Ragnarok

Note: Again, I'm late. I really need to stick to this month-by-month updating process, since I like it a great deal. I'll try getting the next chapter out before March starts.

No promises, though ;P

Comments on this chapter: I was really surprised. I expected this to be one of my shortest chapters in the first Session, considering the content that was originally going to be discussed. That said, I was pleasantly surprised to see that it was a bit longer than I imagined. It's an 18K chapter, so be sure to be seated for this monster.

As always, read, review, rate. Reviews give me the incentive to keep the story going. Every review counts. If anyone has ANY problem with the story, please bring it up in your reviews

With that said, enjoy the read!

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1:10
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The dirty black sky loomed overhead, surveying the events unfolding below, on the bite sized island just a handful of hours south of Olivine City. Clouds had rolled in over the last few hours; flashes of intense light flooded the opened fissures in between the wild storm clouds.

The drastic change in weather initially confused the civilians of Cianwood, and as their time slipped away, the ominous feeling felt deep in their guts tested their nerves. Several fled to their houses for safety; others simply gave the conditions a cold shoulder, while the one or two lucky bastards who knew better decided to get as far away from that cursed island as possible.

As if the gigantic flock of escaping Zubat from the caverns to the far west of Cianwood weren't warning enough.

That tension, giant, like a spreading virus, coated itself across the island with its wicked flame. The leader, the one assigned to govern and watch over the island as their protector, grew suspicious of the natural forces that began to spin out of control as the clouds crept in earlier in the day.

The rising ocean tides went unnoticed.

The paradise that was Cianwood was a haven several hours ago. The leader, the one and only Chuck, couldn't believe it had come to this as he rushed back to his dojo, where all of his gym trainers awaited his orders. The monstrous roar echoed back from the eastern coast as Chuck practically kicked down the doors to the dojo with his strength, the opening just enough to fit his growing belly girth.

The gym trainers eyes followed him, their hearts stopped as Chuck's eyes, completely dilated with that sensation of fear- blended together with his sense of duty to the town- met their own.

"It's at the beach! I don't know why it's here, but it's HERE! Stop it at all costs!"

The gym trainers courageously- or foolishly- stormed out of the dojo, leaving Chuck by himself, another roar snapping him out of his quick freeze in time. his feet already aching from the run over to the dojo.

"PROTECT THE CITY! THAT'S THE NUMBER ONE PRIORITY!!" Chuck yelled as he turned back toward the gaping hole that was once a loyal door. He stumbled across the punching bags and weight lifting sets that littered his gym, passed some stray weights along the way to the back wall, where a shiny, clean pokeball rested. Rather than the usual red and white palette the pokeballs where naturally marked as, this one was completely covered with a black layer over the entire sphere. The release button was coated with gold, with a tiny "H" and "N" engraved into the center of the ball.

He nearly ripped the resident of the ball out and into the open-aired room. A tiny, small Pidgey shivered as the light from its release faded. It immediately jumped into flight, not because it was trained to do so in emergencies, but because it's natural instinct was blaring wildly, begging to the poor little bird: "Get the hell out of there!!"

Chuck quickly reached into his pants, pulling out a tiny device he had been using during his dash back to the western coast of Cianwood. Not wasting any time, he attached the device to a small compartment on top of the Pidgey's tiny legs, assured that it was tight when he heard the clip on the device snap to the belt.

The tiny bird blasted off like a shuttle when Chuck had completed the first step in his mission. There was only one thing left to do: Protect the civilians he promised his life to.

Another piercing cry came through the dojo's broken door as Chuck bolted back toward the eastern beaches.

A large silhouette hovered above most of the smaller businesses and condos at the coast that hadn't been swept away by the ocean's tide, easily visible from the distance and higher elevation that Chuck was at. His eyes squinted when he saw a smaller mass collide with the darkened beast, bouncing right off of its rough hide, Chuck trying desperately to identify the defender as his feet carried him back to the fight.

A roar from the beast, sounding absolutely nothing like a biological creature, expressed its pain, followed by a flash of colors blaring from the center and up to the top of its massive body. A series of reds, blues, and silvers signaled off like a car alarm, screaming out in a language only several species of Pokemon would understand completely.

The silhouette raised a fist high into the sky, the entire arm emitting an overload of bright, white light. Chuck was forced to a halt by an incoming vibration that rumbled through the ground. A deep sound echoed from the terrain below, a powerful energy forcing Chuck to his knees. Focusing his body, and aware of the danger his disciples were now in, he continued his trek toward the beaches.

