texted her back, "We will," and continued following my brother, Clayton.

We were silent, which was normal for me. Clayton never talks to me while walking. I don't know why though, but I didn't ask.

I soon snapped out of my thoughts when I heard my brother said hello to someone. I looked to his direction and noticed three strange men. They all have the same white hair, wore the same clothing and masks covering their faces. They looked like ninjas to me.

I suddenly noticed the silent treatment these men were giving to Clay. Not only that, I noticed they were glaring at him with boredom in their eyes. I got in between them and my brother, and got my hand on his wrist and and looked toward the three weird men.

"I'm sorry that we bothered you," I apologized to them and started to walk past them. However, I noticed one of them blocked my way. I started to turn and-

"You are coming with us," I heard one of them said. I turned to them with an eye narrow look on my face.

"Um excuse me? My brother isn't going anywhere but home," I said with a serious tone in my voice. I started walking away from them once again, but the three men blocked my path. I started walking away from them a-

"Who told you it was your brother," one of them said and I stopped. If it's not my brother they want, then- Oh no! It's me they're after, but why?!

I turned to them while hiding my sudden fear by giving them a serious look. "Well, I'm also not going anywhere but home," I said while keeping calm. I noticed them taking a step toward us and made me immediately stepped back with my brother.

"You do not have much of a choice," the middle of the men said and that only increased my fear.

While I kept my eyes on the three men, I snuck my phone to my brother's hand and whispered to him so the strange men won't hear us. "Clay, I want you to call mom and tell her there are three men here who are after us," I whispered to my brother trying to remain calm. However once I told him those words, he immediately ran off with my phone in panic mode. I, too, took off after him, but the men had somehow caught up to me and two of them grabbed onto my arms so I couldn't move.

"NO! LET ME GO!" I shouted as I start trying to kick the men. Before I knew it, one of them had covered my eyes so I couldn't see what was going on.

I didn't know what to do. Panic and fear was all over my system of moods. I started to use all of my strength to kick those three strange men once again. This time, I managed to get out of their hold and see what's going on, but I suddenly started falling. Falling into a river. The three men had already vanished. More fear had been developed in me. There was one thing I could do.

"HELP ME!" I yelled. I was soon in the river; however after I have been hit in the head, darkness had obtained my conscious.

~~

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is a first person point-of-view. I only have one oc in this story (except for the Prologue and Epilogue) since this is based off of a dream I had and how I imagined myself in the game: Pokémon Black. Enjoy this fanfic about the Unova Region black version.

 

Chapter I: In the World of Pokémon​

I didn't know how or when, but once I regained conscious, I was in some kind of hospital room. I sat up and looked around the room. I saw all sorts of medical equipment, a heart monitor, and many other items.

'Where am I?' I thought to myself as I took one more look around the room. I got out of the hospital bed and started to walk out of the room. However once I did, I was shocked. I saw someone walking by a small brown dog like creature. Actually, I knew what it was, a Lillipup. A Pokémon! A real live Pokémon! But how?! I thought they were fictional creatures made by Japan!

I noticed the Lillipup and its trainer, I think, take their leave. I decided to follow them, but first I need to get my backpack. Just my luck, it was at the bench next to the room I was in. I grabbed it and started to follow the two.

I didn't know how fast I was trying to follow, but I accidentally bumped into the person I was following and fell on my butt.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright?" said a voice unfamiliar to me. I looked to where the voice was from and it turned out to be the same person I was following.

I managed to get a view of what she looks like. She had green eyes, blond hair like mine but shorter, and is wearing a big green hat, an orange and white outfit, and is wearing a green purse like bag. I didn't know if I should speak to her, so I nodded. She had offered me a hand to help me up. I took it and got up. I noticed the female smiling at me which confused.

"I'm so glad to see you up. You had me, my friend, and the professor worried when you were unconscious as my Oshawott got you out of the water," she said while smiling.

That caught me off guard. "Y-your Oshawott," I asked with more shock?

She nodded and immediately got out a red-white ball. My eyes widened. A Poké Ball! Before I could try to speak, she sent out a white and blue otter like creature with a yellow scallop on its belly had appeared out of the ball. It is an Oshawott! What's going on here?! Why am I seeing live Pokémon?! Maybe, this is all a dream! Yes, I'm probably day dreaming again while I'm back home after Clay had managed to get to Mom! I slapped myself on the face with a good amount of strength that could wake me up. I yelped a little and shut my eyes tight from the pain, and started rubbing my cheek.

'Man that hurt,' I thought to myself and sighed with relief that this dream was over.

"Um, why did you hit yourself like that? That can freak others out," said a familiar voice with a worry like tone.

I opened my eyes wide and looked around. I'm still here?! Th-then this isn't a dream; it's real! I backed up against the wall and looked to the female trainer as well as her Oshawott and Lillipup.

"T-this can't be real," I whispered to myself with shock and a little fear. Those three ninja men had transported me to the world of Pokémon! But, h-how did they do it?! I then remembered what they said to me before they caught me. "You are coming with us." "Who told you it was your brother?" Their words sent me chills just by remembering it. What do they want with me? Why did they bring me here?

I noticed the female trainer getting a little spooked by my behavior. I immediately looked down feeling ashamed of my attitude after her, her Oshawott and her friends have saved me.

"I'm sorry. I was just feeling really confused about what's going on and where I am," I said as I apologized to her and her Pokémon as well.

I noticed the smile on her face had returned. "Oh, it's alright. Hey, I have an idea! Why don't you ask Professor Juniper? She might be able to understand and explain to you where we're at. Besides, I just started my journey," said the female trainer as she had her hand to the back of her head and giggling a little.

I looked confused. "Who's Professor Juniper?" I asked while looking confused.

I heard a gasp from the female trainer. "You don't know who Professor Juniper is?!" she shouted. I shook my head which was probably a big mistake. Because right after that, she took my hand and started dragging me as her Oshawott got on her shoulder and Lillipup followed us.

"Hey! Where are we going?" I asked while feeling a little spooked.

"We're going to see Professor Juniper," replied the female trainer which surprised me. "She's still here in the Pokémon Center so we can't miss her," she added while now dragging me out of the hospital which I figured out what building we're in.

Right when the female trainer and I are outside, I looked around the new environment that I had entered. I noticed some buildings and people walking from each one of them. I even saw all sorts of Pokémon with their trainers. I saw a Patrat, a brown, white belly looking rat, but it's taller than a rat, and shorter than a child. I also noticed a Purrloin, a purple cat with four tan diamond shape spots on its back, and pink eye lids. I then turned to the female trainer as I heard her voice.

"What?" I asked as we continued walking.

"My name is Bianca. What's your name?" asked the female trainer, named Bianca, while looking at me.

"That's a nice name Bianca," I said with a smile. "And my name is Ashlee with a double "e" instead of "ey" as the end," I added to reply to her question. "It's nice to meet you," I also said.

Bianca smiled; well, her smile just got bigger. "Wow, I've never heard anyone named like that," she said while smiling. Her Oshawott nodded in agreement. I smiled more.

We finally arrived to a building with a red roof. I looked at the sign and it said, "Pokémon Center." 'We must have arrived,' I thought as I walked in with Bianca. When we got in, I noticed two other people talking to a strange nurse with pink pulled back hair.

"Cheren! Professor Juniper!" Bianca shouted to the two strangers to me. When they turned, I got a better view of what they look like.

One of them was a male with black hair and dark blue eyes, and wearing a blue outfit and glasses. He looked like the same age as Bianca. Next to him was a woman with light brown hair and pale green eyes, and wearing a lab coat. She looked older than the male and Bianca.

"Why howdy Bianca! I see you and your Pokémon are happily getting along, that's great," said the older woman while smiling. Her smile faded a little once she noticed me. "Oh, I see Oshawott's rescue was a success since our new friend is up," she added as her smile grew back again.

'Friend?' I thought as I looked confused as she mentioned that word.

"Cheren, Professor, this is Ashlee, but her name is spelled with two "e's" at the end instead of "ey,"" said Bianca as she had her hand on my shoulder.

"Well nice to meet you Ashlee," said the older lady once again and continued smiling. "I'm Professor Juniper and this young man here is Cheren," she added as she points to the young man who happens to be Cheren.

I nodded and looked at the two so I can be sure to memorize who they are. The older woman is Professor Juniper and the young man is Cheren.

"Hey Professor, can you help explain Ashlee where we're at?" Bianca asked.

The professor nodded. "I'd be happy to, but first I would like Ashlee to explain what had happened. I'm curious about how you got knocked out and dumped in the river?" she replied and looked at me.

I nodded, understanding why. 'If I told Professor Juniper what happened, I might be able to get back home,' I thought to myself.

"Sure," I immediately said and went to sit down with Cheren and Bianca. I told the professor everything. Me walking home with my brother, meeting three strange ninja men, how they caught me, and somehow transferred me here.

"That's quite a story," said Cheren as he adjusted his glasses.

"Hm... Well, I can't really believe some one had managed to travel to different dimensions," said Professor Juniper with a lot of interest.

"Professor Juniper, do you know any way I can get back home into my own dimension?" I asked as I hope there is; but once she shook her head, my hope was died down into sadness.

"I'm afraid I do not know such an item that can help you travel to your dimension," replied Professor Juniper with a sad tone.

I looked down as all sorts of emotions came flooding through me. Anxiety. Fear. Alone. And mostly sorrow. "No..." I said sadly as I felt hot tears flooding down my face. "Mom... Dad... Emily... Clay... Jack... Everyone..." I said softly as I felt more tears flowing and now rolling out of my face and onto my knees.

I noticed Bianca had handed me a tissue box, sensing my saddened mood. "Thanks..." I said to her as I took a tissue to wipe my eyes.

"W-well Ashlee, why don't you try traveling with us? Maybe if we can find those men, we can get you home," said Bianca as she rubs my back.

"T-travel?... Us," I asked as I looked to Bianca?

"Yeah, it'll be great! Besides I want to see all sorts of Pokémon and places I've never been to before," Bianca said with a smile. "So, what do you think," she asked?

"I... I don't know," I replied. After all, I didn't want to get Bianca and her friend involved. Besides, this is my problem, not theirs.

"Come on Ashlee," said Cheren as he looked to me. "Do you really believe you can take out three people you don't know by yourself?" he asked.

That is a valid point. I hardly knew those men and besides they might have something up in their sleeves as well if nothing went right for them. "Alright," I said as I sighed in defeat.

"Yaaay!" shouted Bianca as she hugged me tight. "This will be fun!" she shouted once more.

"C-can't breath..." I chocked out as I felt Bianca hugging me and was soon released, allowing me to breath.

"Sorry," Bianca apologized.

"It's alright," I replied as I smiled at her. I then noticed Professor Juniper smiling and got up which confused me.

"Well then, I think it's time for an introduction," said the professor confusing me even more.

"But I thought we did," I said looking towards Professor Juniper. She let out a giggle.

"Not like that," she said while still standing and smiling.

I continued looking at the professor with confusion and looked down to start trying to put two and two together. After a few minutes of thinking, I looked at the professor with shock and received a nod from her.

"Ashlee, I welcome you, a new Pokémon Trainer, to the world of Pokémon," said Professor Juniper.

~~

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Surprise!! Thought you guys had to wait for 24 hours huh? When I meant each day, it's more like first thing when it's morning or when I wake up. Well, here it ish! The next chapter.

 

Chapter II: Nice to Meet You, Snivy​

As we walked around the Pokémon Center, Professor Juniper started explaining everything of our location and how the Pokémon Center works. We appear to be in Accumula Town of the Unova region which is north of Bianca and Cheren's hometown, Nuvema Town. The Pokémon Center helps heal your Pokémon and, at the right when you walk in, is the Poké Mart. In there, you can buy all sorts of items like potions, Poké Balls, and a lot more. I forgot, there is also a PC that holds your Pokémon since you can only carry six Pokémon, but I didn't plan to have much any way. As we continued, Bianca then spoke.

"Professor Juniper, when are you going to give Ashlee her starter Pokémon?" she asked which caused the professor to stop and give us the "oh yeah" look.

"Oh that's right! Thank you for reminding me Bianca," said Professor Juniper as she turned to me and suddenly gave me a sad smile. "But the thing is, two of them had already been taken. Bianca had Oshawott and Cheren had Tepig. All I have for you is a Snivy but Snivy is a little picky," she said and held out a Poké Ball and sent out a green Pokémon with a leaf tail and its belly and lower half of its face is tan and it had brown eyes.

"Snivy." said the green Pokémon as it looks around. When it noticed me, it looked at the professor for an explanation.

"Snivy, I'd like you to meet Ashlee," said the professor and looked towards me. "And Ashlee, this is Snivy,"she said to me.

I bent down to my knees, so Snivy wouldn't have to break its neck to look up at me, and held out my hand. "Hi there," I said to the little green Pokémon for a hand shake.

Snivy then walked to me. It then sniffed my hand and placed its hand on mine, accepting the hand shake. I smiled; we're off to a good start. I noticed the Pokémon smiling back. "Hey Snivy, do you want to be my first Pokémon?" I asked and noticed the surprised look on the Pokémon's face. This made me think it's a bad sign. "Well the choice is yours Snivy. I don't force others to my choice; it wouldn't be fair. So, that's why I'm letting you choose Snivy," I said to Snivy. I even meant every word. I would most of the time let my friends do what they want and I would just follow sometimes, if I know it's okay and wouldn't get us in trouble.

Snivy looked at me then down to start thinking. I noticed the professor, Cheren, Bianca, and her Pokémon looking at me with surprise at what I said. Before any of us said anything, Snivy had climbed onto my shoulder and smiled more.

"Snivy, snivy." said Snivy as it hugs my shoulder neck.

Professor Juniper smiled. "Looks like Snivy decided to come with you Ashlee," she said while smiling.

I looked to Snivy as it continues to hug me which made me smile. I started petting Snivy's head affectionately. "Thank you Snivy," I said to the green Pokémon as I continued petting it.

"Okay then Ashlee, here are five Poké Balls since you can only carry six," said Professor Juniper as she handed me five empty Poké Balls. I gladly took them, but I didn't know where to put them. "This here is Snivy's Poké Ball. Take good care of her," added the professor as she handed me Snivy's Poké Ball which I took and now confused.

"Her?" I said with confusion.

"Your Snivy-" the professor said as she points to Snivy, "-is a girl," she finished while smiling.

I looked to Snivy and smiled more. However once I got her Poké Ball close, she hissed at it. This surprised me and the others, but I soon understood why Snivy behaved strangely. "You don't want to be in your Poké Ball, do you?" I asked Snivy and received a nod from her as my answer. "Okay then Snivy. Besides, I like it better when you're out so I can have someone to talk to," I said to Snivy as I put her Poké Ball away in my pocket and pet her head again. I smiled again as I heard her purring.

"Here is the badge case to help hold eight badges," said Professor Juniper as she handed me a black-pink case. I stopped petting Snivy so I could get the badge case and look at it with Snivy.

"Hey Ashlee, why aren't you using your backpack to put your empty Poké Balls and badge case away," asked Cheren as he pointed to the five empty Poké Balls and badge case in my hands?

I nodded and mentioned Snivy to get off of my shoulder for a couple minutes. She nodded and got off as I took off and opened the pocket where all my papers and books are; however, once I opened my bag, all of my books and papers are gone! What happened?! I know for sure I packed everything to study! If I lose those books and papers, I'll never be able to graduate out of high school next year!

"Wh-what happened to my books and papers?!" I asked myself as I continued searching through my bag. All I did find was my lunch bag and Wallet which holds my learner's permit and money. That's it?! Where's everything else?!

"W-well when Oshawott and I found you, there wasn't anything else surrounding you other than water," said Bianca. I looked to her and noticed her sadness.

"It's okay," I said still upset about my school stuff, but I didn't want Bianca thinking it's her fault. She didn't even know about it. "I'm sure it's probably still back at my own dimension," I added to help Bianca and myself cheer up. 'I hope,' I added, but only in my thoughts.

Bianca nodded and smiled. I noticed her Oshawott and Lillipup are in the same mood as her which is good. Just then, I felt my stomach growling. "Hehe... Well I guess it's dinner time for me," I said looking embarrassed.

I saw Cheren looking at his watch and I did the same with mine. It's already seven fifty-eight in the evening! No wonder I'm now hungry.

"Well let's go and get something to eat. I'm sure there is a cafe in the Pokémon Center somewhere," said Bianca as she took off with her Oshawott and Lillipup.

I giggled a little. Bianca kind of reminds me of my little sister, Emily. Her and her little energy always cracks me up at times a little. Man, this only makes me miss my family and friends more. 'Don't worry everyone, I'll get back home somehow,' I thought.

I heard Cheren sigh and looked at him with confusion. "Bianca sure can be active so sudden," he said while fixing his glasses.

"Oh, I forgot to give you one more item Ashlee," said Professor Juniper. After I put my empty Poké Balls in the smallest pocket of my backpack and my badge case and my wallet back in the second smallest pocket, I got my backpack on as Snivy climbed onto my shoulder. I stood, picked up my lunch bag, and turned, to the professor to see what she meant, to notice a grey-pink device in her hand and handed it to me.

"What's this?" I asked as I looked at the device and poked its screen a little.

"That is a Pokédex. With it, you can learn more about other Pokémon," the professor replied while smiling.

"Thank you Professor Juniper," I said as I smiled and put away the Pokédex in my pocket.

"Alright, you two and Bianca enjoy your journey. I have to return to my lab to continue my research. Hope to see you all soon," said Professor Juniper as she started walking out of the Pokémon Center.

Cheren and I watched the professor leave. After that, it was silence. "Come on, Bianca and her Pokémon are waiting for us," I finally said as I started walking to the direction Bianca went to. I saw Cheren following me, but said nothing as I continued walking.

As Bianca, Cheren, and I had sat down at our table and ate what the cafe gave us which was fruit and vegetables and Bianca's Pokémon and Snivy had Pokémon food, both, Bianca and Cheren, have been only talking to themselves. I actually didn't mind; I'm use to it that way since it's the same as how my lunch time at school goes.

Once we were done eating, we all went to our rental rooms in the Pokémon Center. Bianca had bought my own room for me. I told her she didn't have to, but she did anyway. I lied down on the bed thinking about everything that had happened for the past seven or eight hours.

"Snivy, snivy?" I heard Snivy say as she got on the bed with me.

"Oh, sorry Snivy," I said to the grass-type Pokémon. "I was just thinking how much had happened for the past hours," I added and soon noticed the confused look she's giving me. That's right, I never told her about where I'm from. Well, I might as well tell her.

I sighed a little and looked towards Snivy. "Well you see Snivy, I'm not even from this dimension. I live in an environment where Pokémon don't exist at all," I said which I noticed caught Snivy's attention a lot and looking at me as if she wants to learn more. I told her more about my life and home dimension. I told her I live in a small town called New Palestine in Indiana, one of the United States of America, with my family. I also told her that I'm eighteen years old and will be graduating next year in high school. I even mentioned how, instead of Pokémon, animals live in my world.

I now told her the same story, I told Cheren, Bianca, and Professor Juniper, about how I got here. After I told Snivy my story, she seemed shocked, but was soon died down with a smile and lied down next to my side with her head on my lap.

"Snivy snivy." said Snivy as she wraps her tail around herself and yawns. "Snivy snivy snivy snivy." I heard her add as I now heard her breathing normal breaths which tells me she's asleep.

I was surprised, but soon smiled as well and placed my hand on Snivy's back. I understood what she said in her last sentence after her actions. "I'm glad I met you too, Snivy," I said as I slowly went to sleep.

 

Chapter III: Speeches and Letters​

In the morning, Snivy and I ate breakfast alone. We tried to find Cheren and Bianca, but their rooms were empty; so I figured they might have already left. After breakfast, I returned the room key to Nurse Joy, the lady with pink hair who heals Pokémon in the Pokémon Center, told her my thanks, and left the building with Snivy on my shoulder.

Once I got outside, I had over heard some folks in town about a group of knight looking men going to the town square and are now heading there as well.

"Come on, let's go see what's going on," I said to Snivy as she nodded in agreement and I followed some of the town's people.

Once Snivy and I got to the town square, we saw all sorts of people there. I looked around to see if I could find the knight looking men.

"Ashlee! Over here!" shouted a familiar voice. I looked around once more and found Bianca waving at me and Cheren watching a head. I told Snivy to hold on as I ran to Bianca and Cheren. Once I got to them, I looked to Snivy to see if she's alright. When she gave me a nod, I looked to Cheren and Bianca. I noticed Bianca's Oshawott and Lillipup aren't around, but I guess they are in their Poké Balls.
"Hey guys, what's going on?" I asked as I noticed the crowd is now getting bigger.

"There's some sort of meeting happening," replied Cheren without bothering to turn to us.

Bianca and I went next to Cheren to get a better view of what's going on. Snivy and I noticed a row of knight looking men. Soon one of them moved aside for a man with light green hair, one of his eyes is red and the other was covered by a red eye patch and is wearing one of the most strangest coats I've ever seen.

"My name is Ghetsis. I am here representing Team Plasma," said the man, known as Ghetsis, with pride. "Today ladies and gentlemen, I would like to talk to you about Pokémon Liberation," he added with more pride.

I heard the crowd going "huh?" or "what?" Even I thought of the same thing. Pokémon Liberation? What does he mean by that? I noticed Ghetsis walking to his left and then stopped.

"I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and Pokémon are partners that have come together because we want and need each other. However... Is that really the truth? Have you ever considered that perhaps we humans-" he said and paused for a little second. "-only assume that this is the truth," he asked and now walks to his right and stops where he was last time? "Pokémon are subject to the selfish commands of Trainers," he said paused a little once again. "They get pushed around when they are our "partners" at work... Can anyone say with confidence that there is no truth in what I'm saying," he asked as he stands still?

Now, I narrowed my eye looking seriously annoyed. It isn't true. I bet there's more Pokémon out there who aren't getting pushed around and/or being subjected to any command by their trainers. I even gave Snivy a choice if she wants to be with me or not. Yet, she decided to come with me with her free will.

I started hearing the crowd going, " Yikes!" "I don't know..." and "No way." What are they thinking? Don't they know all of that mumbo jumbo isn't true? Yes, I've only experienced this world for one day, but even I knew some of that isn't true. Before I thought of anything else, Ghetsis walked to his right again and stopped.

"Now ladies and gentlemen, Pokémon are different from humans. They are living beings that contain unknown potential," he said once more.

'Okay you got me there, but they do have a brain and knows what's right and wrong, you old man,' I thought to myself so I wouldn't say it out loud.

"They are living beings from whom we humans have much to learn," Ghetsis continues while looking at the crowd. "Tell me, what is our responsibility toward these wonderful beings called Pokémon?" he added with a question.

I now heard the crowd saying, "What could it be?" and "Liberation?" God, that man just wanted to confuse others does he?

Ghetsis then returned to his spot and faced the crowd once more. "That's right! We must liberate the Pokémon" he said with as much pride as he got. "Then and only then-" he said as he turns towards me, Snivy, Cheren, and Bianca, "-will humans and Pokémon truly be equal," he said finishing his sentence.

I heard Snivy growling quietly at Ghetsis and hugging my shoulder tighter. She disagrees with him as much as I do. I glared at the man with as much anger Snivy has.

Ghetsis then turns to the crowd as if he didn't see me and Snivy. "Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and Pokémon..." he said with a pause and glared at me, "and the correct way to proceed," he finished his sentence while glaring at me still. I glared at him back.

With that, two of the knight men took down two flags that have the word "P" in it, and walks out with Ghetsis and the rest of the knight men as I continued to glare at them.

Once Ghetsis and his men left, the crowd started saying all sorts of things related to Ghetsis's speech and walked off on their own separate ways.

"What was that all about?" Bianca asked with a shaky tone in her voice.

"I'm not sure..." I replied, but paused and still glared at the direction where Ghetsis left, "But I don't trust him," I added.

"I agree with you there Ashlee," said Cheren as I noticed he too was glaring at the direction where Ghetsis left. "Something seemed slightly off about that speech," he added.

"Snivy." said Snivy while nodding and then suddenly hugs me even more. "Snivy snivy snivy." she added while hugging me.

I smiled and pet Snivy's head affectionately. I stopped once I noticed Cheren and Bianca backed up with a little surprise and a little terror which is unusual and confusing.

"Y-your Pokémon... Just now, it was saying..." said an unfamiliar voice which froze me. I turned to the owner's voice and noticed a handsome young man who's a little taller than Cheren, has green hair like Ghetsis, but a little darker long and pulled back, blue-grey eyes like mine and is wearing a black and white hat, a necklace shaped like Saturn, a cube chained to his brown jeans, and a white shirt.

The young man was close; perhaps too close to me and Snivy. This caused me to gasp and took a couple steps back from him and now next to Cheren and Bianca. I felt Snivy clinging onto me a little tighter and I was deep breathing a little.