Several residents had been running passed him in a mad frenzy, trying to find safety as far away from the creature as possible, screams filling the dark skies as the fist of the creature clenched tightly, visible through the light that was now pulsing along its knuckles like veins. The vibrations in the ground grew worse, several of the weaker villagers fleeing from the battle at the coast- children, older folks- collapsed under the incredible might of the unknown force.

Chuck had less than two seconds to register the beast's fist crashing down onto whoever happened to be unfortunate enough to be in the monster's path. Even the thunder blasting through the skies went mute as its fist demolished the earth beneath it.

The chubby gym leader struggled to keep his balance as he finally entered the now abandoned town. A fissure erupted underneath him, the earth being forced apart by the force of the mega punch dealt by the foe. A scream ripped through the skies, Chuck recognizing it as one of his own. His teeth clinched as he ripped the pokeballs off of his belt. His Poliwrath and Machamp quickly broke into a dash with their master as the distance from the skirmish was shrinking with every breath they took. A great gust of wind quickly followed the vibrations that had already died down beneath the terrain.

Chuck arrived just in time to watch the carnage squirming underneath the creature's bloody fist. He nearly shouted in anger, watching the dismembered leg of one of his finest pupils twitching in the large crater, under the illusion that its owner was still living giving it life. The rest of the body was completely unidentifiable, and it took him a minute to realize the scream must have come from another gym trainer several hundred yards away from the crater, tossed into the nearby foliage from the force of the attack.

He quickly tried to assess the damage. Anything within that few hundred yard radius was completely demolished. The fissures traced their ways to the crater of his fallen comrade, blood starting to pool at the deepest depths of the gaping wound in the rock. The rest of his pupils and the Pokemon they trained were scattered, most likely from the force exerted from the power of the monster's deadly punch.

Not a single one budged when Chuck called out to them individually by name, their Pokemon sprawled out, and just as silent as their deceased masters. The storm overhead showing no signs of life as the clouds swirled around the island, the water slashing violently against the new coast of Cianwood.

The battle was a blow-out, and Chuck's life, as far as he knew it, as well as most of the people he had been ordered to protect, was about to end. The towering giant seemingly turned to him, a face absent from its body. A large bolt struck to the side of the battle, smashing through a house and sending debris into the skies. The lightning giving Chuck a sneak peak at his soon-to-be-murderer.

His Pokemon didn't bother trying to battle their opponent, bringing their fists to their sides and taking in a deep breath. They understood, from Chuck's position, exactly what was about to happen.

"I'm ashamed," Chuck spoke to them, "that I was too weak to protect anyone from something like this."

The creature’s lights blinked furiously as it backed up slowly, scooting several yards away. It spread its arms out wide, the humming and vibrations from before returning in full force.

"I'm sorry, everyone," Chuck continued, glancing at his closest friends, their eyes closed as if they accepted their fates the moment they realized who they had been unknowingly put up against.

"It's been a real privilege to work alongside you two for all these years," Chuck thanked his two Pokemon, "we’ve had a good life, eh?"

His Pokemon grunted back in their language. Chuck, sighing deeply as the roar of the creature deafened his hearing, sat down on the ground, putting himself and his Pokemon at the mercy of the creature.

Chuck's thoughts raced. What would happen to the civilians was already settled. They'd die with him, with Cianwood. What really bothered him though, was the reason for this unprecedented attack.

Why? For what reason did this have to happen? What are they planning? What will High Noon do?

A Hyper Beam, the largest Chuck had ever seen in his life, fired from the hellish entity's body, engulfing Chuck's entire view of the island.

There was no pain. Chuck and his Pokemon, their bodies numb, watched helplessly as the island ripped apart under the weight of the attack. Chuck's head was spinning, as if he was floating blissfully into the air. He looked at his hands in front of his body. He didn't even scream when the flesh and bone ripped off, burning in the intensity of the blast. His body melted in front of his eyes, his mind stopping completely, overwhelmed with a sense of bliss unintentionally attached to the attack. Even the storms above dispersed from its tremendous power.

An explosion instantly engulfed the entire island, incinerating everything in its path.

A distance away, floating above the waves, was a graveyard of dead Magikarp; too simple to even obey their natural instincts to escape from the incoming terror.

Amongst the sea colored orange and yellow, a small bird bobbed with the violent tides, face down in the water, its eyes wide open and unblinking underneath the surface.

A strange device was playing on its leg, the voice of a panicking, now deceased ex-gym leader repeating over and over.