"Whoah, slow down. You talk too fast," said Cheren as he stepped forward a little to separate me and the young man. "And what's this about Pokémon... talking? That's an odd thing to say," he added and looked confused.

"Yes, it was talking," said the young man as he looked to me, Bianca, and Cheren. "Oh. Then you three can't hear it either... How sad," he added as a frown appeared on his face. "My name is N," he also said introducing himself.

'N? That's strange. Why would someone have a letter as their name,' I thought to myself as I looked to the young man who's named N?

"It's nice to meet you N. I'm Bianca," said Bianca as she smiled to N. "This is Cheren-" she said pointing to Cheren, "-and this is Ashlee," she finally added and pointed to me.

I noticed N glancing at me the most. This made me shiver and blush a little.

"Cheren and I were asked to complete the Pokédex and left on our journey yesterday and Ashlee just started her's today. You see Ashlee-" said Bianca, but was soon interrupted by Cheren.

"But my main goal is to become a champion," Cheren said. I'm glad he interrupted Bianca. I don't think it would be best if N doesn't know where I'm from. Besides, it would probably freak him out if she told him I live in a different dimension where Pokémon don't exist at all.

"The Pokédex, huh?" N asked as his frown got wider. "So, you're going to confine many, many Pokémon in Poké Balls for that then? I'm a trainer too, but I can't help wondering... Are Pokémon really happy that way?" he asked.

I didn't say anything, but I did understand what N is trying to say. It's just like Ghetsis's speech, but N is saying it as if he really is worried. And I'm not saying I disagree with him, but Pokémon do have a choice to travel inside their Poké Balls like Snivy who is now hugging me around my neck. 'Wait, what!' I thought as why Snivy is getting closer and all the sudden growling until I saw N trying to walk closer to me. I backed up even more.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Cheren asked and blocking N's path.

"Your friend hasn't spoken yet. I would like to hear her voice as well as her Pokémon's," replied N as he manages to get past Bianca and Cheren and is now in front of me and Snivy.

I jumped and backed away a little more which only received N walking closer. I was shivering a little more as Snivy's growls grew louder.

"I promise Snivy, I won't hurt Ashlee. You have my word," N said to Snivy and seemed to be waiting for something.

"Snivy. Snivy snivy snivy snivy." said Snivy as she stops growling and now hugging me lightly. I think that meant N had permission from Snivy to see me. Still, I can't help but feel nervous.

N smiled to Snivy to say thanks as I guessed and looked to me. "Well, Ashlee is it? I can see Snivy really cares about you a lot," he said as he looks to Snivy and back at me.

I nodded and bowed a little to say thanks. When I looked back up to N, he now had his hand out like offering a hand shake. I blinked, but then slowly had my hand out and shook his hand with mine.

As soon as we were done shaking, I tried to release N's hand, but he wouldn't let go! Okay, now this is getting scary and embarrassing! I looked to to him and noticed his smile is fading. Oh no, what did I do wrong?!

"You don't talk much do you?" asked N as he looked at me still. I shook my head to respond to his question. "I see," was all N said as he lifted my hand closed to him which made me feel more embarrassed.

Before N did something else, he, Snivy, and I heard a click. We looked to see where it came from and saw Cheren holding a Poké Ball. When I turned to N, his had now returned.

"As long as Pokémon are confined in Poké Balls... Pokémon will never become perfect beings," said N with a sad tone in his voice. "I have to change the world for Pokémon, because they're my friends," he added and saw how Cheren and Bianca looked at each other with confusion.

I, too, was confused by N's words. As Cheren and Bianca are trying to figure out what N meant, N took this opportunity to finish where he left off and started caressing my hand and that increased my embarrassment more.

"Let's meet again real soon, Ashlee. And next time we met, I would like to hear your voice as well, whispered N as he pressed his lips on my hand and released my hand then walks off while leaving me with rosy cheeks.

I just stood there as I was trying to process what had just happened. I noticed Snivy looking at me with confusion, but I said nothing. After a minute of nothing, I could only think of one sentence to say with confusion and embarrassment all over me.

"What the hell was that?"

 

Chapter IV: A Hot Cooking Battle​

"He seriously did that?!" shouted Bianca with shock causing me, Snivy, and Cheren to cover our ears a little.

After N left, Bianca and Cheren decided to travel with me and Snivy for a little while since we're heading to same city. I believe Cheren said the city we're walking to is called Striaton City. He said there's a gym there; so, we can have our fist gym battle. Speaking of battles, I had my first battle earlier today. I was challenged by a young boy with his Patrat. Snivy and I had won in an instant and this also helped Snivy learn vine whip. The boy soon gave me fifty dollars for winning! I tried to tell him I didn't want that much money, but he already left.

After several minutes later, We continued our way to Striaton City; however for some time, I thought about N and our conversation at Accumula Town. The way he got so close to me after telling me about Snivy talking. The way he held my hand and kissed it! When I got to that part, it sent me chills a little which caught Bianca and Cheren's attention. Snivy knew why since she's seen it with her own eyes. As soon as Bianca asked me and I told her, well, you can pretty much tell now.

"That's so romantic!" Bianca said with a squeal. This made me blush as I uncovered my ears.


"Um, I think he was just trying to be a gentleman," I defended and trying to take "romantic" out of the subject.

"You know Ashlee, I think N has a crush on you," said Bianca which made me blush more.

"Uh B-Bianca, I don't think that can work be-"

"Of course it can! You should talk to him and see what he thinks," said Bianca interrupting me as she continues to talk more of me and N together which made me blush more every minute.

"B-but Bianca-"

"Oh, I think you two would be so cute together. You could do so many things that a-"

"Bianca, Ashlee is from a different dimension. The only reason she's on this journey is so she can get back to her own dimension, remember?" asked Cheren and looked to Bianca with a serious expression.

I can now see Bianca's happy mood changing into a sorrow expression and looked at me sadly. "I-I'm sorry," was all she could say to me.

"It's fine," was all I replied. I looked to Snivy and noticed she seemed sad as well. I understood why she's sad. I, too, looked to her sadly, but then smiled as I thought of something, but then heard Bianca spoke.

"Ashlee when you leave, can you promise... to never forget about us?" she asked while looking at me sadly.

This made me smile at her sadly as I got Snivy off of my shoulder so I can hug her. "Of course Bianca. After all, I have someone here who is going to be with me when I get back who will remind me of you, Cheren, and Professor Juniper," I replied as I looked towards Snivy with a smile.

I saw Snivy looking up at me to see if I meant it; I nodded. Snivy had tears in her eyes and I felt her clutch onto my turquoise shirt. She started hugging me more and I hugged her back.

"Snivy snivy." I heard Snivy say and still hugging me I smiled and still hugged Snivy.

After our tears and hugging lowered down, we continued our walk with Cheren and Bianca to Striaton City. We've finally arrived to Striaton City one hour later. The city is much bigger than Noblesville, the city I use to live back in my dimension. I looked around with Cheren, Bianca, and Snivy to find the gym. So far, we've only found the Pokémon Center, Pokémon Trainer School, a restaurant, and many other buildings. However, we didn't find the gym.

"I could've sworn my town map said there is a gym in this city," said Cheren as he pulled out a device that shows some sort of map of the Unova region. I guess that's the town map Cheren was talking about.

"Guys, it's over here!" I heard Bianca shouting out towards us. Snivy and I looked to where Bianca was standing at. It's the same restaurant we saw earlier. Cheren and I walked to Bianca with confusion while Snivy held on to my shoulder.

"Um Bianca, this is a restaurant," I said while looking at the restaurant.

"Yup and it's also a gym. I asked one of the citizens here and they said this is the place," said Bianca as she started walking into the restaurant. Cheren and I looked at each other for a couple seconds then back to Bianca and followed her.

As we got inside, we can see it really was a restaurant. There were tables all over; some even have people there eating their food. I continued to look around with Snivy until three waiters had came toward us, Cheren, and Bianca. One of them had blue hair and eyes, the middle one had green hair and eyes, and the left one had red hair and eyes.

"Hello ladies and gentleman, welcome to the Striaton Restaurant. How may we help you?" asked the red waiter.

"Well, we're here to challenge the gym," replied Cheren as he looked to the three waiters. "May we speak to the gym leader?" he asked.

The blue waiter smiled. "Well you are talking to them," he said and bowed. "My name is Cress," he added introducing to himself.

"I'm Chili and I love making hot battles," said the red waiter with pride.

"And I'm Cilian; I enjoy seeing the bonds of trainers and their Pokémon," said the green waiter as he bowed as well.

'So wait, there's three gym leaders?' I thought to myself as I looked to Cress, Cilian, and Chili.

"You see we're triplets," said Cilian as if he read my mind.

"Follow us to the gym," said Chili as he, Cilian, and Cress started walking to the stage and Cheren, Bianca, and I followed. As soon as we got on the stage which looks like a battlefield, all the lights went off except for the ones shining on the battlefield. I now started hearing cheers all over and they were from the customers. They're going to watch us battle?! No, I can't do this! I've never done anything publicly for ten years.

"Before we get started, we'll need to know who will go first," said Cilian as he looked at us.

"I guess I'll go first," said Cheren as he stepped forward.

Once Cheren said that, Chili had now escorted us to an empty table closest to the battlefield and told us to sit down, which we did. "Just sit here and relax until your friend is done with his battle," he said as he gets back on to the stage. So while we wait, we decided to watch the battle and cheer Cheren on.

"So what are the rules for this gym battle," asked Cheren as he looked toward the triplets?

"Well, the first rule is for us to decide who you will be facing and all of that depends on who your starter Pokémon is," replied Cilian. "So tell us is who was your first Pokémon?" he asked to Cheren.

"Tepig," replied Cheren. Once he answered, Cress stepped forward.

"Then you'll be facing me," said Cress. "What is your name young man?" he asked.

"My name is Cheren and I came from Nuvema Town," replied Cheren.

Cress nodded and pointed to the battlefield. "Shall we then?" he asked? He received a nod from Cheren as they both walked to one side of the field from each other.

Bianca and I saw Chili stepping to the referee section of the field and Cilian walked off to help serve the customers. I felt Snivy jumping off of my shoulder and onto my lap. I didn't mind it much since I was focused on Cheren's battle.

"This challenge will take place with Cress the gym leader against the challenger, Cheren from Nuvema Town. Only the challenger can substitute Pokémon. And... BEGIN!" shouted Chili as he explained the rules and began the battle.

"Now Panpour, come out and help!" shouted Cress as he threw his Poké Ball into the air and sent out a blue and tan monkey out and its eyes are closed. That's a new one. I haven't seen that one before.

"Aww it's so cute!" I heard Bianca say and noticed she got her Pokédex out and activated it. I looked at the screen to see what it said with Snivy.

"Panpour, the spray Pokémon. Panpour has stored water inside the tuft on its head that is full of nutrients. It waters plants with it using its tail."

'Oh no, Panpour is a water-type,' I thought as I looked to Cheren to see what Pokémon he would use.

"Purrloin, I choose you!" shouted Cheren as he tossed a Poké Ball and revealed a Purrloin from the Poké Ball.

And like that, Cheren's first gym battle began and ended after thirty minutes.

After Cheren's victory against Cress by using Tepig since his Purrloin had already fallen during the battle, Bianca decided to go next. Since she started off with Oshawott, she had to go against Cilian. During their battle, Cilian used a Pokémon that look liked Panpour, but it had green instead of blue; plus, its eyes are opened. It's called a Pansage and this time it was a grass type. Bianca had won as well with her Lillipup. She used her Oshawott first, but was quickly defeated since grass-types had the advantage over water-types.

It is now mine and Snivy's turn. I was nervous; not because of the battle, but the amount of people here watching. No! I can't be nervous now! All I have to do is focus on the battle and I won't be so nervous. I took a deep breath and walked to the battlefield with Snivy on my shoulder.

As I walked to the battlefield, Chili stepped forward and smiled. "Since you started with a Snivy, you will be facing me," he said and was looking down at me since I'm short to him. Well, I'm short to mostly everyone. "What's your name?" he asked.

I hesitated at first. "It's... Ashlee," I soon replied after a few seconds later.

Chili nodded and now smirked. "Then get ready Ashlee. This will be one heated battle you won't forget," he said with pride.

Now that got me excited. This caused me to smirk back. "Then let's get started before it gets cold," I said and received a wider smirk from Chili as he walked to his side of the battlefield and I did the same for my side.

I saw Cilian stepped onto the referee section. "This challenge will take place with Chili the gym leader against the challenger, Ashlee. Only the challenger can substitute Pokémon. And... BEGIN!" he shouted.

"Pansear, let's go!" shouted Chili as he summons another monkey like Pansage and Panpour, but its eyes are opened like Pansage, and has red fur instead of green or blue. I got out my Pokédex so I could learn more about this, Pansear. I held it in front of Pansear and noticed it activated.

"Pansear, the high temp Pokémon. Pansear are very intelligent. It roasts berries before eating them. This Pokémon likes to help people."

I noticed it's also said Pansear is a fire-type. This isn't good. All I have is Snivy, who happens to be a grass-type. I looked to Snivy and noticed she nodded. This surprised me, but soon smiled and nodded.

"Alright Snivy, this is our first gym battle. Let's give it everything we've got," I said to Snivy as I received another nod from her as she jumps out of my shoulder and onto the field.

"Pansear, use ember!" said Chili as his Pansear starts shooting a fire breath at Snivy.

"Dodge it Snivy!" I said and noticed Snivy easily dodged the ember. "Now use leer!" I said once more and noticing Snivy did something like a glare at Pansear which made Pansear back away a little. It's working!

"Pansear use scratch!" said Chili as his Pansear now charges after Snivy with vicious paws.

"Quick dodge it! And then use tackle!" I said quickly as I saw Snivy dodging Pansear's attack and tackled it hard since it was close to her. I noticed that it did a lot of damage thanks to leer's effect, this will help lower your opponent's defense.

"Pansear, are you alright?" I heard Chili ask his Pansear. It nodded as it got up. "Okay then, let's heat it up. Use ember!" he soon said as Pansear unleashed another ember attack.

"Dodge it!" I said to Snivy and noticed she dodged by moving aside.

"Now ember once again!" I soon heard Chili say as I saw Pansear using ember once again and noticed Snivy got hit. Oh no, Snivy's hurt!

"Snivy!" I called out to my only Pokémon as she landed on the ground. I noticed she was getting up, yet I'm still worried. "Snivy, are you okay?" I asked with worry.

"Snivy," was all I heard from Snivy as she got up. One more attack like that, it could be all over. I have to think of another way to dodge those fire attacks. I suddenly got an idea; I just hope it works.

"Snivy use tackle while using leer as well!" I said as I saw Snivy charging straight at Pansear while using leer.

"Quick Pansear use ember one last time!" shouted Chili as his Pansear used ember. Just what I was hoping he'd do.

"Now use vine whip to jump!" I said out loud and saw her doing as I told and is in the air and away from the ember attack. "Now finish this with tackle, Snivy!" I yelled and saw Snivy tackle Pansear hard enough to the ground. Pansear was defeated.

"Pansear is unable to battle; Snivy wins. Which means, the winner is Ashlee!" shouted Cilian as he announces me and Snivy as the victors.

I smiled big. We won! Snivy and I actually won! I saw Snivy run towards me and jumped into my arms. I caught her and gave her a big hug. "Thank you Snivy. I couldn't of done it without you," I said to Snivy happily and received her hugging me back.

"YAAAY, ASHLEE!" I heard Bianca shout out as I also heard the crowd continues to cheer too.

Several minutes later, Cheren, Bianca, and I are standing side by side on the battlefield with Snivy is on my shoulder and Cilian, Chili, and Cress in front of us while Cilian was holding a box. Cilian took a step forward and showed us three badges with a green, red, and blue gems on each of them.

"These are the Striaton gym badges. Take them as proof for beating the Striaton gym," said Cilian.

I smiled and happily took mine as Cheren and Bianca took theirs. "Thank you so much," said Bianca.

"No thank you guys for an awesome battle. It's been a while since we had a good battle,"said Chili giving us a thumbs up.

I replied to Chili by giving him a thumbs up as well. After that, I looked at my badge with Snivy. We finally got first gym badge. Only seven more to go however, I won't forget my real goal: getting back home safely to my family and friends.

 

Chapter V: Trouble in Dreamyard​

After we left the gym and restaurant, Bianca, Cheren, Snivy, and I headed to the Pokémon Center so we could heal out Pokémon. When we got there to the front desk and asked Nurse Joy to heal our Pokémon, I told Snivy she has to be in her Poké Ball in order to get healed. She hesitated at first for a moment; however once I told her when Nurse Joy is done, I'll let her out and that convinced her to be in her Poké Ball. Nurse Joy only took our Pokémon for a couple seconds and returned them to us. As promised, I let Snivy out of her Poké Ball and saw all of her bruises and injuries from the gym battle were healed. I smiled to Snivy as she got on my shoulder once again and went to our rental rooms to get some rest.

The next day, Cheren told us he was going to the Trainer School to learn more about type advantage. Bianca and I nodded and waved by to him while we stayed at the Pokémon Center and hung out while we were eating breakfast which was fruits.

As soon as we got done, Bianca, Snivy, and I saw a woman with long black hair, and blue eyes, and is wearing a flower pin on her hair, glasses, and a lab coat walking towards us. "Excuse me, are you two happen to be Ashlee and Bianca?" she asked.

This shocked Bianca and I, but nodded regardless and this caused the woman to smile.

"Oh good. My name is Fennel. I'm friends with Professor Juniper," said the woman with a smile. "She had asked me to help you guys by giving you these," she added as she handed us a little gadget that I didn't understand. "With this, you can now activate the "C-gear" in your Xtransceiver," she also said explaining more about the gadget.

Okay, now I was more confused. I looked at Fennel with the most confused look on my face I had. "Um Fennel I hate to disappoint you, but I don't have one or even know what a Xtransceiver is," I told her and noticed the shocked look on her face.

"Oh my goodness; I'm so sorry. I didn't think you don't have one," said Fennel as she apologizes with a sad look on her face. But soon, her smile returned and snapped her fingers. "I got an idea. How about I make one for you?" she asked.

This completely put me in a lot of shock. "Oh no, no, no! You don't have to do that-"

"But I want to," said Fennel as she interrupted me, but then remembered something. "Oh and I'd like to ask you two a favor too," she said and looked toward me and Bianca. "There is a place called Dreamyard on the outskirts of Striaton City. I'd like some of the Dream Mist that a Pokémon there, called Munna, gives off. With that, I'll be able to collect some data of various trainers. Can you please help me?" she added ending with a question.

Bianca and I looked at each other and noticed she nodded. I then looked to Snivy and noticing she nodded as well. I then looked to Fennel and nodded. "Sure," I said with a smile.

"Oh thank you," said Fennel as she handed Bianca a little slip of paper. "This has my Xtransceiver number. Call me when you get it so I can meet you back here," she added and walked off.

Bianca and I nodded at each other and started walking out of the Pokémon Center and Bianca getting out her town map. "It looks like the Dreamyard isn't that far if we go left from here," said Bianca as she started walking to the left. Snivy and I followed her, hoping she knows what she's doing.

After several minutes of walking in the same direction, we finally arrived to a place that had little ruins of some sort of lab. I looked around as I placed my hand on some of the ruins. "Bianca, is this the right place," I asked as I looked at the ruins?

Yeah... Well, that's what my town map says where we're at," replied Bianca.

I nodded as Snivy and I continued looking around the ruins, or Dreamyard which ever this place is called. "I wonder where Munna would be?" I asked out loud as we continued our search for Munna.

"I'm not sure," replied Bianca. "But you know after how Fennel told us about the Dream Mist, this makes me really, really wonder how showing dreams works," she added.

"I'm with you there Bianca," I said in agreement. I even felt Snivy nodding in agreement as well.

Just then, we heard a Pokémon cry! "Hey! Did you hear that?" asked Bianca.

"Yeah," I said in another agreement. We heard it again and I turned to where it came from and saw a wall with a hole. "It's coming from the other side of the hole! Let's go!" I said as I started walking through the other side of the wall. Once I did, Snivy and I noticed a round pink floating Pokémon with red eyes and purple flower like spots. I got out my Pokédex to know what it is.

"Munna, the dream eater Pokémon. Munna appears before people and Pokémon who are having nightmares and eats those dreams."

"So that' a Munna," I heard Bianca say from behind. I turned towards her and nodded.

"Muuun..." we heard the Munna cry out and started floating away from us.

"Oh! Wait!" said Bianca and started walking to the Munna. I started following her. Soon, we noticed two strange knight looking people, just like back at Accumula Town!

"We found you Munna," said the female knight as she and her partner surround Munna.

"Come on! Come on! Make some Dream Mist!" commanded the male knight.

"Mu!" shouted Munna as it is trying to escape, but only failed.

"Huh? Hey, you are the same people at Accumula Town's main square!" said Bianca with shock. I, too, was shocked but soon glared at them once I heard Snivy growling at them. I knew, if Snivy doesn't trust them, I shouldn't trust them.

The two knight people looked towards us, noticing our presence. "That's right. We're Team Plasma. We battle day and night to liberate Pokémon from foolish humans!" said the male knight with an attitude like he's proud to be one.

I gave these "Team Plasma" knights an eye narrow look. "Alright. Then tell us, what are you doing?" I asked calmly, but with a hint of anger in my tone.

"What are we doing?" asked the female knight. "The Pokémon, Munna and Musharna, emit a mysterious vapor called Dream Mist, which shows people's dreams. We're going to use that to make people want to release their Pokémon. We'll show them dreams to manipulate their hearts," she finally replied to my question.

'Manipulating people's hearts to release Pokémon?! I thought they were just giving their opinions of what they think between people and Pokémon and letting us all decide what we think?' I thought to myself. Before I thought of anything else, the male knight had kicked Munna! I gasped in horror at what I just saw.

"Mu... Naa..." I heard the poor Munna cry out.

"Come on! Spit out that Dream Mist!" shouted the male knight as he was about to kick Munna again. However, he was soon pushed down by Bianca.

"Stop it! You're kicking a little Pokémon to make it give off Dream Mist?! That's so mean! Why!" Bianca shouted as she protects Munna who is now hiding behind Bianca?

"We're doing this for the freedom of Pokémon," said the female knight as she glares at Bianca. "Now hand over Munna!" she added with a shout.

I took this opportunity to step in between Bianca and the female knight with more anger. "Oh really?! You're off to a bad start by hurting a Munna for some mist!" I spatted at both knights.

"You dare to speak such words? For that, we shall rescue your Pokémon from you!" yelled the male knight as he started to charge at me and Snivy.

"Whaaat! Don't hurt Ashlee-" yelled Bianca, but was interrupted when she and I saw Snivy using vine whip at the male knight sending him fly crashing to one of the ruin walls.

I looked towards Snivy to see her hugging my shoulder tightly and hissing at both knights! This surprised me, but not as much as her attack at the male knight. She literally attacked a human just to prevent him from taking her away from me. "Snivy..." I whispered out of my thoughts. I smiled and had tears in my eyes. Before I got too touchy, I heard Bianca asking if I was alright and nodded. However, I saw the female knight glare; I knew what she's planning and stood my ground. If Snivy is going to fight, I'll fight too.

"Tck. Well I'm up next, so give up now!" said the female knight as she now charges at me and Snivy.

"Hang on Snivy," I told Snivy and seeing her nod in agreement and hung on. As soon as the female knight got close, I ducked and kicked her as hard as I could to make her fall backwards. Once that got taken cared of, I got back up and kept Bianca and Munna behind me and Snivy.

Soon, I saw both knights up and have a Poké Ball in their hands. Suddenly, a light blinked and before we knew it, the same old man who had performed a speech at Accumula Town, Ghetsis.

"What are you two doing goofing off?" asked Ghetsis with anger. I noticed the scared looks both knights are giving to him. Is Ghetsis their boss? Then another man looking exactly like Ghetsis, actually he is Ghetsis, appearing on the other side!

"We, Team Plasma, shall separate Pokémon from foolish people," the other Ghetsis said. Soon, both of him disappeared and he is now right behind the knights.

"If you cannot fulfill your duties..." Ghetsis then said with more rage. The knights began to shiver with fear.

"T-this isn't...Ghetsis when he's gathering followers... or when he is trying to control people by tricking them with speeches!" said the female knight with fear.

"Yeah... this is Ghetsis when a plan has failed, and he is about to issue punishment!" said the male knight with the same hint of fear.

"Any rate, let's hurry and say we're sorry so he can forgive us!" said the female knight. She then ran off fast with the male knight fast.

Once they left another flash blinked on us and Ghetsis was no longer here. What in the world just happened? Soon, Bianca and I saw a purple tan like Munna, but no spots and has a pink cloud flowing from it's forehead, floating towards us.

"Shaar." said the new Pokémon. I used my Pokédex once more to know what it is.

"Musharna the Drowsing Pokémon, and the evolved form of Munna. The Dream Mist coming from its forehead changes into many different colors depending on the dream."

"What was that just now?" I heard Bianca ask with confusion in her voice. I just shrugged. "That Ghetsis person appeared all over the place and it wasn't real, right," she asked again? "Was it a dream? And that Pokémon, Musharna-"

"Oh," said a familiar voice. When Bianca and I turned, we saw Fennel. "I couldn't wait, so I came over," she added with a smile and looked ahead of us. "Is that Musharna," she asked with surprise?

"Mushar." said Musharna and noticed Munna hugging Bianca and flew over to Musharna.

"Mun." said the Munna. Musharna looked to Munna and smiled when Munna nodded. They both looked toward me, Snivy, and Bianca and floated away leaving a pink bottle behind.

"Did something happened here?" asked Fennel as she looked towards me and Bianca.

We looked towards Fennel. "Well you see, Munna was here... But Team Plasma and Munna... And Musharna came... And it showed us something like a dream?" said Bianca as she tries to explain what we know.

"I think I follow that," said Fennel with a smile. "See, Musharna evolves from Munna. So, seeing Munna in trouble, it used it's power, making dreams into reality, to save Munna," she explained to help us figure out what truly happened. She then thought of something! "Which means... wait a second!" she added and walked to where the pink bottle is and picked it up. Once she figured out what it is, her smile increased. "This is the Dream Mist! With this, I can complete my research!" she exclaimed with excitement and then looked towards us. "I'll meet you two later at the Pokémon Center later okay?" she asked and walked off before we could answer.

After Fennel left, I heard Bianca sighed in relief and I turned towards her. "How random was that?" I heard her asked herself as she turned towards me and Snivy. "Hey Ashlee, why don't you go back to the Pokémon Center?" she asked to me now.

This surprised me! "What about you Bianca?" I asked looking confused? Why doesn't she come back with me.

"Well, I'm going to go look for the Pokémon we saw just now," she replied as she went deeper into the ruins.

"Good luck," I said to her, but I bet she didn't hear me. I looked to Snivy. Looks like it's just me and her for now. "Let's go," I said as I walked back to the Striaton Pokémon Center with Snivy on my shoulder.

Once Snivy and I got back to the Pokémon Center, we waited for Fennel for like about one hour and as I checked the time on my watch, it said two ten pm. Wow, time must be slowing down for me. Just then, I heard someone call out my name. I turned and saw Fennel heading towards us.

"Ashlee, I've finally finished it! said Fennel as she jogged towards us. When she did, she took in a couple of breaths and giggled a little. "Sorry I took so long, but I actually got done thirty minutes ago, but I took the time to finish it," she added while smiling.

I looked confused. What is she talking about? "Finish what?" I asked out of curiosity.

"This," she replied as she pulled out a weird looking watch. It looks like the same watch Cheren wore and I think Bianca wears it too, but its outline isn't pink or blue; it's white.

"What is it?" I asked looking more confused.

"This is the Xtransceiver," she replied and I gave her a surprised look. "With it, you can communicate with others. I already added Professor Juniper and my number in there and I already told her your number so she can contact you," she added. I gave her a big smile.

"Thank you very much Fennel," I said as I took the Xtransceiver. I then took off my watch and handed it to Snivy, asking her to put it in my backpack. I noticed she's putting it in the small section where the empty Poké Balls are which is fine with me as I put the Xtransceiver on. I thanked Snivy as I turned to Fennel as I placed the C-Gear into my new Xtransceiver. "Thank you again Fennel," I added with more gratitude.

"No problem. Thank you and Bianca for getting the Dream Mist," said Fennel and now looking around. "Where's Bianca?" she asked.

"She said she's going to try to find a Munna for her own," I replied and received a smile from Fennel.

"Ah, alright then. I'm going to head back to my lab. Good luck on your journey Ashlee," said Fennel and walks out.

I watched Fennel leave and somehow heard my name being called on the announcer to the the main lobby. 'I wonder what's up,' I thought as I started to walking to the main lobby with Snivy.

Once we got there we saw Nurse Joy noticing us as we walked towards her. "Are you Ashlee?" she asked. I nodded and she handed me a package, Okay, this is now getting weird. First Fennel gave me the Xtransceiver and now this? I looked at the package, thanked Nurse Joy, and walked to a chair away from the lobby to one of the chairs at the entrance.

"Snivy snivy?" I heard Snivy asked.

"I'm wondering the same thing Snivy," I replied. I was sure Snivy had asked something about the package too. With a little hesitation, I started opening the package.

Once I did that, I noticed a little device that Bianca and Cheren used when we needed to figure out where we are, a Town Map. Next to it, I saw a folded paper; I picked it up and unfolded it. It's a note! I started to read it:

Ashlee,

I know you were here, but I wanted to talk to you alone when your friends weren't around, but I had to leave. I noticed your friends had one of these and you didn't; so, I got one for you so you can know where you are. I hope we meet soon. Remember, I'm still wanting to hear your voice.

I reread the note as I felt a blush on my face appear. But as I did, the person never put their name on it. That's strange. I reread it once more and looked at the last sentence. Somehow it felt so familiar. Then I remembered someone telling me that before he left, but who?

Then after several minutes later, it hit me. I know one person who once said that while wearing a black and white hat, a saturn necklace, and a chained cube. It was N!

 

Chapter VI: A Pokémon In Need​

After shopping in the Pokémon Mart for some super potions, they are orange-red colored bottles that can help heal a Pokémon's wounds, and other healing items. Snivy and I decided to start heading towards Nacrene City for our next gym battle. According to the Town Map, Nacrene City's museum is where the gym will be, almost like the Striaton Gym.

Soon after, Snivy and I are on Route Three. We've already passed the kindergarten school, but we got stopped by two twins who wanted to do a double battle. A double battle is when both trainers sent out two Pokémon and battle with both Pokémon. They complained that I couldn't do a double battle since I only had Snivy, but we did battle the twins and won. After that, their teacher saw what we all did and apologized for their behavior by handing me five hundred dollars! I told her this is too much, but told me it's alright and left with the twins. And now, Snivy and I are heading towards Nacrene City with a little berry picking break. We found an Oran Berry, Pecha Berry, and Cheri Berry bushes.

Oran Berries are blue round berries with a little grey on top that helps heal your Pokémon and regains their strength. Pecha Berries are pink heart shaped berries that heals your Pokémon from poison. Finally, Cheri Berries are small red berries that heals your Pokémon from paralysis.

I decided to put these berries in my lunch back since nothing is really in it. Plus, the foam covering the inside, not only prevents the food from getting messy, it keeps the berries nice and fresh. I noticed Snivy eating some of the oran berries that are still in the bushes. I picked one and handed it to Snivy to eat and happily took it. I smiled as I continued to pick some more. As soon as I stopped, Snivy and I hear a Pokémon cry and a different one, but sounded like there's more than one.

"Come on, let's go see what's going on," I said as I gathered my things. Once I saw Snivy on my shoulder, I started running to where those cries were.

When we arrived, Snivy and I noticed four Patrat gathering and attacking something, actually someone! As I looked closely, it was a black-grayish fox with red at the tip of its head, two dots on its forehead, eyelids, and paws being attacked by the Patrat. I have to do something to save it.

"Hey! Knock it off!" I yelled at the pack of Patrat as I ran towards them. I noticed the pack got scared of my appearance and my mood towards them and they ran off which is what I wanted them to do; I was only worried about the fox looking Pokémon. "Are you alright?" I asked to the new Pokémon. All I received was its whimper of pain and... sadness? I sat down, searched through my bag for a super potion, and my lunch bag for an Oran Berry. Once I got both items out, I looked to the Pokémon. This might hurt a little, but it will heal your wounds," I told it as I started to spray its injured spots. I heard the poor creature whimpering more, but I had to keep healing it or else those wounds will get infected.

"Snivy snivy?" I heard Snivy asking.

I looked to Snivy with a little smile. "Don't worry Snivy. This Pokémon will be fine," I replied as I finished using the potion and now looked at the Pokémon. I showed it the Oran Berry. "Here, this Oran Berry will help you get your strength back," I told it. However before I placed the Oran Berry down, I heard it growl weakly at me. "I promise, I won't hurt you," I said to it with a gentle voice.

I noticed the Pokémon stopped growling and walked towards my hand, that's holding the Oran Berry. It sniffed the berry and then my hand. As soon as I was about to place the berry down, it had one of its paw on my hand and started to eat the berry off of my hand. While it did that, I put away the empty potion and got out my Pokédex and activated it.

"Zorua the tricky fox Pokémon. Zorua changes its appearance to look just like its foe, tricks it, and then uses that opportunity to flee. It often changes its appearance to a silent child."

I put my Pokédex away and watched this Pokémon, now Zorua, continue eating the Oran Berry. "So you're a Zorua," I said to the little black-gray Pokémon. I noticed it finished eating the and looked towards me. I slowly moved my hand away from Zorua; once that was done, Zorua had jumped on my lap and lied down. I was surprised, but soon petted Zorua as it relaxed on my lap. I looked to Snivy and noticed she was smiling. I smiled back and looked to Zorua as I continued to pet it.

Several minutes later, Zorua, Snivy, and I started to hear a familiar Pokémon group cry. This caused Zorua to jump a little and look around. We heard it again with a sound like "Pat." or "Patrat!" Indeed, it was familiar and we knew what it is. It's the group of Patrat! "Guys! We need to hide somewhere!" I said as I picked up Zorua, but it soon jumped out of my arms.

Just then, Zorua barked, jumped up, and changed its appearance. I jumped with surprise and now shocked as I looked at what Zorua looks like now. Zorua looks like a little girl with short black hair and blue eyes and wearing a plain pink dress that goes down to her knees.

Just then I felt Zorua's hand on mine and starts dragging me to a cave. I snapped out of my thoughts and followed it with Snivy. Once we got inside, we hid behind the cave walls. I looked to Snivy to make she was alright and on my shoulder. I smiled once I she nodded to tell me she's alright. I now looked to Zorua in its different appearance. Just before I could say anything, we heard the Patrat around and stayed quiet until they go away.

We waited for a couple minutes, but the Patrat still haven't left. I sighed as I thought of an idea, but I don't like it. This idea might be terrible, but it's all I can think of. "Guys, I have an idea, I need you all to stay calm and close to me," I said as I looked towards Snivy and Zorua. I noticed Snivy nodded and Zorua doing the same thing as well and now clinging on to my shirt and hand. I took a deep breath until I felt calm. Once I did, I started walking out of the cave and towards into a direction. Any direction away from the Patrat.

As we walked, some of the Patrat had noticed us, but I still kept calm and looked at the Patrat as if I didn't recognize them. When they noticed that look, they took off as if I was just passing by.

We've been walking for already a half hour, but we finally made it pass the Patrat. However, we were soon stopped by a Purrloin and its trainer, who happens to be a man. From the look of his equipment, he must be a hunter. "Hey you! Have you seen anything?!" he demanded.

I eye narrowed at the hunter. "Sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about. Now leave us be," I replied calmly. I suddenly felt Zorua held on to me tighter and looked at it without letting the hunter noticing. I saw it shivering as if it's scared and hiding deeper behind me. I was now shocked. 'Don't tell me...' I thought to myself and glared at the man. "Hey do you have more than just Purrloin?" I asked him.

The hunter looked at me suspiciously. "No, I also have four Patrat that are helping me catch a Pokémon," he replied as he still looks at me suspiciously.

I glared at the man more. "And what kind of Pokémon is that?" I asked once more.

"It's a black fox with a hint of red," the hunter replied. He then glared at me. "Have you seen it?" he now asked. I tensed, but glared at him more. "So you did! Where is it?" he asked demandingly.

"Why should I tell you? With an attitude like that, you won't get any answers," I replied with my arms crossed.

"Snivy!" I heard Snivy agreeing with me and growling at the man.

The hunter glared at me, but then took a deep breath. "Fine, lets make a deal," he then said. I eye narrowed at him, letting him know I was listening. "Let's have a one-on-one battle. If I win, you tell me where Zorua is. If you win, you-"

"You leave Zorua alone," I said to finish the deal.

The hunter didn't look pleased. "What?" he asked with a hint of anger.

"If you win, I'll tell you where Zorua is; however if I win, you leave Zorua alone," I replied. "Deal or no deal?" I asked.

"Deal," he said after several minutes later and looked at his Purrloin. "Go Purrloin!" he said to his Pokémon. Purrloin jumped in front of him and glared at me.

"Let's do this Snivy!" I said to Snivy. I received a nod from her as she jumped off of my shoulder and in battle.

"Purrloin use scratch!" shouted the man as Purrloin charges after Snivy with sharp claws.

"Dodge and use leer!" I told Snivy and saw her dodge and leered at Purrloin, causing it to feel a little spooked. "Now use vine whip!" I said and say Snivy's vine whip had hit Purrloin.

"Purrloin! Hurry and get up!" the hunter told Purrloin and saw it got back up. "Now attack with assist!" he shouted and the assist turned out to be tackle as Purrloin charges at Snivy.

"Snivy dodge it!" I said to Snivy and she dodged Purrloin. "Now use-" Before I could tell Snivy an attack, she started to make leaves twirl around into a tornado and suddenly launched it at Purrloin, knocking it out. 'What was that?' I thought. It was some sort of leaf tornado! I looked Purrloin and noticed it was unable to battle. We won! "Alright! We won Snivy!" I told her with as she placed her hands on her hips and smiled. Just then, I heard the man returning his Purrloin and walked beside me, Zorua, and Snivy, but soon kept walking. "Where are you going?" I asked.

"I'm going to gather my Patrat. Deal is a deal. Besides, that was a great battle. Anyways, see ya," the man replied and walked off

Once he's gone, I told Zorua it's okay now and she returned to her original fox self. "Well Zorua, you're safe now," I said smiling to the little fox Pokémon. I heard her bark in happiness which made me smile more. "Zorua, I hope we see you again soon," I said to Zorua as Snivy got on my shoulder. I waved bye to Zorua and started to walk off, but stopped when I heard Zorua barked. I turned and noticed Zorua running towards us. I bent down to see what's wrong only to have Zorua jumped in my arms and snuggled up to me. Why would Zorua act like this? It looked as if- Then it hit me, I took off my backpack with one arm, while holding Zorua with my other arm, took out an empty Poké Ball, enlarged it, and looked to Zorua. "Zorua, do you want to come with me and Snivy?" I asked and received a nod from Zorua. I showed it the Poké Ball; once Zorua sees the Poké Ball, it lets its head touch the red and white ball and gets sucked into it. After several shakes, the Poké Ball clicked; this lets me know I have Zorua.

"Snivy snivy." I heard Snivy say in happiness. I smiled and sent out Zorua from it's Poké Ball.

Zorua looked at us and barked happily. Just then it turned back to looking like the same little girl it was before. I looked to Zorua and smiled. "Zorua, I assume you're a girl since you've been changing to a girl?" I asked to Zorua in it's child look and saw it nod happily. 'How cute, Zorua is a girl,' I thought to myself with a smile. I looked up ahead and noticed Nacrene City. I got up, got my backpack on, and had my hand out to Zorua. "Come on, let's go," I said to Snivy and Zorua. I smiled as Zorua took my hand and. I now started walking with Zorua and Snivy to Nacrene City to get the second gym badge.

 

Chapter VII: N's Ideals​

Snivy, Zorua in her child look, and I had arrived to Nacrene City, but it was getting late. So we decided to rest in the Pokémon Center. While we were there, we ran into Cheren who is also staying the night at the Pokémon Center. We didn't really talk much, but I didn't mind. I didn't tell Cheren about Zorua when he asked me about her; for some reason, Zorua is often clingy on me when we were around other people. Even if we pass by one, she grabs my entire arm and part of my shirt. I think Zorua was probably too scared around other humans after what happened and I'm the only one she trusts. I wouldn't blame the poor thing; so, I just told Cheren that I found her and we're searching for her parents.

Before we rent our rooms for the night, Cheren told me a lot about the gym leader of this city. He told me her name is Lenora and she uses normal type Pokémon. I didn't think another gym leader can be like Whitney, she's one of the gym leaders in the Jhoto region and uses normal types as well.

After the talk about the gym leader and having something to eat, we rented our rooms and called it a day. Zorua changed back to her original look and lied down with me and Snivy. I already told Zorua about me and what will happen once I found a way home. She got upset at first; however when I said I'd take her and Snivy with me, she calmed down and was happy again. We all fell asleep after that.

In the morning, Zorua had changed back to looking like the same small child. Then, Zorua, Snivy, and I went to meet up with Cheren for breakfast; However, Nurse Joy told us that he already left to do some training. So, we ate by ourselves. After we ate, Zorua, Snivy, and I decided to check out the museum before we start some training for our gym battle too.

Now we are at the entrance reading the sign to make sure this is the right place, turns out it is. I nodded to Snivy and Zorua and started walking to the entrance. But then, we saw someone and he looks very familiar. I know someone who has green hair, blue-gray eyes, and wearing a black and white hat, a saturn necklace, and chained cube.

"N..." I said in between a whisper and regular volume.

N turned towards me with a surprise look, but soon smiled and walked towards me. "Ashlee, it's nice that we get to see each other again," he said as he walks towards me and stops once he's a few inches towards me. I shivered a little, but snapped out of it as I looked towards him. "I heard a voice just a few moments ago. Was that you?" he asked. I hesitated. Should I tell him or remain silent? I bit my lower lip and nodded slowly. I saw N's smile grew wider. He then placed his hand on my shoulder, the one Snivy isn't on. "You should speak more often. You have a beautiful voice," he said while smiling at me. This made me blush.

"Snivy snivy snivy." I heard Snivy say as I noticed she looked towards N.

I saw N looked at Snivy with a confused look. "What do you mean by that Snivy?" he asked innocently. I looked between Snivy and N as they continued the conversation.

"Snivy snivy snivy. Snivy snivy snivy snivy snivy." replied Snivy as N is now looking shocked and looked towards me. What did Snivy tell him? Soon, I felt him gripping on my shoulder tighter, but not enough to hurt me. I noticed he's starting to walk closer! Suddenly, I saw Zorua get in between me and N and pushed him away. I was about to tell Zorua it's okay, but she soon hugged me, clanged on to my shirt, and glared at N with a hint of fear and anger.

I know why Zorua is acting this way as I gave her a sad look. I looked to N and noticed he's confused as he looked between me and Zorua. I can see Snivy also looked confused; but once she looked towards me and saw my sad expression, she now understood why since she frowned and looked towards Zorua. I bent down till I'm at Zorua's current length. "Hey, it's alright. N wasn't going to hurt me or you or Snivy. He was just wondering something that was all," I said to Zorua and smiled to her. I watched her as she looks to N and then to me with a guilty look. "It's alright, but I think you should apologize to N for pushing him," I told Zorua and noticed she bowed a little to N.

I noticed N smiled. "You're fine," he said as I got up and noticed Zorua hid behind me once more. "Your little friend is quite the shy one," I heard him say towards me. I nodded a little.

We all stood there in silence. I actually did want to ask N what he's doing in the museum. I opened my mouth so I could speak, but I suddenly felt his hand back on my shoulder which caused me to blush a little and shut my mouth.

"Ashlee, what's your world like?" he asked which made me look at him in shock.

"H-how did you know about that?" I asked quietly.

N started to smile a little. "Your Snivy said that to me," he replied while looking towards me. "I hope you don't mind, but I'd like to hear more about your place?" he asked.

I looked to N while thinking about what to do. I looked to Snivy and remembered that she was the one who told N. I nodded and about to speak, but my mouth was now covered by N's hand. I looked to him and noticed he was glaring a little at something. I tried to see what he was glaring at; however he now used his same hand, that was covering my mouth, to cup my face and have my attention towards him. I saw him looking at me with a smile as if he didn't see anything.

"Not here. I think it's best that we talk some where thats less crowded. Follow me," said N as he released both hands off me just so he can grab my free hand and started dragging me into the Pokémon Center. I followed by walking and soon noticed we walked past the Pokémon Center. Where is he taking me? "We're here," I heard N say and stopped. I looked around and noticed we're in an open field and no one is around. I then turned to N and watched him sit down and mentioned for me to sit next to him and caused me to blush more. I started blushing more as he patted the ground next to him telling me to sit down.

"N-no thank you. I'm use to standing up," I told N as I tried to take a step back, but I completely forgot he still had a hold of my hand which made me blush more. I felt him pull me towards him which tells me I don't have much of a choice; so, I sat down next to N as Zorua sat next to me and hugging my arm and Snivy calmly stayed on my shoulder. I looked towards N to see if he was going to speak, but all I saw was N smiling and looking at me as if he was listening. I remembered why and took a deep breath and exhaled as I told N about where I'm from and why I'm on this journey.

After I told N my story, I saw him looking at the clear sky. 'I wonder what he's thinking about?' I thought as I kept my eyes on N. Just then, I felt N pull me more closer to him; before I knew what happened, I felt Snivy hopping off of my shoulder and now being hugged by N. This is really making my face go red.

"I'm so sorry about all that happened to you," I heard N say and hugged me a little tighter. I looked to N and noticed the sad look on his face.

"Hey, it's not your fault," I said to N calmly and hugged him back. I smiled to show him my thanks. I saw him smile which made me feel relieved. I remembered my question for N about the museum and had let curiosity get the best of me. "N, why were you in the museum earlier?" I asked and saw him look at the sky no longer smiling.

"I... wanted to see things no one can see. The ideals of Pokémon inside Poké Balls. The truth of how Trainers should be. And a future where Pokémon can become perfect," replied N as I felt him lessen his hug and looked at me. "Do you feel the same, Ashlee?" he now asked and I continued to look at him.

"Yes," I replied as I felt Zorua's child look hands holding my arm tighter. I saw N's smile returned a little.

"Is that so?" N asked. I soon heard him chuckle a little. "Well that pleases me; however, not everyone feels it. So, I need power... Power enough to make anyone agree with me," he then said. I sighed as I shook my head side to side as the heat from my face left. Power is never the answer, at least in my opinion. I looked to him with a look of confusion and disbelief.

"N, power can't really change anything," I told him as I let go of him and stood up. I then looked at the sky. "Sometimes others believe what they want or were taught to believe. Sometimes it's right and sometimes it's wrong, but it's how you, me, and everyone else are," I added. I can feel Snivy and Zorua look towards me as they stood up next to me. "What I believe is something a little similar to yours N, but more like people and Pokémon alike. Some ideals can be from Pokémon outside and free from Poké Balls. Some truths can be from other people than trainers. I can't really say what the future can hold for Pokémon; but I believe if they just make their own choices, they'll have a future where they can be perfect," I also said as I looked back at N and noticed he stood up with surprise and shook his head as if he was about to say something and looked up.

I started to hear him mumbling about something. I didn't hear much, but I know he said something like "Zekrom," "become that hero," and "you and I will be friends." I looked at him.

"N if you want, we can be friends," I offered and noticed his surprised expression as he turns towards me.

"Y-you really mean it?" N asked as he kept is eyes on me. When I nodded, I noticed he looked down a little. "I've... never had a human friend," he then said. I felt sorry for him.

I placed my hand on N's shoulder and smiled. "Well, here's your first," I said while smiling and gave N a hug. I felt him hug me back and shaking a little.

"Thank you," I heard N say with a shaky voice. I smiled and kept hugging him to help calm him down. N soon pulled away and looked towards me. "I have to go, I need to head to Castelia City for an errand. I hope we meet again soon," he said as he lets go of me and walks off.

I watched him walk off and smiled. "Me too," I said in a whisper. I looked towards Snivy and Zorua. "Hey guys, lets do some training around here before we enter the museum," I then said several minutes later. I received a nod from Zorua and a little smirk from Snivy.

"Snivy snivy snivy." I heard Snivy say in a teasing voice. This made me blush since I remembered her and Zorua saw me and N hugging.

"I-it's not like that Snivy! It was only meant for the gym challenge against the gym leader," I said in defense, but serious as well. Snivy shrugged and got off of Zorua's shoulder so Zorua can change back to her real look. Zorua nodded to let me know she was ready. I looked towards Snivy and noticed she's ready as well. "Alright, lets do some training," I said and saw both Snivy and Zorua nod in agreement.

 

Chapter VIII: The Classic Battle​

After several hours of training, Zorua in her child look form, Snivy, and I have arrived at the museum. During our training, I learned all the moves Zorua can do. She knows fury swipes, faint attack, leer, and hone claws. Fury swipes is the same way as scratch, but multiple times. Faint attack happens when the user disappears and reappears in front of their opponents and tackle them. As we walked inside, we noticed a scientist looking at a dragon like skeleton.

"Whenever I look at this skeleton, I'm... fascinated," said the buisness looking man as he continues to stare at the skeleton. He soon noticed me, Snivy, and Zorua and took a step towards us. "Welcome! I'm Hawes, the assistant director," he introduced himself. "Since you, young ladies, were kind enough to visit, I'll give you a tour of the museum," he added as he walked towards the skeleton.