"High Noon Emergency Message G4P486: This is Chuck reporting from Cianwood City," it repeated in a rushed tone, "there's been an attack. It came from the ocean. No one saw it coming for days, it just appeared out of nowhere. The last report of it moving from Sinnoh were terribly out of date. It's already destroyed half of the city. I don't understand its reasoning, but if it continues to attack us with this intensity, Cianwood will be destroyed by daybreak."

A large roar could be heard through the device, followed by Chuck's heavy breathing from his run.

"I repeat. We've been attacked. It is with absolute certainty, that our attacker is the legendary one: Regigigas. There's no more time.

Arceus have mercy on us all..."

The message continued to repeat until it was swallowed up by the tides.

==========

The edge of the world.

The water from an ocean which stretched beyond the imagination quietly caressed the chilling grains of sand on the blackened beach. The lack of sunlight made it difficult for any wanderer in this strange realm to differentiate between where the sand stopped, and where the body of water began. The only notification of the change was that of a bizarre, red tint that bordered the edges of the water.

The grains of sand looked as though it was one giant entity, a heap of dark mass which greedily swallowed down all possible sources of light in this dark void. They hungrily looked to the ocean, one by one, scurrying toward the bottom of the sea as the incoming tides sucked them away, one at a time.

Glowing from beneath the water, a pale, white mass. It gave off a faded pulse of light at the rhythm of a heartbeat. It began to rise, closing the distance it had with the surface of the ocean. Bubbles raced the light source to the top, the gurgling disrupting the sea as the light finally reached the apex.

A splash echoed inside the dead space, a single, glowing claw reaching out from between the waves. The mammal’s small, white red ears popped out next, on the verge of drowning. Its head burst through immediately after, coughing up as it struggled to near the shallow portion of the beach. Her fur, a pale ivory white, with crimson zigzagged patterns, flattened against her face, arms and belly, full of moisture. She gripped at the black sand, gasping for oxygen in the soulless environment. Her deep breaths were all that replied back to her.

Her fur stained with black grains as she lifted her body up with her paws, on all fours and looking to the ground with her eyes tightly shut as she coughed up the salty body behind her.

Luna, her breathing returned to normal, opened her eyes to view the silenced world around her. She stood on the beach, front paws lifted and to her sides, and looked around for any trace of life.

"The caves...and then," she tried to retrace her steps from her memory, only to draw a blank in the end.

"Is this that same place from before?" Luna looked around, expecting a familiar cloaked figure to appear sometime soon.

Time passed. Luna tried keeping her sanity in this silent prison by drawing shapes in the sand with her claws. The glow radiating from her body giving her just enough light to see the small shapes she drew, but nothing seemed relevant to her as she continued to doodle in the sand.

She stopped when her claw suddenly clanked against a hard surface just underneath the thin layer of blackened earth. It feel unnatural to her, and, curious, she let her claws make an attempt to break through the barrier. The solid material suddenly caved in, softly wrapping itself around her claw with its bright tendrils. Warmth was passed from the light and into Luna's paw as she started to let her arm sink in.

The mongoose wouldn't wait any longer. She jumped to her feet, and began to dig. Her claws like shovels, she tossed the millions of grains into the water, the darkness in the sky concealing them as they splashed against the surface of the waters and washed away with the motions of the ocean.

The ground underneath pulsed with that same glowing light as her fur, with the same glowing light as before when she took a dive into her first recovered memory.

Luna took several steps back to look at her work. She was pleased at what she found: Not one portal, but two, and both of them idled, waiting for their master to reclaim the memories inside. She quickly recalled having a memory activate as she left this darkened world during her first visit.

"It's a bit brighter now," she spoke to herself, looking at her dark void, recognizing the empty space off in the distance from her other visit, "There's more light now than there was last time."

She looked down at the gateway on the left. "And it'll only become brighter as I gather more plates." Crawling, Luna approached the portal, and without a second thought, took a leap of faith right into the center.

Gleefully, it trotted along the surface of its domain, speaking in an incomprehensible language to its old friend. The blue orb shined happily back at her, smothering her with love in the only way it knew how. She barked back happily, pouncing and prancing around her friend, nuzzling it with her face.

She showered her friend with her own affection, the sun shining brightly behind her, heating the surface of the ball. It replied back, sprouting vegetation that her eyes gazed at for what could've very well been eons.

She watched as, slowly, the greenery covered the majority of the planet. She yawned, her gift to her friend tiring her body and mind out completely, still a rookie of course. It was now time to rest; her training would intensify as she grew.

Taking a few paces backward, she curled up and stared back at her friend, eyelids growing heavy from fatigue. A smile shined on her face as she drifted off into another slumber, cooing herself into the realm of unconsciousness.