"This skeleton is of a Dragon-type Pokémon. There's a theory that it had an ancient while it was flying around the world, and so it became a Fossil," said Hawes as he explains the skeleton.

'Seeing this sure reminds me of the T-Rex fossil in the museums at my own dimension,' I thought to myself as I stared at the skeleton. I noticed Hawes started walking towards one of those meteorite rocks from space. I followed him with Zorua, and Snivy and looked at the meteorite.

"This rock is amazing! It's a meteorite!" said Hawes with excitement. "It contains some kind of energy from space," he explained while looking at the meteorite.

I looked around to see it there are anymore objects to look at; suddenly, I saw something that caught my attention. It wasn't a meteorite, bit it's a weird looking stone. I walked closer to it to get a better look. Once I got close, I looked at the white stone with one light gray half stripe on top and two on the bottom. I looked at it carefully with interest.

"This is an ordinary old stone," I heard Hawes said as I looked towards him. I watched him walk towards the stone until he is next to me. "It was found near the desert, but other than the fact it's old, it doesn't seem to have any value... We only display it because it's rather pretty to look at," he explained.

I looked back to the stone. 'It does look a little pretty,' I thought to myself once more as I continue to look at the stone.

"My heroine..."

I snapped out of my thoughts once I heard that masculine voice. I looked to Hawes. "Did you say something?" I asked and noticed he shook his head. 'That's strange. I thought I heard a voice,' I thought to myself.

"You have finally come my heroine..."

Again, I heard the voice and looked around to find out who it belonged to; but I noticed Hawes walking upstairs and followed him with my two Pokémon. Once we got to the floor, I noticed an entrance. I looked at Hawes with confusion as he moved to the side and still looking at the entrance.

"The Pokémon gym is just beyond here," said Hawes and turns towards me and my Pokémon. "At the end of the gym, a very strong and kind gym leader is waiting," he said and soon smiled. "By the way, the gym leader, Lenora, happens to be my wife," he added. I bowed a little to say thanks. I started to walk to the gym, but was stopped by Hawes. "If I were you before you battle my wife, find a book that has, "Nice to Meet You, Pokémon," as a title," he said in a whisper. I nodded and walked into the gym.

Once Zorua, Snivy, and I are inside, we noticed the place looks like a library. There are so many shelves of books; it sometimes reminds me of the library at school. I smiled as I remembered how Alex would sometimes go there and borrow some books to read. I even remember how she would carry about three to four books to her locker as Katherine, Victoria, and I would sometimes give her the "really?" look at time and I would giggle after words when she nodded.

Man, thinking about Alex, Katherine, and Victoria makes me miss them and the others even more. I wonder how they, Taylor, Erin, Chauncey, Chase, Rachel, Michaela, Emily, Mom, Dad, Clay, Jack, Emily, and the rest are doing? I wonder if they already know I'm gone? Thinking about them has made me have tears appear in my eyes. Without thinking, I fell to my knees while trying hard not to cry. I miss everyone so much. I really hope I can find a way out of this dimension soon.

I soon heard Snivy and Zorua's whimpers as if they're worried. I looked to them and noticed they were looking at me with worry. I immediately snapped out of my memories and wiped the tears out of my face. "I'll be alright you guys," I said to them as I got up. I now looked at the bookshelves and nodded. "Come on, let's find that book," I then added and started looking for the "Nice to Meet You, Pokémon," book.

Somehow, this took us a little longer to get to the gym leader than we thought. Once we found the book Hawes told us about, it showed me, Snivy, and Zorua a message from the gym leader herself. She told us to search for some more books that would guide us to her. Finally after we found the fourth book and placed it back in its bookshelf, the bookshelf, itself, moved to reveal a hidden stairway! I looked to Zorua and nodded to her. I watched her change back to her original look and got on my other shoulder. I started walking down the stair to see who's in there, hopefully the gym leader. Once we got down, we saw a stadium and behind it is an office and someone we haven't seen before.

This person... well woman, has teal eyes and teal puffy hair, and is wearing a headband and an apron on her head and white clothing. When she noticed me, Snivy, and Zorua, she stood up and walked up to us until she is at one end of the stadium and looked toward us.

"Welcome to the Nacrene Museum and Gym!" she said with a smile. "I am Lenora the gym leader and director of the museum," she then added to introduce herself.

"I'm Ashlee," I said introducing myself to Lenora. "I'm here to challenge you for a gym battle with my Pokémon," I added to her.

I saw Lenora smirked. "Very well then, Ashlee, I accept your challenge, so I can research how you battle with the Pokémon you've so lovingly raised. I'm looking forward to it," she said and her smirk got wider.

I smirked as well and got to another end of the stadium. "Then get ready Lenora!" I said to Lenora.

"Let's get started,"said Lenora as she pulled out a Poké Ball. "Herdier, come out and help!" she shouted as she sends out a brown head - black body dog like creature to the field. I got out my Pokédex to see what it is.

"Herdier the loyal dog Pokémon and the evolved form of Lillipup. Herdier has black, cape-like fur that is very hard and decreases the amount of damage it receives."

'That Herdier sounds tough,' I thought to myself as I looked to Snivy and Zorua. I soon saw Zorua nodded towards me. Does that mean she wants to go first? Once I saw Zorua's smirk, I smiled and nodded. "Alright Zorua, we're counting on you!" I said to Zorua as she jumps off of my shoulder and onto the field while growling at Herdier and Lenora.

"Herdier, let's start this off with growl!" said Lenora as her Herdier starts barking loudly, causing me, Snivy, and Zorua to cover our ears.

"Quick Zorua, intercept it with leer!" I said to Zorua as she now used leer causing Herdier to stop its growl and looks tensed a little. "Now use faint attack!" I added and watched Zorua disappear and reappeared in front of Herdier and tackled it. This caused Herdier to fall to the ground.

"Herdier are you alright?" Lenora asked to her Herdier. She got her reply by Herdier getting up and barked in approval. "Okay, use take down!" she said as Herdier started growling and charging at Zorua.

"Dodge it then use fury swipes!" I said to Zorua.

"Intercept it with bite!" I heard Lenora say. Before I knew it, Herdier caught Zorua using its mouth as Zorua squirms to try and get out.

I shouted out Zorua's name; then, I thought of an idea. "Zorua, escape Herdier's grasp by using faint attack!" I said to Zorua and watched as she disappeared and reappeared out of Herdier's mouth and tackled it. "Use hones claws while Herdier is down!" I soon said as Zorua starts sharpening her claws.

"Herdier, use bite once more!" said Lenora as Herdier got up and charges at Zorua.

I soon noticed Zorua looked towards me, letting me know she was done. I nodded. "Zorua, dodge Herdier and then use fury swipes once more!" I said to Zorua. I saw Zorua dodge Herdier's attack and used her claws at Herdier multiple times until Herdier fell to the ground and is unable to battle. "Alright Zorua!" I shouted to her as she ran and jumped into my arms and hugged me. I hugged her back, showing her how proud I am of her.

"Get a good rest Herdier," I heard Lenora say to her Herdier as she sent it back to its Poké Ball. "Well Ashlee I must say, you raised Zorua really well," she said to me.

"Thank you," I said to Lenora with a smile. I soon saw Lenora put away Herdier's Poké Ball and got out another one.

"Now let's see if you can say the same for my next Pokémon. Come on and help out Watchog!" she shouted and sent out a tall red-yellow stripe rat with yellow-red eyes and the tip of its tail and feet are white. I used my Pokédex once more.

"Watchog the lookout Pokémon and the evolved for of Patrat. When Watchog see an enemy, their tail stands high, and theu spit the seeds of berries stored in their cheek pouches."

I looked to Zorua as I placed her on my shoulder. "You take a good rest, okay Zorua?" I asked to Zorua. When I saw her nod, I smiled and gave her a pat. I then looked to Snivy. "It's up to you now Snivy," I said to Snivy and received a nod from her as she jumps off of my shoulder and onto the field.

"Watchog use retaliate!" said Lenora. Before I knew it, Watchog charged at Snivy with great speed and attacks her.

I blinked. "Wh-what just happened?" I asked more to myself. I heard a chuckle from Lenora and looked towards her.

"I assume you never had retaliate used against you before," asked Lenora? I shook my head. "Retaliate is a move that is doubled when used after the ally of the user was defeated," she explained and I had my hand clenched to a fist. I need to be careful of that move.

I looked towards Snivy. "Snivy are you okay?" I asked with worry; not for loosing, but for Snivy's health. I received a nod from her as she got up which drained my worries away. "Alright, use leaf tornado!" I said and noticed Snivy made a leach tornado and threw it at Watchog.

"Dodge it and use super fang!" said Lenora as Watchog jumped away from the leaf tornado. Its fangs then glows white as it charges at Snivy.

"Stop it by using vine whip!" I said as Snivy summoned her vines and caught Watchog in mid air. "Now throw it to the ground and use leaf tornado again!" I soon said and watched Snivy throw Watchog to the ground and used leaf tornado at it, this time it hit.

"Sni... vy....," I heard Snivy say. I looked to her and noticed Snivy looking a little tired. I looked towards Watchog as it slowly gets up.

"Snivy I know you're tired, but right now I need you to give it everything you got," I said to Snivy. I watched her deep breath and soon cried out. Soon, Snivy started to glow! This totally shocked me! What's happening?!

Just then, Snivy's form starts to change. She grew tall to the same height as my waist, and her arms shrunk a little. Once the glowing stops, Snivy looked completely different. She still had the same colors, but her body was another story.

"Servine!" cried out the new Snivy. I got out my Pokédex as Zorua looks at the new Snivy.

"Servine the grass snake Pokémon and the evolved form of Snivy. Servine moves along the ground as if sliding. Its swift move mends befuddle its foe, and it then attacks with a vine whip."

I smiled happily. "That's great Sn- I mean Servine!" I said to Snivy, now Servine, with excitement. I noticed Servine nodded in agreement and rose proudly. "Alright let's do it Servine!" I said.

"Servine!" said Servine with pride and courage.

I noticed Lenora looked shocked, but soon snapped out of it once she sees us ready. "Alright Watchog, use super fang!" she said as Watchog charges after Servine.

"Dodge and use vine whip!" I said and watched Servine easily dodge Watchog and attack it with her fine. "Now finish this with leaf tornado!" I said as Servine summoned another leaf tornado and launched it at Watchog once more. Once I saw Watchog fall to the ground and not getting up. I knew instantly we won.

"We did it Servine! Zorua!" I shouted with excitement. I saw Zorua barked happily and Servine walking toward us with a smirk.

I heard Lenora returning Watchog to its Poké Ball and thanking it. She then walked towards me, Servine, and Zorua. "That was a great battle Ashlee. Your fighting style is so enchanting," she said giving me a smile.

"Th-thanks," I said to Lenora with a smile and embarrassment.

"Your very welcome. And for proving you have battled the Nacrene Gym, I present to you this Basic Badge," said Lenora as she handed me a purple rectangular badge. I took it and smiled.

"Thanks again Lenora," I said once again.

Lenora smiled and looked to Servine and Zorua. "And now for you two," she said as she holds out two oran berries that she pulled out of her apron pocket. "This will help you both regain your strengths back," she said.

I watched Servine use her vines to take one and I took the other from Lenora and handed it to Zorua. I watched them both eat the berries and cried out happily. I smiled to them.

"Deeear!" shouted a familiar voice. Before the owner's voice came, Zorua immediately jumped off my shoulder and turned to her child look and stayed close to me. Lenora, Servine, Zorua, and I now see Hawes coming down with panic and fear. "Dear! Come quickly! Team Plasma is threatening to steal some bones!" he shouted with more panic.

"What? I'll be there immediately! Ashlee! You come too!" said Lenora as she runs out with her husband. I nodded madly and followed them with Servine and Zorua.

 

Chapter IX: Plasma Hunt!​

Once Lenora, Hawes, Servine, Zorua, and I got to the museum, we noticed about five or six members of Team Plasma surrounding the dragon skeleton. Something isn't right; those guys are up to no good.

"Now you wait! Enough fooling around!" shouted Lenora and caught two of the members attention.

"So you've come, Gym Leader," one of the members said with an unamused look on his face. "We, Team Plasma, claim this museum's Dragon Skull in the name of Pokémon Liberation," he added.

"Tck. Yeah right," I said in a low voice so the Plasma members wouldn't hear me.

"To show you we're serious, we'll steal it right before your eyes!" said the other member. Before we knew it, we heard the other members yell out "Plasmaaaa!" and then smoke started to appear everywhere.

"Servine! Zorua! Stay close to me!" I said to Zorua and Servine. I then started coughing due to the smokescreen. I felt Zorua clenching on to me and Servine's tail wrapped around one of my legs.

Once the smoke faded, Servine lets go and her and I, with Zorua, Lenora, and Hawes looked up only to see the skull of the skeleton gone! Team Plasma stole the skull of the dragon skeleton!

"Oh! Oh! We have to go after them!" exclaimed Hawes with panic as Lenora rushes out to go catch Team Plasma. I nodded and followed Lenora with Servine and Zorua.

Once we got outside, we couldn't find anyone of them! Where could they be? How did they get away so fast?

"Good day Lenora," Lenora and I heard a voice. Once we turned, we saw a man with brown puffy hair and pale green eyes; he's wearing a green outfit and a red scarf. "Finding any good fossils lately?" he asked.

"This is a surprise visit! Are you suffering from artist's block again?" asked Lenora. Now I'm confused; does Lenora know this guy? I saw Lenora aware of of my confusion and turned towards me.

"Ashlee. This is Burgh; he may not look like it, but he's Castelia City's gym leader!" said Lenora as she points to the man now named Burgh. We saw Burgh looking at us with confusion now.

"... Eh? Just looking for a change of pace. Seems hectic or something around here. What's up?" asked Burgh. Lenora suddenly panicked more.

"What's up!" shouted Lenora. "Someone just walked away with an exhibit, that's what's up!" she shouted once more. I tried to calm Lenora down, but then...

"Oh, hi, Ashlee," I heard a familiar voice say. I turned to it and saw Bianca walking towards me, Lenora, Burgh, Servine, and Zorua. "What's everybody doing here?" she asked. Before I could answer, Cheren came and stood next to Bianca.

"Ashlee, is there some kind of problem?" asked Cheren as he came. I nodded.

"Guys, Team Plasma had stolen one of the museum exhibits," I replied to them and saw there look of surprise.

Before they could speak, Lenora spoke up. "Hold on, you two are...?" she asked as she looks at Cheren and Bianca.

"These are my friends, Cheren and Bianca," I replied to Lenora as I introduced Cheren and Bianca to her. "They're trainers like me," I added.

"I see. Okay, then; let's split up and search. I'll stay here to make sure those goons aren't still in the museum. Bianca and Cheren, I want you two to go that way-" she said to Bianca and Cheren as she points to the left and then looked towards me and Burgh,"-Burgh and Ashlee, you two search in Pinwheel Forest! Got it? Burgh, you show the way! I'm counting on you, everyone," she said and rushed inside.

"Well Ashlee is it?" asked Burgh as he looked towards me. I nodded. "Are you ready to round up our robbers?" he asked again.

"You bet," I replied. "We all are," I added as I hugged Zorua and Servine. I soon saw the confused looks on Cheren and Bianca's faces.

"Um Ashlee, that little girl shouldn't even be apart of this," said Cheren. Before I could think why, I remembered what I told Cheren about Zorua.

"Oh... well um about that-" I replied as I had my hand to the back of my head; however, I soon remembered what we're suppose to do and put my hand down. "I'll explain later. Right now, let's go after Team Plasma!" I said. I soon saw Burgh nod in agreement and ran to his right. I followed him with Zorua and Servine.

Burgh, Servine, Zorua, and I soon arrived to an entrance of a forest. Is this Pinwheel Forest," I asked Burgh. He nodded to reply.

"If they manage to scuttle off into the forest, we might have trouble," said Burgh to add up his reply.

"Then let's hurry!" I said to Burgh and ran in with him, once he nodded, Zorua, and Servine. Once we got in, we noticed two path ways. One was straight on while the other one was left.

"I'll take the one straight on. If we both take a separate path, we might be able to back them," said Burgh as he turned towards me. I nodded in agreement.

"Alright good luck Burgh," I told to Burgh as my team and I went to the left path. For several minutes, we couldn't find a single Team Plasma member in sight. I wonder if they had got out or are just hiding?

Once Zorua, Servine, and I got deeper into the forest, I saw something in the bushes. It had like a pale blue color. It soon hit me! It must be one of the Team Plasma members. I charged after it. "Gotcha!" I shouted and grabbed the arm of the figure and pulled out to see it was indeed a Team Plasma member.

"You stubborn brat!" said the Plasma member with anger as he forces his arm out of my hand. "When I'm through with you, you won't be able to chase us anymore!" he added. He soon grabbed his Poké Ball to call out one of his Pokémon; however, Servine caught his arm and hand before he could send one out.

"Where is the skull you theif!" I demanded madly and gave him a glare!

"Hehe too bad! I haven't got anything. If you want to get it back, you're just gonna have to look for my associates!" said the Plasma member with an evil smirk. I glared more at him. I let Servine know she can release him, but she seems to have something else in her mind. Once Servine released the member's hand and arm, she took his, still shrunk, Poké Ball and threw it into the tall grass as the member ran off to get it.

This surprised me, but humor had beaten to it since it made me laugh a little. I soon stopped and looked towards Servine. "Come on, let's keep looking for them," I said. I noticed Zorua changed back to her normal look, got on my shoulder, and nodded towards me. Once I nodded back, I ran, with Servine following me, to search for more Plasma members.

As Servine, Zorua, and I continued our search, we ran into more and more Plasma members. We battled through them, but none of them had the Dragon Skull. Through out our process, Servine had learned mega drain. With that move, Servine can drain her opponent's energy.

We soon spot another Team Plasma member; but this time, he has something in his arms. It's the Dragon Skull! "Hey you! Give us back the Dragon Skull!" I demanded once more.

The Plasma member looked towards us. "A pursuer? Ha! A little woman like you- No matter it can't be helped! I'll-"

"Servine!" I heard Servine shout out. I soon noticed Servine used vine whip to take the Dragon Skull from the Plasma member and handed it to me.

"Thanks Servine," I said to Servine and received a smirk from her. I soon heard the Plasma member mumbling about a king's dream which confused me. Then, some old man wearing a brown outfit with a brown hat on his head walked up from behind me and to the Plasma member.

"How are you holding up, fellow subject of our king?" the old man asked to the Plasma member. Okay, this is getting more confusing. Is this man part of Team Plasma too?

"Gorm of the Seven Sages!" said the Plasma member with surprise. His mood soon turned to guilt and shame. "W-well you see, this trainer-" he soon replied as he paused and points towards me, "-had taken it back from us," he soon finished with a little fear.

"It's not important anymore. According to the results of our research, this is not the legendary Pokémon for which Team Plasma is looking. It is unrelated," he said to the member then looked towards me. "As for you, do not try and interrupt our plan again. Do so, you will pay a high consequences young one," he said and left with the Plasma member.

Soon, the old man and the Plasma Grunt started to take off. Before I could go after the old man and the Plasma member, I heard voices calling out to me. I turned to see Burgh and Lenora running towards me.

"Oh Ashlee! You got the skull back," said Lenora. I nodded and handed the Dragon Skull back to Lenora.

"Yeah, but I couldn't have done it without Servine and Zorua," I said to give credit to Zorua and Servine and gave them, both, a pet on the head.

I soon noticed Lenora and Burgh smiled at me, but Lenora soon stopped. "Ashlee, where did Team Plasma go?" she asked as she looked around.

"They... got away..." I replied as I looked at the direction where old man and the Plasma member left.

"It doesn't matter. We got the skull back," said Burgh and suddenly patted my empty shoulder. "Ashlee, I'll be waiting for your challenge at the Castelia City's Pokémon Gym," he said to me. Burgh soon nodded to himself. "Yes, I'm certainly looking forward to it!" he added and walks off.

Lenora, Zorua, Servine, and I watched Burgh leave until he's no longer in sight. Once that, Lenora looked towards me. "Ashlee thank you so much. With a kind trainer like you taking care for them, the Pokémon with you must be happy," she said. I noticed Lenora smiled more since Zorua and Servine agreed with her and cuddled closer me.

"Thanks Lenora," I said to her and looked to Servine and Zorua. "And you guys too," I then said to them while smiling more.

"There is someone I want you to meet Ashlee," said Lenora. She soon got out a Poké Ball, enlarged it, and sent out a yellow-blue bird like creature with a hint of red on its face, feet, and back of its tail and has claws on its wings. I got out my Pokédex to learn more.

"Archen the First Bird Pokémon. Said to be an ancestor of bird Pokémon, Archen were unable to fly and move about by hopping from one branch to another."

Once I've also read Archen is a rock and flying type, I put by Pokédex away and bent down to it. "Hi Archen," I said to the little bird Pokémon as I tried to pet it. However, Archen made a big hop on to my free shoulder and yelped happily. I smiled to it. Lenora then placed Archen's Poké Ball on my hand.

"I want you to take this Archen with you on your journey. He's one of the Pokémon my team and I resurrected from a fossil. I'm sure, if he's with you, he can see so much of the world he missed for so long. Take him as a token of my gratitude," said Lenora with a smile.

I was shocked then looked towards Archen as he, since Lenora said Archen is a male, snuggled his head to mine. I smiled and pet Archen with my free hand and looked to Lenora. "I promise, I'll take good care of Archen," I said.

Lenora nodded. "Now, I must take the Dragon Skull back to the museum! I'll see you later and take care of yourself," said Lenora as she walks off.

Servine, Zorua, Archen, and I watched Lenora leave and I looked towards my team, including our new member. "Alright guys, let's head to Castelia City," I said as I got my Town Map out and looked for directions. "If we can get out of this forest and on to a bridge, we'll be there in no time," I said and nodded to everyone. When they nodded back, I started walking out with Servine walking by my side and Zorua, and Archen on each of my shoulder.

~~

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Surprise!! Two chapters in one day!! Well, this is my way of apologizing for not updating yesterday. I had a lot of things to do. Well enjoy these two chapters.

 

Chapter X: The Victory Pokémon​

It took me and the others not as long as I thought to Castelia City. True, the bridge was enormous, but ran through it since the height scares me a lot. We had already arrived to the city at night. We were too tired to go on for the rest of the day... or night. So, we stayed at the Pokémon Center there for the night.

In the morning after eating breakfast, Nurse Joy had called out for my name. Servine, Zorua, Archen, and I walked to the main lobby where Nurse Joy said for us to go. Zorua is no longer changing to the child look appearance which tells me she is now trusting others a little more. As we got to the lobby, Nurse Joy gave us a ticket to a place called Liberty Garden. What I heard from Nurse Joy, Liberty Garden is the home of a Pokémon that played with a rich family. I asked the nurse who asked her to give me this; but, all she told me was a young man with green hair and a black and white baseball cap. I know who it is now; it was N. Nurse Joy said to me: once I have received this, I must go immediately. So that's what Zorua, Servine, Archen, and I did. We had taken a boat that can sail us to the Liberty Garden.

Right now, we had arrived to Liberty Garden and looking around. "This is amazing," I said out loud while smiling. I hear Zorua, Archen, and Servine cry out in agreement which had me smile more.

"So you took my invitation Ashlee," I heard a real familiar voice say. I turned to the voice's owner. Soon enough, I noticed the same young man who gave me the ticket to come here.

"Oh! Hi N," I said to N as he walked towards me and my team. I noticed he looked towards Archen and Zorua.

"I see you have two new friends that you caught," said N with a tiny hint of anger. I felt a little tensed and scared by it.

"Well, I didn't really catch them," I said to N as I tried to calm down Archen and Zorua down since they started growling at N when he said his last sentence. Once I calmed them down, I noticed N looked at me with surprise and confusion. So, I decided to explain how I met Zorua when she was attacked and wanted to come along and how Archen was given to me by Lenora.

Once I told him, N was shocked, but soon smiled and looked at the sky. "That was... quite a story," he soon said. He started to look up at the sky. "I wish all trainers were like you," he added.

I had my hand to his shoulder. "I'm sure there are some N," I said to him calmly.

"No there isn't. I've heard the voices of my friends. They were hurt at what their trainers did to them," said N with a sad tone in his voice.

I looked towards N. To be honest. I felt sorry for N and the Pokémon he talked to. "I understand that there are cruel trainers N; but, most trainers are good and really kind to Pokémon," I said to him and saw my Pokémon nodding as if they agree with me. I looked to N to see what he'll say.

I watched N looked towards my Pokémon then to me. He then had his hand to my cheek and caressed it. This made me blush. "Thank you... For trying to cheer me up," he said while smiling. He soon released my cheek; once he did that, he went to sit down on the bench and watched the ocean. I joined him and watched as well.

This went on for a couple minutes in silence; then, I felt N looking towards me. "Hey Ashlee, can I ask you something?" he asked. I looked towards him, so I can let him know I'm listening. Well um... What's love?" he finally asked. I gave him the confused look. "I kept hearing at least two people say to each other "I love you" and held each other's hands and all of that stuff," he said to explain why he brought it up.

Oh god! How should I explain that? I haven't really experienced that myself... Well, at least since five years ago. "Um N, I'm probably the worst person to ask about that," I replied as I looked down; but then, I looked back to N. "But what I do know, love is a special feeling you have towards someone. And you'll have that feeling at the person you haven't felt at anyone at all," I explained to him.

N looked surprised and smiled; however, his smile soon faded. "Ashlee, have you had that feeling with someone at your own dimension?" he soon asked.

I stayed silent. I should've known he would ask me that, but I really never wanted to talk about it. True I've told my friend Emily during Integrated Chemistry, but I didn't want to tell anyone else. I soon sighed. "Y-yes... but mine... Like I said N, I'm probably the worst person to talk to about this," I said with struggle on deciding to tell him or not. I clenched my free hand as I remembered that same event. "Forgive me, I don't want to talk about it," I finally said. I soon felt N's arm around me causing Archen and Zorua to hop off of my shoulders. Then, I felt N pull me closer and is now hugging me just like back at Nacrene City.

"I'm sorry I asked," said N as he continues hugging me. I looked to N and smiled sadly.

"It's not your fault N. You weren't apart of it," I said to him and hugged him back. This went on for several minutes until I released him and looked towards him. "Hey N, why did you want me to come here?" I asked out of the blue. That had been bugging me all day; so, I guess curiosity got the best of me. N was about to answer my question until I felt a tug on my shirt from Zorua and saw her pointing at a figure. I soon knew who it is thanks to their pale blue uniforms. Team Plasma!

I saw N noticed the Team Plasma member as well since he had me down in the bench more with Zorua and Archen as Servine hid in the bushes. I looked towards N in confusion; but one he had his finger on my mouth, I nodded and listened.

"So this is where the victory Pokémon lives?" asked the member of Team Plasma to himself. "If we can get that Pokémon, Team Plasma will be invincible," he soon said.

I peeked a little to see what the member was doing. I noticed he had a smirk on his face. Bad news, especially if they get that Pokémon! "Guys, we have to stop them and save that Pokémon!" I said to everyone around me. I noticed Servine, Zorua, and Archen nodded in agreement as Archen and Zorua got on my shoulders.

"Ashlee, I don't think that's-" I heard N say, but I already got out of the bench and charged after the Plasma member.

"Hey you!" I shouted to the Plasma member. I noticed he turned towards me as I stopped and glared at him, I noticed his surprised and now glare look at me.

"Hey! You're that one girl at the Dreamyard! You and your friend are gonna pay for what you two did to me!" said the Plasma member as he got out his Poké Ball, but was soon caught by Servine's vine to prevent him from summoning his Pokémon.

"Why are you after a Pokémon?!" I asked while glaring at the Plasma member.

"Tck. Like I tell you our business with the victory Pokémon, Victini!" said the Plasma member. I wonder what kind of Pokémon that is?

"TIINII!" I heard a cry of pain and fear which tells me someone is in trouble. It must be Victini!

"Servine come on! I said to Servine. Once she let's go of the Plasma freak, he held his Poké Ball out high so he can summon his Pokémon; however, N suddenly got in between us and facing towards the member. "N!" I called out to him.

"Wh-wh-wha-"

"Go Ashlee! Save Victini!" said N to interrupt the Plasma member.

This worried me, but I soon nodded. "Okay, be careful N," I said to N and ran inside the underground tower with Zorua, Servine, and Archen.

Once we got in, we saw a playroom with a box of toys, a bed, and a family photo. There is also another Team Plasma member inside as well as a small yellow-tan Pokémon with blue eyes and orange feet, fingers, and ears. That must be Victini! It's being attacked by the Plasma grunt's Watchog.

"Zorua use faint attack to protect Victini!" I said as Zorua jumped off of my shoulder, disappeared, reappeared in front of Watchog, and tackled it away from Victini. I got next to Zorua with Servine and Archen. "You leave Victini alone!" I said madly to the Team Plasma member.

"Why should I?" asked the Plasma member as he glares at me and my team. "I'm only trying to free this Victini from selfish trainers like you!" he yelled madly.

I gave him a glare myself. "How would attacking Victini help free it?! Besides, how would you know if I'm a bad trainer?! I would never harm a Pokémon out of the blue to catch it!" I said with more anger. I felt Victini hid behind me and gave it a calm smile. I soon glared back at the Plasma member. "It's you who's the bad trainer!" I shouted madly at the Plasma member.

"I'll show you a bad trainer!" declared the Plasma member. "Watchog, take her Pokémon out with super fang!" he shouted. Watchog then charges after Zorua.

"Dodge it! Then use fury swipes!" I said to Zorua. Zorua then dodged Watchog and started scratching it rapidly. Thanks to her attack, it was strong enough to make Watchog unable to battle.

The Plasma member got his Watchog back into its Poké Ball. "Don't get too comfortable! I'll be calling for back up and soon we'll get that Victini!" he declared as he ran outside.

I kept glaring at the Plasma member. Once he's gone, I calmed down and looked to Victini. "Are you alright?" I asked the little Pokémon floating behind me. When I saw it nod, I felt relieved. I got out my lunch bag out of my backpack, so I can get out an oran berry. I handed the berry to Victini. "Here, this will help you regain some of your strength back," I said to Victini. I watched Victini take the oran berry and gave it a bite. It soon starts gobbling the entire berry up and floats around in joy once it's done.

"Tini, tini!" Victini shouted with joy. I smiled at Victini's happy behavior; before we got too excited, we heard someone coming down and caused Victini to hide behind me. I looked at the direction where the person is coming from and soon saw N which made me feel relieved again.

"N, you're okay!" I said while smiling. I noticed N walked closer to us.

"Ashlee, is Victini alright?" asked N with worry. I nodded as I showed him Victini, who is hiding behind me. I saw N smiled. "Good," he said with relief.

I soon remembered Team Plasma. "N, what happened to Team Plasma?" I asked to N.

"They left... They said something about needing to do something else, so they won't bother Victini,"replied N. I smiled, Victini going to be okay.

"Okay, let's get Victini outside so it can be free," I said to N, but felt a tug from Victini. I looked towards it and noticed the scared look on its face. "What's wrong?" I asked it.

"Tini. Tini tini tini..." said Victini. Because I couldn't understand what it said, I gave out a confused look. How am I suppose to understand what Victini is telling me? I remembered N can speak to Pokémon; so I turned to him for translation.

"It said, it can't. It promised it's friend it would stay here," said N to translate what Victini said. I then looked to Victini.

"Victini, you can't stay here forever. It's not healthy for you. I know you promised, but it's just not right. Besides, no one wants to be in their home forever," I said to Victini as I held out my hand to it. "Come outside with us. I promise nothing bad will happen this time," I promised to Victini. I watched Victini's tiny hand grabbed onto my finger. I smiled.

I saw Victini trying to reach for N's hand. I nodded to N and watched him hold out his hand to Victini; it took it. I looked Servine, Zorua, and Archen and nodded to them; so, I can let them know we're all going outside. Once we got outside, Victini let's go of mine and N's fingers and floats around happily.

"Tini tini tini!" shouted Victini with more joy and continues floating. I smiled and looked towards N and see him smiling as well. I then turned to Victini.

"Alright Victini, it's time for you to be free," said N. We suddenly heard Victini's sad whimpers. I think I understood what Victini is saying this time.

"Don't worry Victini. If you ever do get homesick, you can come back here whenever you wish," I said to Victini. I noticed Victini smiled and hugged my arm. It soon let go; so, it can hug N's arm. Once Victini released N, it took off. "Take care Victini!" I yelled out as I waved bye to it. My team also cried out happily to Victini.

Once Victini was no longer in sight, I looked to N and saw him looking towards me with a smile. I smiled back. "Ashlee?" he suddenly said my name.

"Hm?" I replied with a question while looking towards N with confusion.

"Well um..." he said but then shook his head. "I-it's nothing," he said as he lowered his hat to cover his eyes.

"Oh, okay," I said with still some confusion. Before I could ask N what's wrong, we heard heard some sort of an announcement.

"The boat heading back to Castelia City will be departing in ten minutes," said the announcer. I looked to N.

"Well N, I guess this is where we part ways for now," I said to N as I hugged him. I can tell he's surprised since he didn't hug back. "Thanks for helping me," I said to him once more and let go. "See you soon N," I said as I started walk to my ride with Servine following me and Zorua and Archen holding onto my shoulders.

"Y-yeah you too," I heard N say. I stopped, so I could turn to him and gave him a wave and smile. I then started running to our ride with Servine.

 

Chapter XI: To the Rescue!​

It didn't take long for me, Archen, Zorua, and Servine to get to back to Castelia City. Soon as we got off, we ran into Burgh. He told is that Team Plasma was here and asked us to follow him which we did. When we got there, we noticed a girl with huge puffy purple hair and brown eyes and wearing a tan-pink outfit and a crying young lady who is recognizable.

"Bianca!" I yelled out her name and ran to her and the girl with Servine. "Bianca, what happened?!" I asked with worry. I soon saw Burgh next to us.

"Team Plasma... They took this young lady's Pokémon," said Burgh with a little hint of anger. This completely shocked me not to mention mad as well.

"Ashlee, is there anything we can do? My Munna... Team Plasma took it..." said Bianca as more tears rolls out of her eyes. I hugged her so I can try and comfort her; I felt terrible for her.

"I heard this lady's scream and ran after the thief as fast as I could. But this city is so big and so crowded... I'm afraid I lost them," said the girl with disappointment in herself.

"Iris, you did every you could," said Burgh to the gir- I mean Iris.

Iris then jumped. "But that's so bad! Taking people's Pokémon is really bad! 'Cause it's really nice when people and Pokémon are together! They each have something the other doesn't, and they help each other!" she shouted with a hint of anger. I nodded in agreement.

"Iris..." I heard Bianca say sadly.

"Agreed! No fear -- we will get that Pokémon back. Right Ashlee?" asked Burgh as he looked towards me. I nodded madly.

"Absolutely!" I said in agreement and turned to Bianca. "Don't worry Bianca," I added as I pat her shoulder.

"Having said that, finding a person or a Pokémon here in Castelia City will be like finding a needle in a haystack," said Burgh. He then looked down and started thinking I guess.

I started looking around and noticed a woman in a Team Plasma uniform holding a Munna as she's running off to somewhere. "There!" I shouted as I started running off after her with Servine as Zorua and Archen are holding on tightly to my shoulders. I followed the woman all the way to the end of the city, a little past the gym building, and saw her run in to a different tall building. I tried to go after her, but soon three other Plasma members blocked the entrance.

"No one's here! Not a soul!" shouted the middle member.

"Tck. Sure, enough with the lies!" I spatted out and glared at the Plasma members.

"You think I lie?! Then we shall-"

"Shit! Forget that! The gym leader is coming!" shouted the right Plasma member as she and the rest ran inside.

Just then, I saw Burgh, Iris, and Bianca showed up. "Phew, we got lost," said Iris with exhaustion. "Even with directions from the Xtransceiver, I couldn't figure it out," she added while taking deep breaths.

"Guys, Team Plasma is inside this building," I said to everyone as I pointed to the entrance. "As well as Bianca's Munna," I added.

"Alright, I'm going in!" said Burgh as he ran inside.

"This time, I'll join the fight! Come on Bianca and Ashlee!" said Iris as she drags Bianca inside while Servine, Zorua, Archen, and I followed.

Once we got in, we saw the same old man at Accumula Town, Ghetsis, two old men, and the same three Team Plasma grunts at the entrance. I gave them all a glare as my team started growling at them.

"My word, if it isn't the gym leader, Burgh," said Ghetsis with a little amusement in his voice.

"So what would you say is the guiding principle of Team Plasma anyway? Take what you want from people?" asked Burgh with anger.

"I thought it would be amusing to prepare a hideout right in front of a Pokémon Gym, but we were detected more quickly than I imagined," said the left old man to Ghetsis.

"Indeed..." replied Ghetsis. "No matter. We already have an exceptional base of operations. Is everyone familiar with the legend of the founding of the Unova region," asked Ghetsis?

'Legend?' I thought to myself with confusion. I didn't know anything about a legend since I'm not from here or this dimension at all.

"I am!" I heard Iris shout out. I looked towards her. "It's the black dragon-type Pokémon, right?" she asked while glaring at Team Plasma. I glared back at the team as well. Soon, Ghetsis took a step forward then to the left and looked at us.

"The truth is this... The black dragon appeared before a hero who sought the ideal way to knit together a world full of warring people. This black dragon-type Pokémon shared its knowledge -- and bared its fangs at those who stood against it. Together, the power of this Pokémon and the hero brought unity to the hearts of everyone in the land, and that is how Unova was created," replied Ghetsis with his talk of legend.

'Wow, sounds like a tough Pokémon,' I thought to myself. I saw Ghetsis walked to the right and stopped.

"We shall bring back the hero and that Pokémon to Unova once again! If we can win people's hearts and minds, we can easily create the world that I- I mean, Team Plasma desires!" said Ghetsis as he returns to his spot.

This got me a little tense and suspicious. 'Something isn't right about that last sentence,' I thought as I continued to glare at Ghetsis and his companions.

"Here in Castelia City-" I heard Burgh say which caused me to look towards him, "-we have a lot of different kinds of people. Everyone's ways of thinking and lifestyles are very different. Honestly, there's something about what you're saying I don't quite understand," said Burgh.

We all heard the two old men going "Yes?" and "What is it?" while Ghetsis remained silent.

"One thing we all have in common is that we all care about Pokémon. Even people meeting for the first time can talk about Pokémon. Talk or battle or trade..." said Burgh and took a step forward. "Remember your speech at Accumula Town?" he asked, but continues. "You were responsible for leading me to rethink my relationship with Pokémon. For that, I thank you. At that time, I made a promise... I swore to myself that I would dedicate myself to Pokémon even more strongly! What you guys are doing... Aren't you going to strengthen the bond between people and Pokémon even more?" he said with a question once more.

Just then, Ghetsis did an evil like laugh which makes me tensed more. "You are quite hard to figure out. A little more intelligent than I'd expected. I am fond of intelligent people, you see. You'll enjoy hearing about this..." said Ghetsis and had an evil like smile.

We all tensed, me especially, at the look on Ghetsis's face. I have a bad feeling about this.

"From every corner of the world, I have gathered knowledgable people for our king's benefit. You call them the Seven Sages," said Ghestsis. He soon looked like he's thinking, but then looked towards us. "Very well! We will submit to your opinion and be on our way," he soon said and turned to the Plasma woman. "That girl over there..." he added as he pointed to Bianca. "Return her Pokémon!" he demanded.

Once the female Plasma member released Munna, it looked around at first; but once it saw Bianca, it immediately went to Bianca and suggled to her. Bianca hugged the Munna. "Th-Thank you! Munny, I'm so glad to see you again!" said Bianca with joy.

Iris jumped and glared at Bianca. "Bianca! Why are you thanking them? They take people's precious Pokémon!" she said with a little hint of anger.

"It's just... I'm... I'm so happy that Munna is safe," said Bianca. I smiled a little to her, but then we heard a snicker from Ghetsis; so we all glanced towards with with no smiles on any of our faces.

"The friendship between Pokémon and people can be very touching. But in order to liberate Pokémon from foolish people, we will revive the legend of Unova and win the hearts and minds of everyone," said Ghetsis. I soon saw him glance at me which spooks me a little. "No matter where they're from," he added and smirked. "Farewell..." was all he said and left with his Plasma members and the two old men.

We watched them leave and noticed Iris went to Burgh. "What are you doing? Why are you letting them get away?!" asked Iris. This stunned Burgh, but Bianca took a step towards him and Iris.

"It's okay. Thank you, Iris! No one was hurt. More than anything, I got my darling Munna back again!" said Bianca with a smile and hugging her Munna.

Iris then turned to Bianca and sighed a little. "Okay, if you're happy," she said.

"Alright now, what's everyone going to do now?" asked Burgh as he looked towards all of us.

"It would be sensational to look around the city, but-"

"Don't worry! I'll be your bodyguard!" said Iris with joy, interrupting Bianca.

"That's great! Iris is a dazzling Pokémon trainer, but maybe not at home in the big city yet," said Burgh with a smile.

"See you guys!" said Iris as she drags Bianca and Munna with her to the exit.

"Wha?!" my team and I heard Bianca say as she, her Munna, and Iris are already out of the building.

"Well then Ashlee-" I heard Burgh said as I turned to him, "-I'll be waiting at the gym," he said. He was soon about to walk out, but I stopped him.

"No need Burgh, we're already for it now," I said to Burgh then looked at my team. "Right?" I asked and saw Zorua, Archen, and Servine nodding in agreement.

"Very well then Ashlee, let's be on our way then," said Burgh as he walks out. Servine and I followed with Zorua and Archen on my shoulders. We are excited for our third gym battle.

 

Chapter XII: Love and Betrayal...​

Burgh's Pokémon were easier to beat than I though... Well for Archen that is. Despite Archen doing all the battles and his first ever battle, he did really well. Thanks to him, we got the third badge. Later on, my team, and I ran into Bianca and Iris. Iris was training Bianca until they noticed me. She soon asked me to battle Bianca. I did, but won thanks to Servine, Zorua, and Archen. Speaking of Archen, I forgot to explain his moves. He has pluck, ancient power, agility, and acrobatics. I think acrobatics is my favorite move out of the four. After we parted ways from Bianca and Iris, we got to a dessert area and ran into Cheren. We just talked with him until Professor Juniper called in our Xtransceivers and told us to meet her at the entrance of Nimbasa City which is just north of us.

Once Cheren, my team, and I got to the entrance, Professor Juniper started talking about Elesa. According to the professor, she's an electric-type gym leader of Nimbasa City. She then told us how that thought of me and Cheren. Just then, she handed us some Ultra Balls, they look like Poké Balls but have yellow and black at the top instead of red. However, I gave mine to Cheren; I wanted to catch all of my Pokémon with a Poké Ball so they can all feel equal. She then told us to enjoy our journey and went off to find Bianca. Cheren soon left to catch some Pokémon to show the professor his thanks which is really sweet of him.

"Servine ser..." I heard Servine complained as she rubs her stomach. I also noticed Zorua and Archen nodding in agreement. I giggled since I can easily tell what they want.

"Okay guys," I said to everyone as I mentioned Zorua and Archen to get down so I can get the berries out. I pulled out six Oran Berries, two for each of them, and watched them eat. I smiled as they gobbled their entire food up. I then started to pack everything up until I saw Servine pulled out a Pecha Berry. "Come on Servine, don't be-" Servine then shoved the berry into my mouth. I blinked and looked to my team and noticed they're watching me. I saw Servine showing me like a eating habit and Zorua telling me to swallow. They want me to eat the Pecha Berry?

"Arch arch!" I heard Archen squawking in agreement as if he read my mind. I sighed mentally. I guess they aren't giving me a choice.

'Well here goes,' I thought to myself as I took a bite of the Pecha Berry, chewed, and swalloed it. I'm actually surprised. "Wow, this is delicious," I said with a smile as I continued eating the berry until it's completely gone.

"Servine." I heard Servine say. I looked to her and noticed a satisfied look on her face with the others. I smiled more and pat everyone's heads.

"Thanks you guys," I said to them and gave them a hug. I felt Archen and Zorua get on my shoulders as Servine hugs me back. I released Servine and got up with everything put away. "Alright guys, let's get going," I said and noticed they all nod in agreement. So, I started walking to Nimbasa City with Servine walking next to me and Archen and Zorua on my shoulders.

Once my team and I got to the city, we saw all sorts of amazing buildings, but for now, the Pokémon Center is what we're looking for until... We saw two Team Plasma members talking to an old man!

"Gramps! We know you run the Pokémon Day Care!" one of the members said and had the old man in shock. "How do we know? Because we're Team Plasma!" he finished.

"We are taking Pokémon away from people. Since you work at the Day Care, we figured you must have a lot of Pokémon! Hand 'em over!" demanded the other Plasma member.

"What kind of nonsense is this?!" asked the old man as he backed away. Okay, I had enough of this! I ran in between the old man and Team Plasma and glared at the Plasma members with Servine, Zorua, and Archen.

"Hey, you guys leave him alone!" I said with anger. Servine hissed at the Plasma members and Zorua growling at them.

"If you're going to get in our way, we'll take your Pokémon, too!" shouted one of the Plasma members. He soon got out a Poké Ball.

"I would like to see you try!" I replied madly and got ready to battle with my team who agreed by nodding.

After the battle thanks to Servine and Archen who won instantly, Team Plasma looked shocked. "This went down hill fast!" said the other member as his friend backed away from me. "So I think...We'd better... RUUUN!" he added with a shout as he and his friend ran into the amusement park.

We have to go after them fast! "Guys, let's go after them!" I said and noticed them nodding in agreement. I looked to the old man, waved to him, and took off after Team Plasma in the amusement park.

When my team and I got into the amusement park, we couldn't see them anywhere. "Where could they be?" I asked to myself as we continued looking around. I then felt someone's hand on mine. I turned to who it is, only to see the same young man with the black and white cap and green hair. "N!" I said his name with a smile.

"You're looking for Team Plasma right?" asked N. I nodded to reply. "They ran into the amusement park. Come with me," he said and started to drag me further into the amusement park. I followed him with Servine so he wouldn't have to drag me. When we got to the Ferris wheel, N stopped and looked around. "They're not here," he said.

"Where on earth are they? They can't be that far already," I said while looking around.

"Let's ride the Ferris Wheel and see if we can spot them," said N. I stood there and started shaking. I dislike heights! Well, I'm scared if it!

"N-no thanks... I'm not a big fan of heights," I said as I tried to let go of N's hand, but he held onto it tighter. Soon, I noticed N had got a hold of my team's Poké Balls and returned them into the balls and in my pocket. "N!" I said his name and looked to him.

"The Ferris wheel can only hold two people," I heard N say. Then, he started dragging me into one of the Ferris wheel carts. I tried my hardest to make him stop, but he's too strong.

"N please! I'm scared of heights!" I said shivering like a leaf. I suddenly felt N pull me closer into a hug causing me to blush.

"Don't worry, I'll be here with you," said N. I felt him release me and now pulled me into the cart with him. I didn't know what to do; so, I held on to N. I sat down next to him while hugging his arm and tighter when I felt our cart going up. "Just relax Ashlee," I heard N say. I felt him hug me again which made me blush more.

"I'll try..." I said in a low shaky voice. I even am, but this silence and being around N, for some reason, is really hard to do that. I started shaking more as I felt the cart go higher.

"You know Ashlee, I had been thinking a lot about the "love" feeling," I heard N say after several minutes later. This caught my attention. I looked to N and noticed he's smiling.

"R-really? What did it make you think about?" I asked with normal volume, so he can hear me, and interest. I now saw him look at me and soon felt his free hand on my cheek like at the Liberty Garden. More blush came to my face as I looked at his hand and then back to him.

"I thought about you," said N and this made me blush even more. Me? Why would he think about me?

"What do you mean?" I asked out of curiosity. I really wanted to know, I really do. I noticed N getting closer to my face which caused my heart beat to go faster. What's going on? Why am I feeling this way? It felt a little familiar, but what does it mean?

"Every time I see you, my heart tells me to go to you. I even let my heart do some of my actions, just like back at Accumula Town," replied N. I felt my cheeks getting redder and my heart beating faster. How is this making me feel strange? "Here I'll prove it," he added. He then had my hand and placed it on his chest. His heart is beating as fast as mine is. Suddenly, it all made sense what this feeling is. I felt this same feeling five years ago!

'D-d-does this m-mean N is-'

"Ashlee..." I heard N calling my name to interrupt my thoughts. I noticed his forehead is now touching mine which caused me to blush more. "I love you," he finally said. Before I knew it, I felt his lips on mine. I felt my face burning red. I didn't know what to do; I've NEVER been kissed on the lips before! I suddenly noticed my body started to move on its own and wrapped my arms around N's neck which caused N to deepen the kiss. Before I knew it, I had my mind shut down and kiss N back, however he then broke it. I looked towards him, but he soon hugged me and had his chin on my head so I couldn't see his face. I didn't mind since I snuggled to his chest.

"N... I... I love... you too..." I said letting my heart telling me what to say. I felt N hugging me more and now breathing on my head.

"Ashlee, there is something I have to tell you," I heard N say to me. I became confused.

You already told me N. So don't worry," I said to N and hugged him more.

"Ashlee, I am the king of Team Plasma," I suddenly heard N say. Everything around me froze. No... No! That's can't be!