Luna's eyes blinked furiously, patches of light flickering in her vision, fading away as she adjusted to the darkness of her realm again. Groaning, she rubbed her paws against her face, flustered at what she just saw.

She was chuckling. "Absurd. There's no way. No way."

Luna turned her attention to the other whitened portal, still pulsing, those warm, inviting tendrils coaxing her closer to her next experience. Curious, she looked around once more, making sure that there was no sign of the strange, familiar floating mask before she decided to jump right into the next experience.

==========

This was different. Much, much different from what she had just experienced. Her heart was racing, almost as fast as her paws through the grass, her body beating down on the ground, madly dashing toward something in the distance.

Trees blocked her from running straight ahead. Her body continued to race toward the structures.

"Move out of the way, damn you!" Luna ordered, her body on auto-pilot, much like her first "experience".

She felt her heart stop as her body quickly bounced from the ground and straight up the thick, wooden trunk of the tree. Her beastly climbing speed terrified Luna, but her heart's thrashing inside her chest, and a strange rush of adrenaline, kept her on an energy high. Luna's eyes darted from one side of the forest and toward the other, her snout twitching as she sniffed the air.

She picked up a foul smell lingering somewhere off to the west. Her blood boiled as her body braced itself. A battle cry rung out from her throat as she sped down the large, sprouting branches of the trees, leaping from branch to branch in order to maintain her top speed. Taillow squawked wildly from the trees as a furious, white blur blazed by.

She looked back, her ears twitching at the sound of more creatures heading her way. A small pack of Zangoose lagged behind, following the sound of her tribal call. The trees Luna was clearing began to thin out in front of her, leaving the jungle floor more open and viable for giving chase.

Luna grinned as she jumped directly from one tree's branch, toward the trunk of another. Her claws nearly ripped themselves from her body. Luna stared at them in awe. They were glorious. Long, razor sharp, and made for merciless cutting and stabbing. As her memory continued, she questioned why her claws no longer had such an appealing and intimidating appearance.

Luna sniffed into the air again. The wretched stench in the air grew stronger, her anger quickly rising over and out of her control. Her war cry shook the inhabitants of the jungle from their sleep as her claws scraped against the sides of the tree's trunk, slowing her fall just enough for her to land harmlessly on the ground.

Avoiding any major loss in her speed, she rolled and jumped right back into a run. The lack of trees in the area allows her legs to pour on the juice, the greenery blending into a fine, herbal stew in front of her eyes. Her eyes focused on the path straight ahead. Luna's nose flared and eyes squinted when she saw three shapes in front of her. Small lines that darted as fast as they could away from her, screaming their species' name every moment or so, trying to call for a clan that wouldn't answer their prayers.

Seviper. Three of them. Luna's body went berserk with rage, but her mind, the part of her that was experiencing the dream in first person, refused to register a problem.

"Seviper?" She asked herself as her body darted after her target. Her eyes locked onto the serpents, an intent that ran so deep inside her body that it was etched into every single cell of her being cheering her on. These Seviper needed to die.

"Wait, stop, what's going on?!" Luna tried to call to her disobeying body. It refused to answer, growing closer to the targets it obsessed over. The sounds of the crunching leaves and flattening grass below her escaped her ears, focusing only on the distressed calls of the three slithering bodies now only feet away.

"Am I hunting? I'm hunting, right?" Luna convinced her mind as her body began to build up energy. Concentrated on the enemies, Luna leapt into the air, her speed from takeoff enough for her to soar directly over the snakes. Before they could register what Luna had done, or where she had vanished to, she came crashing down on all of them with her arms and claws extended. Dirt, grass, and small pebbles kicked up as they came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the jungle, the chirping of the birds and small critters suddenly absent.

Luna's left arm pinned all three of the Seviper to the ground, their bodies all struggling to escape from the cat ferret's grasp. They were no more than half the size of a fully grown adult of their own species. Luna's mind started to race.

The Seviper trio bent and twisted their bodies, digging their fangs into the cat ferret and pumping as much poison as they could into her body. Luna's fangs exposed themselves in a devilish grin that made her mind freeze over.

"Pump in as much as you please, children."

If Luna were in control, her eyes would've widened tenfold. "Ch-children!?"

Luna licked her lips, staring from one thick and long body to another, picking out which one she wanted first.

Luna's mind screamed, Noah's moral influences on her state becoming stronger, "Wait! Stop! They are just children!"

Luna looked around. Her clan had yet to catch up. She must've left them in her dust...again.

"More for me, right kids?"