"Wh-what?" I asked in a quiet voice. 'That's not true! It can't be true!' I thought to myself as I felt tears in my eyes. N, one of my good friends here and fallen in love with is the leader of this horrible organization who are harming people and Pokémon...

"Ghetsis has asked me to work with him to save Pokémon," I heard N say as he explains his plans.

'Why?! Why is N doing this?!' I thought to myself once again.

"I wonder how many Pokémon exist in this world," I heard N say once more. My heart continued to shatter. I clearly remembered this feeling I had back at my dimension and it's one of these emotions I wanted to forget. Betrayal. Heartbroken. The worst emotions I ever felt and tried so hard to forget has returned.

"Why?" I finally spoke out in a shaky voice as more tears had fallen out of my eyes? "Why?" I asked again. I let go of N as I sat at the other seat in front of N while looking down. I didn't want anyone seeing me crying.

"Ashlee?" I heard N say my name. I ignored him and still looked down. Once I heard our cart clicked, I ran out and to my left only to notice a dead end. I turned so I could run the other way, but I saw N. So, I took a couple steps back. Soon, I saw the same two Team Plasma members from before behind N.

"My lord N! You're safe sire!" one of the members said with relief.

"There's no problem... You're part of the people we brought in to help us save the Pokémon. So, you're under my protection, as well," said N calmly. I saw him look at his fellow members. "Go quickly, and let me cover your retreat," he said as the Plasma members ran off.

I just stood there. I wanted to go after Team Plasma, but I knew N would block me. I still hid my face from him. This is all I could do. I didn't want to talk to him. It hurts a lot now. 'Why?...' I thought once more.

"Ashlee, please look at me," I heard N pleaded, but I didn't. However, I noticed a little sadness in his voice. I sighed and had my eyes face towards him without moving my head.

'Leave me alone...' I thought to myself. I wanted to say that to him, but I didn't not that I don't want to. I saw him walk closer; so I stepped back, but he was faster and caught my arm. I tried to get his hand off, but I soon felt his other hand on my cheek. Before I knew it, he lifted my face to so he can see my face. 'Leave me alone...' I thought once more as more tears appeared on my eyes. I can tell N noticed my tears since he frowned a little.

"Don't cry Ashlee..." said N as I felt him release my arm so he could have his arm around my waist. "I really wish it wouldn't be like this, but I have a future that I must change. And for that future..." said N as his face got close to mine. No! I don't want "it" now! He's already done enough! Before I had time to move, I already feel N breathing in my neck. "I'll defeat the champion and become unstoppable, unlike anyone other," he whispered to my ear which sent me shivers. "I'll make all trainers free their Pokémon. If you want to be together with Pokémon, your only hope is to collect the badges from each area and head for the Pokémon League. Stop me there if you dare," he whispered once more. I felt him kiss my free cheek which made me shiver more and blush.

'But, all I want to do is to get back home,' I thought once more so I wouldn't speak to N.

"If your conviction isn't enough, you will never be able to defeat me," N whispered again as he wipes the tears out of my face. I still didn't say anything and noticed the worried look on N's face. "Ashlee?" I heard N call out. However, I had my eyes look away from him as more tears rolled out of my eyes which were soon whipped away by N. "Oh Ashlee," I heard N say. "I'm so sorry that I... hurt you, but that doesn't mean I don't love you," I heard him as I felt him hug me. I was shocked a little from the sudden affection. "I may be king, but I still love you with all my heart," I heard him say again.

I sighed mentally. 'No... that's not why I'm upset...' I thought to myself. To be honest, I was afraid that N would take away Archen, Zorua, and Servine from me when he has a chance to. When I looked to N, I felt N's lips on mine once again. I wanted to break it, but N had already beaten me to it and looked towards me.

"We'll meet again Ashlee," said N as he pressed his lips on my forehead and releases me so he can walk off. I watched him leave. As soon as he's no longer in sight, I sat straight to the ground with my hand on my chest. I suddenly heard Servine, Archen, and Zorua come out of their Poké Balls all by themselves and looking worried. I think it's because of the stained tears on my face that N didn't wipe off.

"Oh guys, what am I going to do?" I finally said after the past hour of not talking. At first, all I wanted to do since I started this journey is to go home. But now after N's confession for both ways, I'm not so sure anymore. Which should I choose: N or my world? Which one is more important?

~

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I am soooo sorry for the late update!!!! I had a lot of things to do since I started summer classes for college!! ;w; I will try to update as fast as I can as I continue my college courses, my fanfics and pics/references... sorry! >w<'

 

Chapter XIII: A New Appearance, Friend & Ally​

I told my team what happened. About N, Team Plasma, and at the Ferris wheel. Zorua, Archen, and Servine were shocked. Well, Servine was also mad at the same time; after all, she trusted him just like I had. I didn't say anything after that. I'm still broken for what N said. In fact, I still haven't moved ever since N left. I looked at my Xtransciever for the time; it's only four fifty-two. I started seeing scenes of me and N. This caused more tears in my eyes, but I wiped them off before Servine, Zorua, and Archen notices.

"Sweetie, is something wrong?" I heard a feminine voice say. I turned to where the voice was, so I could see who it is. I soon noticed a woman with short blond hair, and blue eyes and wearing black pants, yellow sleeveless shirt with white and black stripes, yellow heels, and strange headphones with some sort of black string with white tips down to her legs.

I shook my head. I already told Zorua, Archen, and Servine about it, but I don't want anyone else knowing about it too. I saw her sit on the bench even though I'm sitting on the ground.

"Sweetie, you can't just hold onto those feeling... It will only make things worse for you," replied the woman. I felt hand on my shoulder and sighed.

I'll... I'll be fine," I finally said and looked towards the woman. "I already told my Pokémon about it, but thanks anyway," I added and smiled to the woman. "I'm just trying to think of a way to forget about it... I guess," I also added again. I suddenly felt her hand on mine and had helped me up.

"Well I can help you with that," said the woman as Archen and Zorua got on my shoulder. I looked at her with confusion. "Let's go do some shopping for new garments," she added.

"Garments... you mean clothes? But what's wrong with-" I asked but soon stopped as I looked at my clothes? I soon noticed my light blue shirt and short jeans is covered in dirt and sand. "Oh..." I now said feeling embarrassed. I wonder how N didn't notice this.

"Come on, I know a great place to start," said the woman then she snapped her fingers for some reason. "Oh by the way, my name is Elesa. I'm the gym leader of this city," she said to introduce herself. "What's yours?" she asked.

"I'm Ashlee and these Pokémon with me are-"

"Ah so you're Ashlee! Professor Juniper had told me a lot about you and your friends. I've never expected to meet someone from a different dimension at a time like this," said Elesa with a smile. This surprised me a lot. "Professor Juniper told me and the other gym leaders about you and how you and your Pokémon are trying to get to your dimension and asked us to help you the best way we can," she added.

Now, I felt shocked and guilty. "Y-you guys don't have to," I said. I didn't want the gym leaders involved as well. I already got my Pokémon, Bianca, Cheren, and the professor involved.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Anyways, let's go. I know a great clothing store at a mall that will help us get you ready for your journey," said Elesa as she starts walking out of the amusement park. I followed her with Zorua, Archen, and Servine.

It took Elesa, my Pokémon, and I a while to get to the clothing store Elesa wanted us to go. A lot of Elesa's fans were blocking our ways and almost separating us. If it weren't for the security, we'd probably never get through the fan crowd... in one piece. We soon arrived to the store. We saw all sorts of clothes: shirts, shorts, jeans, pants, and even dresses.

"Oh my goodness! Miss Elesa, it's such an honor to see you here!" I suddenly heard a voice say. Then, Elesa, my team and I noticed a woman walking towards us with a manager tag on her red shirt. I guess she's in charge of the store. "What can I do for you today?" she asked.

"My friend Ashlee here-" said Elesa as she points to me, "-is looking for some new clothes for her journey. Can you help her with that?" she finished with a question.

"Why of course!" said the manager. She soon walked towards me once Zorua and Archen got off my shoulders. "Well Miss Ashlee, follow me to the dressing room and I shall help you get the clothes you wish to try on and wear," she said to ma as she then drags me to the fitting room.

While I was in the fitting room, the manager had brought all sorts of clothes for me to try on. However, I didn't like any of them, They were all great; but, they happened to be either too small, too large, too exposed, or too tight. I sighed as I noticed the manager is getting tired after ten minutes of trying to find the right outfit. I feel bad for her getting different clothes thanks to my picky choice of clothing. So, I popped my head out of the fitting room for a bit to look around. I noticed an outfit that caught my attention. It's a white sleeveless shirt with a black stripe on each side, a long black pants with a white stripe on each side, and white shoes with black shoe laces. When I saw the manager come back, I pointed to the same outfit I was looking at and asked her if I could try it on. She nodded as soon left and returned with that outfit.

"Thank you," I said to the manager as I got the outfit from her. I looked at it for a little bit and now tried it on. It was easy to put on which was good for me. Once it's on, I looked at myself in the mirror then got out of the fitting room for Elesa, my Pokémon, and the manager to see.

"Wow Ashlee! That suits you really well!" said Elesa while smiling big. This made me feel a little embarrassed, but I smiled to Elesa and noticed my Pokémon agrees with her.

"Thanks you guys," I said while smiling. I noticed Elesa and the manager talking to each other. So, I took some time to look at my Pokémon as Zorua and Archen got back onto my shoulders. I then noticed Elesa looked towards me which caused me to look at her.

"Ashlee, I shall wait for your challenge at my gym in the amusement park tomorrow. I'm looking forward to see what you can do," said Elesa as she walks out of the store. I looked at the manager.

"Excuse me, how much do I owe you for this outfit?" I asked the manager. She smiled.

"Nothing, you keep it. No one ever wanted that outfit even though I made it; so, take it. After all, it really does suit you well," replied the manager and soon left once I said my thanks.

"Let's go look around some more before we head to the Pokémon Center," I said to my team and saw all three of them nod. I started walking out of the store with Servine.

The first thing we did was to get a hair brush, one for me and a hair brush for Servine, Archen, and Zorua to share, mostly for Zorua, since they seemed interested. We also did some grocery and medicine shopping. We got super potions, and more berries especially Oran Berries, Cheri Berries, Pecha Berries, and much more. We also got Pokémon food, food for me which is probably only bread, cheese, and fruit, and a sleeping bag in case if I have to sleep outside. Later on, we got outside the mall and at a forest at the right of the city to get away from the crowd a little bit. We soon found a Pecha Berry bush and apple trees and decided to pick some for our journey.

"Looks like we got everything we needed," I said to Servine, Zorua, and Archen. I saw them smile, so I smiled back to them. Suddenly, Servine stopped smiling and looked the other way. "What's wrong Servine?" I asked her as I looked at the same direction she's facing. I became surprised to see a white-black flying squirrel like creature with some yellow on its cheeks, some in the ears, and inside its cape like fur. I got out my Pokédex to learn more.

"Emolga the Sky Squirrel Pokémon. The energy in Emolga's cheeks' electric pouches is stored inside its membrane and released while it is gliding."

"An Emolga?" I said with confusion as I read the Pokédex a little more and then put it away. I noticed the Emolga is also on the ground. According to the Pokédex, Emolgas would usually be on trees. I looked at the new Pokémon carefully and noticed something terrible. Its cape like fur is wounded! "Oh no! We have to help it!" I said as I got out a potion from my backpack and started to walk to the Pokémon. Once Emolga noticed me and my Pokémon, it got scared, but it couldn't go anywhere since it's injured; so it started to attack us by throwing electric shaped spheres at us. However, my team and I dodged them.

"Servine Ser!" I heard Servine yelled out. I saw Servine glaring at Emolga. I pat Servine's head.

"It's okay Servine. It's just scared and injured too. I'm going to try and help it. I want you, and Archen to try and block its attacks okay?" I said to Servine. I saw her hesitate with Archen a bit, but soon nodded. I started walking towards Emolga; however, it then shoots out more electric balls at me. Before they could ever hit me, Archen used ancient power and Servine used leaf tornado to block the electric balls. I thanked them and walked until Zorua and I got close enough to Emolga so I can take care of its wound. Emolga looked like it's going to attack again; I need to calm Emolga down and fast. "Emolga it's going to be okay. I won't hurt you, but I need you to calm down so I can help you," I said to Emolga calmly as I got to my knees to reach its height.

"Emol emolga." Emolga growled out a little while growling at me. I got an idea and pulled out an oran berry which caught Emolga's attention.

"Here have this. It will help you feel a lot better," I said to the Emolga. I noticed it grabbed the berry and started eating it. As it eats, I took this time to use the potion on its injury to help heal the wound. Right when Emolga finished eating, I finished healing its wound. "There all better," I said as I got up with Zorua on my shoulder.

"Emol?" said Emolga as it touches where its injury was then looks at me. I nodded to it and smiled. It smiled back.

"You'll feel better real soon Emolga. Once you do, be careful out there alright?" I asked and noticed the sky is getting dark. "I think its time to head back," I said and took one last look at Emolga. "You take care now," I said to it and walked to Archen and Servine. I bent down, so Archen can climb onto my shoulder. However once I did and Archen is on my shoulder, I felt someone grabbed onto my head as if it just got on. I got it off of my head and noticed it was Emolga. "Emolga? Why were you on my head?" I asked it and got a hug from Emolga as my reply.

"Emol emolga!" said Emolga as it still hugs me. I suddenly heard my backpack being unzipped. Before I knew it, Servine had handed me one of my empty Poké Balls. Emolga looked at the red and white ball and back to me. Now I understand what Emolga is saying, but I'm still not sure...

"Are you sure about this Emolga?" I asked Emolga. Emolga stared at me for a little bit and then tapped the Poké Ball and allows it to suck it in. I heard the Poké Ball shook three times and then clicked; Emolga is now part of my team. I immediately sent out Emolga and saw it glide back onto my head.

"Emol emol. Emol Molga." said Emolga as it sounded tough and brave like a warrior. Well, that tells me what gender Emolga is.

"I'm guessing, from your toughness, you're a boy?" I asked Emolga. Emolga cried out in agreement. Archen squawked in happiness which caused me to smile to him and Emolga. "Well then let's head to the Pokémon Center. Elesa will be waiting for us tomorrow," I said and heard everyone cry out in agreement. I walked back to Nimbasa City with Servine walking next to me, Zorua and Archen on my shoulders, and our new friend and teammate on my head, Emolga.

 

Chapter XIV: A Shocking Performance​

One thing I'll never do again, enter Elesa's gym. Why is that? Roller coasters. I dislike them... a lot. They go up high and then go down really fast. In other words, heights! Man, I've already had to deal with it in the Ferris wheel and now the roller coasters. What could get any better? At least I had everyone in their Poké Balls so they wouldn't be blown away except for Servine since she refuses to get in her Poké Ball. Oh well, Servine and I made it to Elesa that's the good part for me.

Elesa then told me and Servine to follow her which we did. Once we got to a dark room, lights suddenly went on and revealed a battlefield and above us are... audience? No! Not again! I had to deal with it at the Striaton gym; I don't want to deal with it again!

"Well Ashlee, it seems like our audience are excited about our battle," I heard Elesa say. When she turned towards me, I slowly nodded in agreement. All I focused on was the crowd after a little while. "You nervous?" I heard Elesa asked a few minutes later. I looked to Elesa and just shrugged.

"I can't really say," was all I replied as I continued to look towards Elesa so I wouldn't be too scared. "I don't do well in public or on stage," I added. Elesa then patted my back.

"Don't worry. Just think more about our battle and be with your Pokémon," as all I heard from Elesa. I nodded and watched Elesa walk to one end of the battlefield. I just want to get this battle over with.

I took a deep breath and sent out Emolga, Zorua, and Archen and looked to them. They looked around to know where they're at and back at me to nod with Servine. Once they did, I looked toward Elesa and already saw her at the other side of the battlefield. As soon as I nodded, the refry had now appeared. "Get ready everyone!" I said to my team.

"Better hope the roller coasters didn't make your head spin; because, my beloved Pokémon are next to make that happen," said Elesa. Once she said that, the refry had started the battle, "Emolga, it's time to shine!" she shouted as she sent out an Emolga. I heard my Emolga growling. I looked to him and noticed the determination on his face. I nodded once I figured out he wants to go first.

"Emolga, let's show them what you got!" I said to Emolga. He nodded and jumped off of my head; so, he can get to the field. I remembered reading my Pokédex what my Emolga's moves are. He has electro ball, pursuit like Zorua, double team, and shock wave.

"Emolga use quick attack!" I heard Elesa say as her Emolga starts charging at my Emolga.

"Quick, use double team!" I said as my Emolga started making copies of himself. This caused Elesa's Emolga to stop its attack and look at my Emolga's copies. "Now use electro ball!" I said and all of Emolga's copies throws an electric ball at Elesa's Emolga causing to land on the ground hard and dust ground to rise once hit. As soon as it clears up, Elesa's Emolga is barely standing, but then back to the ground.

"Miss Elesa's Emolga is unable to battle! The winner is Ashlee's Emolga!" shouted the refry. I blinked. Just one hit? That was... quick. I quickly snapped out of it when Emolga tackle hugs me. I smiled to him.

"Awesome job Emolga," I said to Emolga as I hugged him back. Once I saw Elesa returned her Emolga back into its Poké Ball, I turned my attention towards her.

"Nice job Ashlee. You and your Emolga sure do make a great team," said Elesa with a smile.

"Thanks even though I only had him since yesterday," I replied feeling a little embarrassed.

"Well even if you two just met, you both sure are happy," said Elesa as she puts away her Emolga's Poké Ball and pulls out another Poké Ball. "Now Zebstrika time to shine!" shouted Elesa once she threw the Poké Ball. Soon, a black zebra with white stripes and white zigzag like tail and mane appeared out of the Poké Ball. I got out my Pokédex as I held Emolga.

"Zebstrika the Thunderbolt Pokémon. Zebstrika have lightning-like movements. When they run at full speed, the sound of thunder reverberates."

I put my Pokédex away and looked to Zorua. "Alright Zorua, let's show them what you can do," I said to Zorua. Zorua nodded in agreement as she jumped off of my shoulder and on to the battlefield.

"Zebstrika use spark!" said Elesa as Zebstrika surrounds itself with electricity and charges after Zorua. I was about to tell Zorua to dodge, but Zebstrika had already hit Zorua. That Pokémon really is fast!

"Zorua, are you alright?" I asked Zorua with worry. I saw her got up quickly and barked out to say she's alright thanks to the determination look on her face. "Okay then use faint attack!" I said Zorua disappeared and reappeared in front of Zebstrika and attacked it. Zebstrika looked like it didn't felt much from that attack. That's bad!

"Zebstrika, use sparks once more!" said Elesa as her Zebstrika started to charge after Zorua as it surrounds itself with electricity.

"Hurry and dodge it!" I said quickly. I saw Zorua jumped away from Zebstrika. This isn't good. Zebstrika has the advantage over Zorua. "Zorua, come back!" I said immediately and Zorua ran back towards me. I bent down and gave her a pet. "You did great Zorua. Get some rest for now, okay?" I said to Zorua and smiled. Zorua nodded to respond to my last question. I soon heard Archen squawking at me. I looked to him and saw him pointing to the battlefield. "You want to battle next?" I asked to Archen. He responded with a nod. I looked at Zebstrika then to Archen. To be honest, I don't like where this is going. Archen is a rock-type, but he's also a flying-type. Electric-types have the advantage over flying-types. Then it hit me; maybe Archen might have a plan for this. After thinking for some time, I nodded to Archen. "Alright Archen, give it all you got," I finally said to Archen as he jumps off of my shoulder and onto the battlefield.

"Zebstrika use spark!" said Elesa as Zebstrika charges at Archen with electricity around itself once more.

"Archen use agility to dodge it!" I said quickly and saw Archen moving away from Zebstrika at a fast pace and now right behind it. "Now use ancient power!" I added. I soon saw Archen surrounding himself with huge floating rocks and flying at Zebstrika. Zebstrika then got hit with a lot of force. Archen and I saw Zebstrika at the ground and getting back up. We also noticed how exhausted the zebra like Pokémon looked.

"Zebstrika use volt switch!" said Elesa as Zebstrika launches a spike ball of electricity at Archen.

"Dodge it Archen! And then use ancient power once more!" I said as Archen dodges the electric spike ball and launched a few more floating rocks at Zebstrika.

"Dodge it Zebstrika!" said Elesa as Zebstrika starts dodging all of the flying rocks. It dodged all of them except the last one, which hit it at the back left leg. This is our chance!

"Use acrobatics full power!" I said as Archen charges at Zebstrika with quick speed. Archen soon hits Zebstrika that causes it to fall to the ground and unable to continue battling.

"Zebstrika is unable to battle. Archen wins!" shouted the referee.

"Way to go Archen!" I shouted to Archen as he hopped his way to Servine, Zorua, Emolga, and me and jumped onto me so he can hug me. I hugged him back while smiling.

"Great job once again Ashlee," I heard Elesa say as she returns her Zebstrika back to its Poké Ball and pulls out another Poké Ball as she puts Zebstrika's Poké Ball away.

"Thanks Elesa. You and Zebstrika were great as well," I said to Elesa as I helped Archen back onto my shoulder.

"Now then, for my final Pokémon; come out and shine Emolga!" shouted Elesa as she throws a Poké Ball and another Emolga appeared. This Emolga floated around the battlefield and landed as it gave us a wink. I looked to Zorua.

"Alright Zorua, now it's your turn. You ready?" I asked Zorua. I soon saw her nod; so, I nodded back. "Okay, let's do this!" I said out loud as Zorua charges into the battlefield. "Zorua use faint attack!" I said to Zorua. I watched Zorua disappear and reappeared in front of Elesa's Emolga and tackled it to the ground; however, Emolga got back up a little. Zorua's faint attack must have done some damage to it. "Now use pursuit!" I then said as Zorua started charging after Emolga.

"Dodge it Emolga!" said Elesa as her Emolga jumped away from Zorua to dodge. "Use volt switch!" she added as Emolga launched another electric spike ball at Zorua with great speed. The attack hit Zorua before I could tell her to dodge.

"Zorua, are you alright?" I asked with worry. I saw Zorua getting up and barked at me as she nodded. "Alright, use pursuit!" I said as Zorua runs after Emolga once again.

"Emolga use your quick attack!" said Elesa as Emolga charges at Zorua with great speed. I have to do something fast.

"Hurry and dodge it by using faint attack Zorua!" I said quickly and saw Zorua dodge Elesa's Emolga by vanishing and appeared behind the Emolga and tackled it. "Now use fury swipes!" I said out loud as Zorua starts scratching Emolga multiple times and scratched harder on her last time and sent Emolga crashing to the ground. I looked to see if Emolga can still battle, but it's still down and out. Does that mean-

"Emolga is unable to battle and Zorua wins! Which means the winner of this battle goes to Ashlee!!" shouted the referee. I smiled big. We did it! We won the Nimbasa gym battle!

"Alright! We did it!" I shouted as Zorua ran to me while barking happily. I bent down and gave Zorua a hug. "You were great out there," I said to Zorua then looked to my other Pokémon. "And so did the rest of you. Servine you did great on cheering for everyone. And the rest of you fought really well," I said and saw my team cry out happily.

"My, oh my Ashlee. You have a sweet fighting style," I heard Elesa say. I now see her walking towards my team and I with her Emolga.

"Thanks Elesa," I said while smiling towards her.

"Oh excuse me," Elesa suddenly said and handed me an orange and yellow lightning like badge. "I want you to have this. It's the bolt badge," she added. I gladly took it, but my wrist, which is holding the badge, was soon held by Elesa and held it up high. I heard cheering from the crowd that watched our battle. I completely forgot about them! I then felt Elesa release my wrist and mentioned me to follow her. I did with Servine, Zorua, Archen, and Emolga.


Once Elesa stopped walking, my team and I noticed we're in front of the entrance to the gym. "Why are we out here Elesa?" I asked as I looked towards Elesa.

"You're heading to Driftveil City next, right?" replied Elesa with a question. I nodded. I read from my town map once that Driftveil City has a gym there. So, I could get my next badge there. "The bridge there is closed, but I'll fix it for you. Come with me to Route Five so we can get that bridge down," she added.

"Okay Elesa, but first I think it's best we go to the Pokémon Center first. It's best if we heal our Pokémon before we go anywhere else," I said to Elesa as I looked to Emolga, Zorua, and Archen as I saw how exhausted they look. I saw Elesa nod.

"That's a good idea. That battle we had sure got my Pokémon good," said Elesa with a smile. "Alright, first we got to the Pokémon Center, then to Route Five," she added. I nodded in agreement and walked with her and Servine, as Zorua and Archen are on my shoulders, and Emolga on my head, to the Pokémon Center.

 

Chapter XV: Champion of Unova Revealed!​

After Elesa and I healed our Pokémon, we ran into Cheren. Apparently, Cheren had already battled Elesa since he knows her. From what I heard, Cheren had battled Elesa yesterday and won. So now, Cheren and I have the same number of badges. I wonder how Bianca is doing? The last time I saw her was when she asked me to battle her to see if she got stronger. I hope she's doing all right...

Anyways, Cheren, Elesa, my team, and I are now heading towards the Driftveil Drawbridge. If we cross through Route Five, we'll be able to reach to the bridge in no time. As we crossed through the route, we notice some kind of street performers and a bunch of people watching them. We decided to ignore it and move on until...

"Why if it isn't Elesa!" we heard a voice say out of the crowd. We soon saw a man with flame like hair and grey eyes, and wearing something like a poncho with a belt and light blue jeans. His belt happens to be on his shoulders and contained three Poké Balls on each shoulder. I'm guessing that's how he holds his Pokémon. "Aren't festivals grand? Life should be enjoyed!" the man added as he smiles. Both, Cheren and I gave confused looks.

"Who is this man?" asked Cheren as he turns to Elesa to hear her answer. Elesa turned to us and smiled once she noticed us looking towards her.

"This is Alder, the Unova region's champion," replied Elesa. I was shocked and turned towards the man who's named Alder.

"Champion!? Why would the champion be goofing off in a place like this?" asked Cheren as he looked to Alder with shock and a tiny hint of anger as I noticed. Just then Alder walked to Cheren as he chuckled a bit.

"I heard that remark. You're quite a judgmental person, aren't you?" asked Alder as he pat Cheren's shoulder and then stopped. "Yes, I'm Alder, the Unova Pokémon League's champion. Pleased o make your acquaintance. How about you young man?" he asked once again.

"I-I'm Cheren sir!" Cheren replied immediately. I can tell Cheren seemed a little excited to see the champion. I'm happy for him.

"And you?" I suddenly heard Alder asked. I looked to him and noticed he was facing towards me. I guess he was talking to me.

"Ashlee," I replied a few seconds later. I saw him eyeing my Pokémon and then back at me.

"So you keep your Pokémon out of the Poké Balls, eh? That's a great way to bond with your Pokémon," said Alder as he pet Archen's head and the looked towards Cheren. "And for your information, I'm not goofing off. I'm on a voyage. I know every corner of Unova," he said to Cheren.

"I-I'm from Nuvema Town. My goal as a trainer is to become the champion," said Cheren with some confidences. I looked at him and Alder.

"Hm. Traveling with a goal in mind is a commendable thing," said Alder as he took his time to think about Cheren's goal. "What else is there other than striving to become stronger?" he asked. Cheren gave Alder a confused look.

"The strongest trainer, that's the champion?" asked Cheren to make sure he understands Alder. Alder looked down with an "hmm..." look on his face.

"Becoming stronger... Becoming stronger you say... Is that alone enough of a goal?" asked Alder as he looked to Cheren. "It's not that I'm trying to say your way of thinking is wrong," he soon said to sort of apologize to Cheren for insulting him. "In my travels, I've helped many people learn to love Pokémon. I think that's important, too," he added with a smile. I can tell on the look of Cheren's face, he seemed confused even more; however, he nodded.

"I understand Alder, but it doesn't really tell me much of what's the difference," said Cheren only to receive a smile from Alder.

"Young man, if there are people like you who pursue strength, there are also people who are happy just being with Pokémon. There are many different people and many different answers. When it comes to what a champion should be, you and I may hold different views, but sobe it! Give it some thought," said Alder with a smile. Cheren nodded.

"Let's roll," I heard Elesa say. I turned to her direction with Cheren. "The Driftveil Drawbridge is just ahead," she added and starts walking. Cheren, my team and I soon followed.

"The champion is the strongest of the strong! That's all there is to it," I heard Cheren say. I looked towards him with a frown, but I didn't say anything. I'm sure he meant to say it in his thoughts. I then saw Elesa stopped; so, Cheren, Servine, and I stopped too.

"Now to contact him," said Elesa as she got her phone out. This then reminded me of how much my mom and I would text to each other in our phones. It was great. We didn't have to scream for each other to come as well as no one would hear our conversations and annoy my dad a little because of it. It was fun. I looked down and closed my eyes.

'Don't worry Mom and Dad, I'll be home soon,' I thought to myself as I looked back up to Elesa and Cheren.

"Contact who?" I heard Cheren ask. I looked to see Elesa on the phone. Just then, we heard Elesa talking to someone on her phone.

"It's me Elesa," said Elesa. "Please lower the drawbridge. I have a couple of trainers who want to challenge you," she added a couple seconds later. "Okay, thanks," she added again as she hung up another few seconds later and looked towards us. "Now watch this," she said to Cheren and I and looked at the drawbridge.

Cheren, Servine, Zorua, Archen, Emolga, and I looked at the drawbridge. Suddenly, the drawbridge started to lower down; and once it connected to its other half, it stopped and now looks like an actual bridge. "Whoa," I said out of my thoughts. I've never seen a drawbridge lower down in person; so it was new experience for me. I noticed Elesa looking towards Cheren, my team, and myself.

"I have a TV gig today; so I've got to go. The gym leader of the next city may take some getting used to... but do your best both of you," said Elesa and soon turned towards me. "Ashlee, I wish you best of luck on your journey getting home," she added and walked off. I waved bye to Elesa... for everything.

"Come on," I heard Cheren say. I turned towards him and saw the serious look he is giving me as he adjusted his glasses. "We better get going," he added as he starts walking on the bridge. I started to follow him with Servine, Emolga, Zorua, and Archen. But then, I felt something as if someone was following us. I turned to see whom, but I saw no one.

'I guess I'm seeing things,' I convinced myself. I heard Zorua giving me a bark. I looked to her, smiled and gave her a pet on the head to let her know I was all right. I soon started following Cheren with my team and before we knew it, we can see Driftveil City.

 

WARNING: This chapter contains slight Blood and Gore!

Chapter XVI: Plasma in Freezing Storage!​

As soon as Cheren, Servine Zorua, Archen, Emolga, and I took our appearance in Driftveil City, we met a man with brown hair and grey eyes, and wearing a brown suit and a white hat. He told us his name is Clay and is the city's gym leader. He talked kind of slang while he was introducing himself. Anyways, he told us not to expect a welcome since he thinks it's our fault that Team Plasma got away. I didn't understand how it's our fault that Team Plasma got away, but that's what he sees. He also told us if we want to challenge his gym we need to find Team Plasma. Cheren and I nodded and watched Clay leave. We decided to split up to look for Team Plasma. Cheren went to check north of the city and my team and I went to check the south.

My team and I ran into a storage filled with wild Pokémon. The Pokémon all kept wanting to battle; so, we gave them what they wanted. We've battled a Vanillite, Minccino, and Audino. Vanillite looks like a floating ice cream cone with eyes and a mouth that happens to be an ice-type. Minccino is a chincilla like creature with the tips of its ears and tail white and has grey eyes that is a normal-type. Audino is also a normal-type, but taller than a Minccino and are pink and tan with blue eyes and a big white fluffy tail. The battles actually helped me and my team big time. Zorua had learned foul play; she'll look like she isn't going to attack her opponent, but does at the end. Servine had learned slam; it's the same as tackle but much stronger.

Not only was it those three kinds of wild Pokémon, there are also a lot of Patrat for some unknown reason. With all these Patrat around, there's no doubt that it. Team Plasma is definately here. I just wish I knew where in this place exactly and I wonder why would they hide here.

"Ser servine!" I heard Servine say as I felt her tugging my leg. I looked at her and watched her pointing to an entrance to one of the storage buildings. I looked to Servine and then to the entrance once more, but closer. I soon saw it! The door is slightly opened; Team Plasma must be in there!

"Great eyes Servine!" I said to Servine as I gave her a pet and started to make our way to the door. Once we got close enough, we suddenly felt a cold breeze coming from the inside. I started shivering. 'That sure is cold,' I thought to myself as I looked to inside a bit. I then remembered something as I turned to my team. I noticed how Servine, Archen, and Emolga had already began shivering and staying close and holding on to me for warmth. That actually doesn't surprise me. Flying and grass-type Pokémon do not like the cold since they're weak against ice-types. I bent down to my knees as I got Zorua, Archen, and Emolga off of me. "Guys, I need to put you all in your Poké Balls so you can stay warm," I then said as I got Archen and Emolga into their Poké Balls.

"Servine ser," I heard Servine say. I looked to her and saw the look of unimprovement written on her face. I sighed. I know how much Servine doesn't like being in her Poké Ball, but we need to get inside this building to find Team Plasma. I pat Servine's head.

"Don't worry Servine. I promise, I'll let you out once I need your help or out of the building, okay?" I said to Servine. I noticed the look of hesitation on her face; however, she gave me a nod. So, I got Servine into her Poké Ball and now looked to Zorua. "Alright Zorua, you need to go into your Poké Ball too," I said to her, she soon jumped into my arms and shook her head. "Zorua, I don't want you to-" Zorua started to bark at me. I sighed. "Alright," I said in defeat. I felt Zorau lick my face to say her thanks. I smiled and placed Zorua on one of my shoulders as I got up. Once I did, I placed my hand on the door knob so I can open the door.

"Ashlee!" I heard a familiar voice call out. I turned and noticed Cheren walking towards me and Zorua. He looked at the building then to me. Do you think Team Plasma is in there?" he asked. Once I nodded, he looked at the building with an annoyed look on his face. "What a bother. I don't like cold places, but we have to check," he said more to himself than me. I looked at the entrance, nodded to myself, opened the door and walked in.

Once Zorua and I are inside, the breeze became colder. 'Man, it's colder on here than I thought,' I thought to myself as I had my arms around my chest for a little warmth and looked around the area. I soon heard Cheren come in, so I glanced around towards him.

"Well... Still-" he then said, but stopped himself and shook his head. "Let's just hurry up and find them," he said to skip what he was about to say and starts walking off to find them. I went off at a different direction with Zorua.

Finding someone is really hard when you don't know your way around in a building especially when it's like a cold freezer. []'We have to hurry and find Team Plasma or we'll become icicles,'[/] I thought to myself. Suddenly, I heard Zorua bark. I looked towards her and saw her facing at one of the green containers in this frozen building. I looked at it then heard something coming from inside of it. 'Seems like they're in that container,' I thought once again. I walked towards it and then I heard someone walking behind me. I turned only to see Cheren.

"Ashlee, is someone in there?" asked Cheren as he looked at the same container Zorua and I stared at. I gave him a nod once he looked towards me. He nodded back. "Let's go see then," he soon said. I followed him as Zorua hung onto my shoulder and growled quietly.

When Cheren, Zorua, and I got in the container, we saw Team Plasma and an old man wearing an outfit similar to those two men wore back at Castelia City, but this one's is purple. The Plasma members appear to be huddling around the old man. 'Seems like he can't handle the cold either,' I thought to myself with unamusement.

"I can't believe you were hiding here. It's a bother, but if you're cold, shall I show you outside?" asked Cheren. I can tell he looks unamused too. We saw the old man noting us and gave each of us a glare.

"Pokémon are our king's friends! While we're taking care of them, we can't let any harm come to them here. Everyone, drive these intruders away!" he commanded. I heard Zorua growling louder at Team plasma and barked madly at them.

"Yes Zinzolin of the seven sages! Put 'em up, trainers, 'cause here we come!" shouted the Plasma members as they try to reach to us only to suddenly stop on their tracks. I looked to Zorua and saw her using her leer attack to give all of Team Plasma the shivers of fear. I knew Zorua is doing this to give us time for a Plan.

"I'll stay here and make sure they don't get away! Hurry and get Clay with the police so they can fet these guys to where they belong!" I said to Cheren and saw him nod as he took off. Now this leaves Zorua and I to deal with Team Plasma.

"Everyone halt!" shouted Zinzolin, the man in the puprle outfit. Team Plasma soon backed away a little. Okay, I'm confused with what's going on. I noticed the old man took a step forward while staying behind the Plasma members. "So you're the one that has been around with our king? I can't see why he would pick someone so small," he soon said. I can tell he insulted me in that last sentence, but I'm not going to let that get to me. However, his other first comment caught my attention. How did he know about me with N? Did N possibly tell him about me?

You mean this is the girl who our king hung around with back at Liberty Garden and the Nimbasa Ferriswheel?" I heard one of the male Plasma members asked? When Zinzolin nodded, all of Team Plasma gasped.

"Sage Zinzolin, this is a trainer! She hurts Pokémon! Why would lord N be with her?" asked a female member as she got out a Poké Ball and sent out a purple leopard like creature with yellow on the bottem half and triangle spots, two pink circles around its face and blue eyes. I got out my Pokédex to learn more.

"Liepard the cruel Pokémon and the evolved form of Purrloin. Liepard vanish and appear unexpectedly. Many trainers are drawn to their beautiful form and fur."

'Liepard is a dark-type like Zorua,' I thought to myself as I put the Pokédex away. Zorua suddenly jumped off of my shoulder and growled more. "Zorua?" I asked quietly.

"Liepard use fury swipes!" shouted the Plasma member, who summoned Liepard. Liepard then charges after Zorua.

"Dodge it and use your fury swipes Zorua!" I said to Zorua quickly. Zorua easily dodged Liepard's attack; however before Zorua could attack, Liepard vanished. Zorua started to look around but couldn't find it.

"Zorr.." I heard Zorua growled out. Once she looked towards me, Liepard appeared right behind her and about to attack Zorua with fury swipes.

"ZORUA, WATCH OUT!" I shouted as I ran to Zorua, grabbed her with my right arm and used my left arm as a shield. Suddenly, I felt Liepard scratch my left arm which caused me to scream. I released Zorua and covered my wounded arm. When I checked my arm to see how bad it is, I noticed three long bleeding scratch marks. I winced at the sight and felt tears in my eyes from the pain. I heard Zorua whimpering, so I turned to her. "Are you alright Zorua?" I asked her as I ignored my arm. Zorua folded her ears down as she looked at my arm. I can tell what she's trying to say. "Hey, don't worry about me. Besides, I know you'll do the same for me, right?" I replied with a question. I saw Zorua slowly nodded, so I smiled. "Now let's show them what we're made of," I then added. Zorua then turned to Liepard and started howling. Soon, she started to glowing blue! This is amazing; Zorua is evolving! I watched how Zorua started to grow taller, even taller than me. Not only that, her short paws turned to long claws and the tip of her head fur becomes a mane. The blue glow vanished and revealed the new Zorua!

"ZOOROAR!" shouted the new Zorua with a roar. I smiled as I got out my Pokédex to learn more about this new Zorua.

"Zoroark the illusion Pokémon and the evolved form of Zorua. Bonds between Zoroark are very strong. It protects the safety of its pack by tricking its opponents by using illusory scenery."

"A Zoroark," I said out of my thoughts and looked to Zoru-, well, Zoroark, and smiling big as I put the Pokédex away. "This is awesome Zoroark," I said to her. Zoroark turned towards me and nodded. I heard the same female Plasma member groan in frustration. I turned towards her and noticed some were looking shocked while the rest were frustrated.

"Liepard use fury swipes!" shouted the same member as her Liepard started to charge at me and Zoroark. I groaned as I remembered how painful its scratch was and held on to my wounded arm.

"Raaa!" I heard Zoroark screech out as she got in between me and Liepard. Suddenly with quick speed, her claws turned to a black-purple color and attacked the Liepard hard enough to crash it to the wall causing it to faint.

"That was night slash!" I heard one of the Plasma polmembers say out loud.

'So, that move was night slash?' I thought to myself. Wow; first Zorua evolved into Zoroark and now learned night slash. Incredible!

"Well, I'll be," I heard someone from behind me say. I turned and saw Cheren, Clay, and the police. "Hidin' in a chilly old place like this," said Clay an then turned to the police. "You guys take these Pokémon robbers!" he added as the police began the arrest. One by one, Zoroark and I saw each police man grab two or three members of Team Plasma and Zinzolin to jail.

"And there they go," I said out of my thoughts. I heard Zoroark growl in agreement while staying close. We noticed Clay and Cheren looking at me with worry.

"Are you alright, Ashlee?" asked Cheren as he pointed to my wounded arm. I looked at it and noticed there are still some blood flowing out. I winced still feeling the pain as I was about to remove my right hand, so I held back on.

"I'll be fine don't worry," I replied as I looked back to Cheren and Clay with a small smile.

"You're a tough lady," Clay commented. He then looked to Cheren and I. "As a matter of fact, you guys ain't so bad!" he added with a smile. "Yup, a promise is a promise. Come on an' challenge my gym!" he added again and walked out. I noticed Cheren continued to look at me with worry.

"How did your arm get injuried?" Cheren asked. I chuckled nervously.

"Well I guess my protective instincts got the best of me. When one of the members of Team Plasma sent out one of their Pokémon and about to attack, I blocked it from hitting my Pokémon," I replied. Cheren looked surprised, but then turned to where Clay and the police took off with Team Plasma and mumbled something. I took a step forward and looked towards him.

"Team Plasma's ideals... Separating people and Pokémon... It's exactly the same as not having Pokémon in this world at all," said Cheren and then turned towards me. "No offense or anything Ashlee," he said to apologize.

"None taken," I replied to say it's alright. I soon saw Cheren look forward again.

"That bunch is a waste of oxygen," Cheren soon said and started shivering. "Ashlee, it's cold; so I'm getting out of here," he added. I nodded in agreement and walked out with him and Zoroark. When we got out, Cheren looked at Zoroark then to me. "So your Pokémon evolved?" he asked as he got his Pokédex out.

"Yeah. Like I said while you went to get Clay, Team Plasma tried to attack us. When I protected Zorua, she evolved to Zoroark," I explained as I pat Zoroark and receiving a purr from her as a response. Cheren read through his Pokédex, looked to Zoroark, and then to me.

"Was that child with you before Zoroark?" Cheren asked again as he recolled what I wanted to tell him earlier. I nodded.

"At first, Zoroark didn't trust humans because she was attacked by a man when I found her," I explained as I told Cheren how I met Zoroark abd now how she somewhat trusts humans again.

"That's quite a story," said Cheren once I finished my story. I soon got my Poké Balls, that hold the rest of my Pokémon, and sent everyone out. Servine, Archen, and Emolga started to stretch once they are out of their Poké Balls. They noticed my wound and Zoroark and looked towards me with worry and needing explanation.

"I'll be alright everyone. Zorua and I had got caught in the middle of battling Team Plasma. When I defended her, she evolved into Zoroark," I explained and had my hand to Zoroark. "When she did, she defeated one of Team Plasma's Pokémon," I added as Zoroark smiled to everyone. I heard my team cheer for Zoroark and smiled. I then heard a stomach growl. I turned to the source and noticed it was from Zoroark. I heard her growl in embarrassment. I smiled and looked towards the sky to see the sun was setting. 'Man time can fly,' I thought to myself as I turned to Cheren. "Cheren, my team and I are going to head to the Pokémon Center," I said to him. Cheren turned towards me and nodded.

"Okay, I'll stay here to find new Pokémon," he said and waved bye. I waved back and took off with my team to the Pokémon Center to get something to eat and clean my wound.

 

Chapter XVII: An Underground Battle​

As soon as Servine, Zoroark, Archen, Emolga, and I got to the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy had cleaned and bandaged my arm so it wouldn't get infected and told us to stay the night so my arm could rest. Not only that, she gave me an extra set of bandages and told me to change them at least once every day. I thought it was really kind of her to do that. The next morning after breakfast, we did some training back at the Cold Storage. It was great! Emolga had learned acrobatics, Servine learned leaf blade, and Archen learned dragon breath. For Servine's leaf blade, the tip of her tail glows green and strikes at her opponents with her tail. Archen's dragon breath allows him to blow out a yellow like beam at his target. Emolga's acrobatics is the same as Archen's so I won't explain that move.

When we got back to Driftveil City and to the gym, we noticed Clay was bumbed out. When I asked him what's wrong, he explained how Team Plasma had got away thanks to Ghetsis. That man sure knows when to make a get away. Well, he soon said he's ready for our battle and it could help brighten his mood up a lot. Plus, he mentioned how he wants to know about my skills that made Elesa taking a shine on me.

Now, we had arrived in an underground battlefield. It's beautiful especially with all the crystals around the place. "Well, hope yer ready youngster! Go Krokorok!" Clay soon shouted and sent out a tan-black stripe crocodile with pink around its neck to stomach and has pure black eyes. I got out my Pokédex to learn more.

"Krokorok the desert croc Pokémon. Krokorok live in groups of individuals. Protective membranes shield their eyes from sandstorms."

I put my Pokédex away and looked at Archen. "Alright Archen, you'll start things off. Let's give it all we got," I said to Archen. I watched him squawk in agreement, jumped off of my shoulder and on to the battlefield.

"Krokorok, use crunch!" said Clay as Krokorok starts charging after Archen.

"Dodge by using agility!" I said to Archen and soon saw Archen dodging Krokorok with great speed. "Now use dragon breath!" I added as Archen launched a yellow like beam at Krokorok which then hits it. We heard it growls at us which tells us it's angry.

"Krokorok, hit it with a crunch again!" Clay shouted as Krokorok charges at Archen and is about to bite Archen.

"Archen use acrobatics!" I said quickly and watched Archen go straight towards Krokorok and struck it with its claw-wings causing Krokorok to fall to the ground.

"Krokorok is unable to battle and Archen wins!" shouted the referee.

"Awesome job Archen!" I said to Archen as he hops his way towards me, Emolga, Servine, and Zoroark and jumped into my right arm so he can get on my left shoulder since my left arm is damaged. I smiled to him.

"Not bad youngster," I heard Clay say. I looked at his direction and saw him call back Krokorok to its Poké Ball. "But this battle ain't over yet," he added as he put the Poké Ball away and pulled out another one. "Go Palpitoad!" he shouted as he sent out an amphibian looking creature. It's blue and has three bulb like bumps on its head with black eyes. I got out my Pokédex again.

"Palpitoad the vibration Pokémon. When Palpitoad vibrate the bumps on their heads, they can make waves in water or earthquake-like vibrations on land."

I put my Pokédex away and looked t Servine. Now it's your turn Servine," I said to her.

"Servine," said Servine as she nodded and went into the battlefield.

"Servine, lets start things off with a slam!" I said as Servine starts charging after Palpitoad.

"Dodge it and use mud shot!" said Clay. Palpitoad dodged Servine by jumping in the air and shoots out mud like balls, using its tounge, at Servine.

"Deflect them back by using leaf blade!" I said and saw Servine's leaf like tail glow green and then pushes all the mud balls away. "Now use leaf tornado!" I added once Servine got rid of the mud balls. Servine formed the leaf tornado and tossed it at Palpitoad. I noticed the leaf tornado hits Palpitoad with no problem since Palpitoad was still in the air. Palpitoad soon hits the gound and not getting up.

"Palpitoad is unable to battle and Servine wins!" shouted the referee.

"Way to go Servine!" I said to Servine while smiling. I saw her turn towards me and smiled as well.

"Get ready youngster! This last Pokémon will send ya rockin!" I heard Clay say. I looked towards Clay and noticed he already returned Palpitoad. "Go Excadrill!" he shouted as he sends out a big brown mole like creature with red spots. Its claws look like metal and so does the armor on its head. Once again, I got out my Pokédex.

"Excadrill the subterrence Pokémon. Excadrill can help in tunnel construction. Its drill has evolved into steel, strong enough to bore through iron plates."

'This is bad,' I thought to myself as I continued reading more about Excadrill. Excadrill, not only is a ground-type, is a steel-type. None of the others except for Servine, has the advantage over it. I looked to Servine and soon saw her nod. I was surprised, but nodded back after thinking about Servine's decision. "Alright Servine, let's show them more of your stength!" I said to her.

"Ser!" Servine replied back as she turned towards Clay and Excadrill.

"Servine, use leaf blade!" I said as Servine's tail glows green and attacks Excadrill with her tail. We watched Excadrill fall to the ground and got back up.

"Excadrill use bulldoze!" said Clay as Excadrill stomps the ground making the ground shaky. I noticed it affected Servine a little as it continues to make the ground.

"Servine use leaf tornado to stop it!" I said as Servine made a leaf tornado and threw it at Excadrill causing it to stop. "Now use slam!" I added and saw Servine charging at Excadrill.

"Excadrill use slash!" said Clay as his Excadrill charges at Servine. Somehow, Excadrill is a little faster and struck her before she had the chance.

'Oh no, that bulldoze move must have lowered Servine's speed! We'll have to try something else that doesn't require speed. Unless...' I thought to myself until I heard Clay tell his Excadrill to use slash once more. I then thought of an idea. "Servine, I need you to wait for the right moment and use whatever attack comes on your mind!" I said to Servine. Servine turned to me, nodded, and looked back at Excadrill while standing there. As Excadrill got closer, Servine's tail started to glow green. She's going to try and use leaf blade!

"Servine!" Servine shouted as she avoids Excadrill's attack and struck it down using leaf blade. This caused Excadrill to fall to the ground. For a few seconds, Excadrill isn't getting up.

"Excadrill is unable to battle and Servine wins! Which means, the challenger wins the battle!" shouted the referee.

"Alright! We did it Servine!" I shouted as Servine walked towards me, Emolga, Archen, and Zoroark with a smile on her face. I gave Servine and Archen a pet on their heads one at a time and looked to Zoroark and Emolga. "Thanks for cheering Servine and Archen on, you two," I said the them. Zoroark and Emolga had a smile on their faces.

"I see. But I sure don't like it," I heard Clay say. I looked towards him and noticed he's walking towards us once he called back his Excadrill. "Fer such a young'un, ya have an imposin' battle style," he said with a smile. He pulled out a bronze-grey like badge. "Here; take this!" he added as he handed the badge to me. I took it and smiled.

"Thank you Clay," I said to Clay as I continued to smile. I then got out a hyper potion, it's the same as the regular potion, but has pink instead of purple. I bought a dozen of them before my team and I left to train. I started to use two of them, one for Servine and the other for Archen.

"By the way youngster, is yer name Ashlee?" asked Clay. I nodded which gave him a surprise look. "So yer Ashlee? The professor told me much about ya," said Clay. I guess Professor Juniper must have told him the same way she told to Elesa. She must have told every gym leader about me. This is going to bother me a lot. Well, annoyed sounds a little better for this.

"I guess she told you where I'm from right?" I said to make sure it's the same as how Professor Juniper told Elesa. When Clay nodded, I sighed. "God, I'll be known by strangers," I said out of my thoughts. I heard Clay laugh a little which had me look at him with confusion.

"I'm sure she ain't tellin everyone about ya. She's just makin' sure ya get home safely," said Clay. He soon stopped his humor and then mentioned my team and I to follow. Once Zoroark, Emolga, Archen, Servine, Clay, and I got to the elevator to get out of the underground, I looked to Clay to learn what my team and I need to do next. "Once ya walk out of this gym, take a right and head straight for Route Six. Ya'll find a cave with floating electrical stones. Take that cave and ya'll find yerself to another gym leader," he then said as we got to the top and outside. I can tell it's still morning. I looked to Clay and noticed the concern look on his face. "Be sure to take it easy on that arm of yer's," he added as he mentions my injured arm. I looked to my arm, back to Clay, and nodded.

"Okay, I will and thanks a lot," I said to Clay. I then looked to my team. "Ready to go guys?" I asked. I saw my team nodding; so, I nodded back and looked to Clay once more. "I hope we see you again," I said to him and turned to my team. "Let's go," I then said as I started to walk to Route Six with my team. Servine and Zoroark walking with me, and Emolga and Archen on my shoulders.

 

Chapter XVIII: A talk in the Cave​

It actually didn't take us me and my team that long to find the cave. According to the Town Map, this cave happens to be called Chargestone Cave. It is said to contain a whole lot of electric-type Pokémon and have stones filled with electrical energy that makes them float. Once we read all of that, Archen started to shiver a bit. For a flying-type, he didn't seem to happy about it from what I'm guessing. I returned Archen to his Poké Ball, since that's what he wants, and left everyone else out. Besides, Zoroark, Servine, and especially Emolga doesn't mind the electric energy in the cave. As we got in however, I then saw the same handsome young man who happens to be the king of Team Plasma, N.

'Oh no!' I thought to myself as I hid behind a boulder. I got Zoroark and Servine to hide with me and told them and Emolga to be quiet. They all nodded; so, I nodded back and peeked a bit to see what N is doing. He seems to be looking at one of the floating stones in this cave, and placed his hand on it.

"This place is so beautiful..." said N as he continues to stare at the stone. He suddenly closed his eyes. "I wonder how she's doing..." he then added with a sad tone in his voice. I wonder who he's thinking about? Soon, I heard Zoroark growling. Curiously, I looked around to see who she's growling at, only to gasp in terror. The same three strange ninja like men, that dragged me here against my will, are here, right in front of my eyes! Snapping out of my fear, I glared at them with the anger I held back when they were at my own dimension. Before I could do anything else, one of them grabbed my injured arm, and the other grabbed the uninjured arm. Out of instinct, I kicked the one that had a hold of my injured arm to get him to release, in which he did. I tried to get the other to release me, but he starts dragging me away from the boulder. I started to fight back.

"Come," was all I heard from one of the ninja men. But that didn't stop me, I continued to fight back. However, I then started to feel my feet being dragged away from the boulder; at that point I realized, these men are stronger than I am. I didn't know what to do until I suddenly felt my waist being dragged into the boulder. I looked and noticed Zoroark trying to get me away from the strange men. Sevine had also started to help by holding my leg to stop them from dragging me.

"Molga!" I heard Emolga shout out as he throws electro balls at the strange men. I felt them let go immediately so they can dodge Emolga's attack by vanishing into the shadows. I looked around with my team to see if we can find out where they're at.

"My lord N, the one you wanted is behind that boulder," I heard one of the strange men say. This shocked me... a lot!

'They work for N?' I thought to myself. 'Could that mean N was the one that told these strange men to kidnap me?' I added to my thoughts. No, that can't be it! When we first met, he hardly knew me. Before I could think of anything, I heard someone walking towards Zoroark, Emolga, Servine, and myself. I was about to peek and see; but once I placed my uninjured arm on the boulder, I felt someone pulling my hand out of the boulder. I tried to pull away, but I froze when I see who has a hold of my hand, N. I didn't expect this to happen to be honest. I blushed and looked towards N.

"It's so good to see you again Ashlee," said N as he smiles. I blushed more since I don't know what else to say or do. I then felt his other hand on my cheek which caused me to blush more.

"Zoroooar..." I heard Zoroark growled out. I noticed N looked to Servine, Zoroark, and Emolga. He then tried to grab the Poké Balls in my pocket, but Servine blocked him while glaring at him. N looked to Servine with a look of confusion on his face.

"What's wrong Servine?" N asked as he looks at Servine. I just wanted to talk to Ashlee alone. That's all I was trying to do," he added. Servine crossed her arms.

"Servine ser," I heard Servine say as she separates me and N. When she succeeded, Zoroark pulled me further from N and continues to growl at him. This is all confusing me. What are Servine and Zoroark saying to N?

"Emol emolga!" I heard Emolga say to me. I looked to him as he suddenly jumped into my uninjured arm and hugging me protectively. I also see him glaring at N. What's going on here?

"What do you mean don't even try?" N asked Servine. Servine's growls started to get louder which is starting to make me tense.

"Servine servine! Servine ser servine servine!" shouted Servine as she still growls at N. I saw N giving out a shocked look on his face while turning towards me. He then looked to Servine with a sad smile.

"So Ashlee told you all what I told her?" asked N. Then it hit me! Servine, Zoroark, and Emolga are doing this since I told Servine, Zoroark, and Archen about what happened at the Ferris Wheel and how N is the king of Team Plasma; and it seems, they told Emolga about it too when I wasn't around! So, they thought N must be trying to take them away from me!

"Ser," said Servine while nodding. I watched N smile a little which is kind of creeping me out.

"Don't worry Servine. I'm not going to take you and the others away from Ashlee. I never do that by force. And besides, I don't want to upset Ashlee," said N as he continued smiling and soon looked towards me. I felt myself blushing more.

"Servine," I soon heard Servine say. N looked to Servine and back at me. All of the sudden, N started to walk forward as Servine stepped aside. I felt Zoroark and Emolga cling onto me a little tighter, but then released me once they both, and myself, saw Servine nodded.

'What's going on?' I thought to myself. I watched N come closer as I felt Emolga hopped out of my arm and on to Zoroark's shoulder. Before I could turn to Zoroark and Emolga, I felt N pulling me towards him and trapped me into a hug. I can feel my cheeks getting redder. This is really embarrassing...

"Emol emol," I heard Emolga say. I tried to see my team, but N's hug was blocking the way. So, I tried to move my head away from N; but then I felt N kissing my neck! He must have been trying to get to my cheek, but got to my neck by accident. As N kept kissing my neck, I started to blush even more. I started to moan a little, but quickly tried to stop myself.

'Come on, stop the moaning!' I thought to myself as I kept trying to stop myself from moaning. I succeeded, but it's mostly because N stopped and is just hugging me. I looked to N only to see him gently smiling at me. He then looked at my team.

"May I please speak with Ashlee privately?" N asked to my team. I looked at them and only saw Zoroark and Emolga nodding. Servine was hesitating, but soon nodded as well after a few seconds. I got out everyone's Poké Balls and returned them, leaving me alone with N. Once that was done, N had suddenly returned to where he left off with and hugged me.

"Now that it's the two of us, there are some things I'd wish to tell you about," I heard N say as he continues to hug me.

'Like what?' I thought to myself so I wouldn't say it out loud. I just nodded to let N know I was listening.

"Those men you saw earlier are known as the Shadow Triad. Ghetsis enlisted them in Team Plasma," he soon said.

'The Shadow Triad?' I thought to myself with confusion. I looked to N and noticed he's looking around the cave.

"Chargestone Cave... I like this place. If people did not exist, this would be an ideal place," said N as he continued to look around. I tensed by that last sentence.

'Why did he bring that up?' I thought to myself. I soon felt N's hand on my cheek to have me face towards him once more.

"You've been chosen, you know," N suddenly said. This surprised me. What have I been chosen for? "Does it surprise you I said that?" he then asked. I nodded to answer his question. N chuckled a little. "Of course. Such news should be a surprise," he then said and planted his lips on my forehead for a few seconds. This causes me to blush again. "I told Ghetsis about you and your friends. After I did, he apparently used the Shadow Triad to find out about you," he then said which made me look shocked. What does N and Ghetsis want to know about me and my friends? "Cheren is pursuing the ideal of strength," he stated. "Poor Bianca has faced the sad truth that not everyone can become stronger," he added about my two friends that I've hung out with in this dimension.

'Why does he have to know about Bianca and Cheren like that? There is a lot more positive things about them than negative,' I thought to myself with annoyance.

"And you-" N then said that caused my attention towards him with surprise. "You are not swayed either way, more of a neutral presence. Which is apparently a good thing," he added and gave me a smile as he kissed my cheek. Then, I felt N's hand on my injured arm; which, at this stage, caused me to flinch away in pain and have my arm around it. When I did that, I felt N gently took a hold of my uninjured arm. "A-Ashlee, what happened?" I heard N asked quietly. I looked to him and noticed the worried look on his face that he's showing me until he looked back at my arm and gave it a determined look. He turned back to me as he gently lets go of my injured arm and hugged me tightly a little. "There is something else I need to tell you," he added as he starts to lean closer to my face. I blushed once I realize what he's going to do. He suddenly stopped for a few moments and lets go of me. "I shall see you in a bit. Be expecting the Shadow Triad and some of Team Plasma members to escort you," he said as he walks deeper into the cave.

I felt myself mentally collapse once N is out of sight. 'That was really intense!' I thought to myself once again.

"Ashlee!" shouted a familiar feminine voice. I turned to see Bianca running towards me with excitement. She stopped when she noticed my arm and looks worried. "Cheren told me what happened to your arm at the Driftveil City... Are you okay?" she asked with worry. I nodded.

"Don't worry about me. I'm fine; I just need to change my bandage every day so my arm will heal faster. That's all," I replied to Bianca with a smile. I saw her smile back which means my answer satisfied her. "So what were you going to say before?" I asked.

"Oh yeah! Ashlee, did you know the floating stones move when you touch them?!" she asked. I shook my head with surprise. I had no idea that the stones here could do that. "It's amazing!" Bianca said in excitement and then turned towards the entrance. "Right, Professor?" she then added once again. I looked at the direction she's looking at with confusion to see, none other than, Professor Juniper coming from behind Bianca.

"That's right Bianca," said Professor Juniper as she smiles to Bianca. She then turned to me with the same smile. "Hi there Ashlee! How have you been?" she said to me with a question. I shrugged. "This place is filled with electricity that Pokémon like. The electric charges react from the stone to another and that's why some of the stones float!" she said.

"Whoah!" I said out of my thoughts as I looked at some of the stones floating above the ground.

"Ashlee, try to make one of them move. It's really cool!" I heard Bianca say. I looked to her so I can give her a nod as I walked up to one of the floating stones and slightly pushed it. I watched it move to another stone as they stick to each other like magnets.

"That's awesome!" I said out loud. I walked over to another floating stone and pushed it to the other stone as they stick to each other just like the other pair did. I smiled at the reaction.

"Ashlee help!" I heard Bianca shout out. I looked back to see four Team Plasma members surrounding Bianca and Professor Juniper. I was about to go help them; but then, the Shadow Triad had appeared and surrounded me.

"Come," was all I heard from one of them.

"Our lord is waiting for you," I heard the second one say.

"He wants you immediately!" the last member had said. N wanted to see me now after leaving for a couple minutes?

"And what if I don't?" I asked in a challenging way. I saw one of the Shadow Triad members point towards Bianca and Professor Juniper.

"We will take their Pokémon," threatened the Shadow Triad member that's pointing at the professor and Bianca. I stood there shocked. I don't want Bianca's Pokémon taken away again and the professor to loose her Pokémon.

I sighed in defeat. 'I guess I have no choice,' I thought to myself as I clenched my hand to a fist and glared at the Shadow Triad. "Fine. Just don't let any of them or you folks anywhere near them," I said while looking down.

"Ashlee, no!" I heard Professor Juniper shout out. I turned to her and gave Bianca and the professor a smile to let them know everything will be alright.

"Come," I heard one of the Shadow Triad members say as they push me further into the cave. I glared at them, but lessened it a bit once Team Plasma are away from Bianca and Professor Juniper and are now following behind me and the Shadow Triad. I then followed the Shadow Triad with Team Plasma deeper into the cave.

 

Chapter XIX: Old Dreams & New Dreams​

I'm not sure how far Team Plasma and the Shadow Triad had taken me; but where ever we're going, N must really wanted to talk to me away from others. 'I wonder how much further do we have to go?' I thought to myself. The Shadow Triad members then stopped which had me stopped. I looked towards the Team Plasma members behind us and saw them walking away in different directions.

"Lord N, we brought the person you wanted," I heard one of the Shadow Triad members say. I looked at their direction, but one of them suddenly shoved me forward. I would've fallen, but someone caught me before I could. I looked up to see N smiling at me! This caused me to blush.

"Very good. You three are dismissed," said N. I suddenly heard a swoosh sound which had me look to where the Shadow Triad are at, only to see none of them here anymore. I looked to N as he helps me up. "Forgive them for their behavior," he then apologized as he has his hand onto mine, the one that has the uninjured arm, and started walking along the cave. I followed since he started to pull me to him towards the cave.

We've been walking for about a minute or two. From the look of things, it looks like we're just going in a circle. 'I wonder where we're going?' I thought to myself as we continue to walk. N then came to a halt which caused me to accidentally bump into him. All of the sudden, he pulled me towards him and hugged me from behind. This caused me to blush more.

"Now then, there is something else that I need to tell you," I heard N say. I tried to look towards him, but I soon felt his chin on top of my head. This made my face turn redder. "Can you give up on your journey?" he then asked.

This confused me. 'Why does he want me to do that?' I thought to myself. I tried to look up to N, but he still has me immobilized. He lets go and turned me towards him.

"Please, stop this journey of yours and stay with me," N said. This shocked me!

'Me go with him?! To Team Plasma?! I can't! Not after all what those Pokémon Robbers had done. Plus, I don't even belong here! So, it's not right! As much as I care about N, but I can't...' I thought to myself as I shook my head rapidly. N frowned at my response.

"You're still mad at me for being the king of Team Plasma, aren't you?" N asked as he releases me. Mad? Well, I was a little at the beginning, but I forgave him for that since he's doing what he believes was right. I looked down as I heard him sigh sadly. I guess it's time to speak up.

"I'm not mad at all N," I finally said to N. I heard him gasp a little at my response; and, I can feel him looking towards me. I decided to continue. "I was a little mad at first... but I forgive you since you were only trying to do what you think is best. I'm just upset about the whole separation between people and Pokémon. Because of this, it could mean you or anyone from Team Plasma can take Servine, Zoroark, Archen, and Emolga away and that would..." I added, but felt tears in my eyes. The thought of N or anyone hurting or separating me from my team is the one fear I have of this. I felt tears popping out of my eyes and tried to suck it back in by gulping in my sadness. "... hurt me really badly," I finished. I started to wipe the tears out of my eyes, but then I felt N hugging me once again.

"You know I won't let that happen Ashlee! As long as you're with me, they can't harm you or your Pokémon friends. If you be with me, they won't-"

"It doesn't matter," I said to stop N. "Even if I could, you forgot one thing. The reason why I'm on this journey is to get back home, the dimension I came from. Besides..." I added, but stopped myself. Should I really tell N about what the Shadow Triad did?

"Besides what, Ashlee?" I heard N asked. From the sound of his voice, I can tell he's worried. I sighed and looked straight to N.

"You remember how you told me about those three men, you called the Shadow Triad?" I asked to N. N nodded to respond. "While my brother and I are on our way to your house, we ran into three men who look just like them and they were the ones that brought me here," I then said; however, N still looked confused.

"What do you mean by that?" N asked. I sighed as I looked away.

'He's probably not going to believe me; but, I guess it's better if I just told him,' I thought to myself. I took a deep breath and looked back towards N. "The Shadow Triad are the ones responsible for me being here," I finally said. I watched as N's confusion transforms to shocking disbelief.

"What?! B-but how?!" shouted N as he looked towards me and slowly released his grip on me. "That's not true," he added. I sighed sadly since I knew that line was coming.

"I knew you would say that N..." I said to N. I was hurt, but I also knew it was coming. "... but, that's fine with me. You may not believe this, but I believe someone in Team Plasma is after me which is another reason why I can't. I'm sorry," I said and looked away. I didn't know what else to say to him. I took a peek to see N's reaction; however, I can't really tell since his hat is covering his eyes and most of his face. I guess that means he's sad. I started feeling guilty for hurting him and had tears in my eyes; however, I shook my head to hold it in. "I'm sorry," I apologized once again. I walked towards N and gave him a gentle peck on his cheek; I blushed a little as I did it. I then decided to leave by walking away to find a way out.

"Ashlee, wait!" I suddenly heard N say. I turned to his direction; however before I knew it, I was trapped between the wall and N. I looked towards him; but once I did, I felt his lips on mine, just like in the Ferris Wheel! This had me shocked and blush hard. N had his eyes closed as he still kept me in the kiss. I shut my eyes and enjoy the lip-lock with him. We were like this for do not know how long until N pulled away so we can both breath. I suddenly noticed both of my arms are around N's neck. I wonder when did that happen? Before I could go into my thoughts, I then felt N breathing on to my neck and now he's planting his lips there. I can feel my cheeks getting hotter and I start to hold in my breath so I wouldn't moan. I suddenly gave up for about a minute and moaned due to N's actions.

"N," I tried to say. I noticed N stopped and looked towards me. Soon, he placed his forehead on to mine which caused me to blush who knows how much.

"I understand Ashlee. But remember, this option is still available for you," said N. He then had his cheek on mine. "And, I love you. I'll protect you any way I can," he vowed. I felt his hand move to the back of my head and has me in another liplock; however, he didn't have it like that for long since he released me in a couple seconds. He then looked shocked and gently took my injuried arm. "Ashlee, you're arm is bleeding!" he suddenly said. The reaction surprised me, but I kept calm and looked at my arm. Indeed, it is bleeding again and it bleed through the bandage. It might had something to do when the Shadow Triad had pulled on it.

"It's nothing. I just need to change the bandage," I replied calmly as I sat on to the ground and took off my backpack to look for the bandage. Once I got the bandage though, N took the bandage from me.

"You can't get it on by yourself; I'll go ahead and do it," said N as he sits next to me and starts to take off the old bandage on my arm. Once he got it off, I noticed he looked at it for a moment until he got the roll and starts to wrap the bandage around my arm. "How did you get this wound?" he suddenly asked.

"It was during a battle in the cold storage, a Liepard was about to attack Zorua from behind; so I got in between them and took the hit instead of Zorua. It must have helped though since she evolved into a Zoroark," I replied with a little chuckle. I felt N tensed, but he continued to wrap the bandage back on to my arm. Once he finished and placed the roll into my bag, he then hugged me and had his face into my hair. I blushed.

"I'm sorry," I heard N whispered. Or, at least that's what I think he said. He soon released me and stood up. I got up while putting by backpack on. N then had his hand onto mine and guided me through the cave.

Several minutes later, we got to where the exit is. I smiled to N, but remembered his comment about Chargestone Cave; so, I stopped. "N, what is your dream?" I suddenly asked. I heard him sigh.

"Many different values mix together, and the world becomes gray... That's unforgivable," I heard him say instead of replying. "I will separate Pokémon and people, and black and white will be clearly distant! Only then will Pokémon become perfect beings!" he declared. I felt his hand tighten around mine which caused me to look there.

'N...' I said in my thought as I looked back towards N. I noticed as he looked up, he has a small smile.

"Yes, that is my dream! That is the dream I must fulfill!" N replied. I watched him looking up for several minutes until he looked towards me. "Ashlee, do you have a dream of your own?" he asked. I hesitated for a moment, but then looked back at him.

"Yes," I replied as I nodded. N's smile increased; so, I guess I made the right answer.

"You have a dream... that's wonderful," said N as he suddenly gave me a hug. I returned the hug. We were like this for a minute until I heard someone call out my name. I looked around with N to see who it's from. It sounded familiar... perhaps too familiar.

"Ashlee!" shouted the same voice. This caused N and I to release each other and look at the direction of the voice. We soon see Bianca and Professor Juniper running towards us. "Are you okay?! We were so worried that those Pokémon robbers hurt you!" Bianca shouted again. I smiled to her.

"I'm alright Bianca, don't worry," I said to Bianca as I continue to smile.

"Ashlee, who is this trainer?" asked Professor Juniper as she looked towards N. I looked to N and noticed he starts glaring at the professor.

"Professor Juniper, what were you thinking?" N suddenly asked with a hint of anger. "You appear to have no qualms about the relationship between Pokémon and people. You put Pokémon into categories using arbitrary rules and think you can understand them like that? The very idea of a Pokédex revolts me," he said with the same anger. "What do you have to say for yourself?" he then asked again as he crosses his arms. I took a step back from his sudden outburst.

"Oh my," said Professor Juniper as she was also taken aback. "Looks like you're not my biggest fan," she added with a surprise tone in her voice, but straightened out. "You're opinion is understandable. It happens to be different from mine, which is equally understandable," she said as she smiles a little. "How about if all people get to decide for themselves how to relate to Pokémon?" she asked.

N remained silent for a couple of seconds by making his face look more mad. "So, you're saying I should just allow people to think whatever they want and treat Pokémon however they want, no matter what whether the Pokémon suffer?" he asked. I noticed his hands turned to fists as he backs away from me, Bianca, and Professor Juniper. "I refuse to tolerate the existence of a world like that!" he shouted as he starts running out of the cave.

"Wait!" I tried to call out to N, but soon felt someone's hand on my shoulder. I turned and noticed it was from the professor.

"Just let him go Ashlee. I'm sure he just needs a little time to try and understand how others feel," said Professor Juniper. I sighed, but nodded. I just hope he'll feel alright. "Now then, I think I'll go collect a little more data. For Pokémon and people to get along better, we need to take steps to learn more about them!" she then added with a smile and walked back deeper into the cave. I noticed Bianca looked towards me as if she needs to tell me something.

"Umm, Ashlee? I'm gonna go with Professor Juniper now 'cause I'm her bodyguard," said Bianca. I nodded and stepped forward.

"I'll come with you guys. I need to do some training for the next gym battle," I said to Bianca. She smiled as she starts to follow the professor. I followed them as well while walking next to Bianca.

"So Ashlee, what did those Pokémon robbers want with you any way?" Bianca suddenly asked after a couple minutes of walking. I blushed a little and looked away.

"They just brought me to N. You see..." I replied and now started to tell Bianca everything going on between me and N. The Ferris Wheel, telling me he is in love with me, how he's the king of Team Plasma, and our time when the Plasma members and the Shadow Triad took me to him.

After telling Bianca all of my time with N, she let out a huge gasp and gave me a face between pity and happiness. "So, what are you going to do?" she then asked. I gave her a sad smile.

"Well, I can't go stay with him after what Team Plasma has done and the fact that I have been brought here because of them," I replied as I started to look up. "However, I do have a dream-" I stopped and shook my head. "No, three dreams in this dimension to fulfill. A dream to save the bond between people and Pokémon, to get back home, and to help N, the guy I've fallen in love with, understand the truth between people and Pokémon," I added as I continue to watch Professor Juniper collect some data from the electric stones.

Author's Note:

YIPPEE! The next chapter is here! 8D

I'm so sorry for the delay! A lot has happened and I had summer courses to do!... Please don't kill me. ;w;'