Her right paw's claws seemed to tremble excitedly, the afternoon sun burning behind Luna's back. A small, humid fog lingered in the air in this small patch of the jungle that the creatures had ran towards. She panted with anticipation, the fog gently blowing away, though Luna's mind tried to convince her that she was just exhausted from the long and speedy Pokemon chase rather than the hype she was getting from holding her victims.

Saliva gave her fangs a shiny coat as she chose her target. Her right arm came in front of her jaws, her tongue grazing each individual tool at her disposal.

Her right arm rose to the sky. Luna tried with all her might to overcome her body.

Luna's claws slammed into the grass where the Seviper were struggling. A single squeal escaped from her target's throat before it was clogged with its own blood. It splashed onto Luna's face and chest, staining her with a genuine, bloodied coat. Her claws quickly pulled themselves from the scaly flesh, some of the innards opting to stick to the fur on her paws. She didn't bother to wipe the guts from her weapons.

"It would be a waste of my time."

Her claws shot back into the terrain. The grass beneath her pooled with blood from the second victim, its essence splashing on her muzzle. She licked her lips and smiled a devious, toothy grin as she stared back at the third of the trio, still clamped onto her pinning arm.

"What a warrior. Fighting to the death. I admire that."

Luna's mind had gone practically numb. She wished for her eyes to close; she was at the mercy of this nightmare.

"What did they do...why are you doing this? Was it for food? Why..."

Luna's right arm grabbed the last Seviper by the head, and with a brutal, uncaring force, yanked it from her other arm. She didn't even wince from the pain as a small chunk of her own meat flung off with the creature. Small traces of poison oozed from the Seviper's fangs.

"Be honored. You managed to take a bite out of me...you little shit!"

"NO!!!"

Luna's grip on the Seviper tightened, quickly lifting it into the air and violently back into the ground in one smooth motion. The earth shook beneath Luna's feet as the Seviper wailed, crying for its clan to come to its aid.

"No...Stop it...don't."

Luna's arms pressed against the Seviper's throat, cutting off its air supply. Luna watched and chuckled under her breath, his gasps for air like music to her ears. She pushed down tighter and harder with every moment of time that passed, her own blood starting to flow from the wound she gained.

Horrified, and helpless, she could only sit back and watch as her body slowly but surely finished off the last of the children.

The baby snake's jaws fell open, its forked tongue and reddened teeth hanging out, a soul absent from the body.

Luna wasn't finished. Her claws on her empty arm unsheathed themselves. She gathered the three snakes together, their thick bodies still small enough to fit inside of her arms. She piled them together, blood staining her chest as she dropped them in the heap. Staring at them, she focused her strength, her claws and body twitching with anticipation.

Her arms sliced straight down, digging through the meat of the snakes. She quickly pulled them back out, a puddle of blood muddying up the dirt, and stabbed into the snake hides again. Her grin widened as the juices splashed on her body, her stabbing only increasing in speed and enjoyment. The feel of her arms plowing through a Seviper's fragile body soothing her blood lust, the smell of Seviper's blood on her fur like a drug for her starved body.

They became a heap of shredded carcasses after a handful of additional stabs. At points, she even reached in with her jaws, ripping the scales and meat out from their diced up hides, spitting out whatever organ pieces her fangs managed to cling to.

Her clan would find her when the smell of the Seviper's blood eventually spread far enough to be traced. Knowing that they'd arrive soon, she took one last guilty pleasure over the bodies.

Luna turned around, and like a child, threw herself into the serpent pieces, enjoying her post-mortem blood bath. She rubbed the blood and pieces of chopped remains all over her fur, enjoying the scent of the dead creatures on her body, a sense of ecstasy flowing through her veins. She giggled when a piece meat broke off of one of the snake's bodies and over her face.

Luna wanted to vomit.

She purred as she slowly started to fall asleep in the pile of her latest masterpiece. The sounds of her comrades approaching the last thing she heard before her body rested on her work of art.

==========

Stomach juices splashed along the beach. The stench of the creatures murdered in front of her very eyes now etched into her memory forever. Tears made their way down her face when her stomach failed to bring up anything else from inside of her body. She fell on her belly, clutching at her head with her paws, pulling her ears painfully up and over her face to cover her eyes while the tears soaked into the jet black sand beneath her. The waves continued to gently crash in front of her.

"It seems like you lost. It's a pity."

The familiar voice rang in Luna's ears. She refused to move from her spot, breathing heavily and choking on her tears. She didn't reply.

"You played a dangerous game, Luna. You gambled by trying to receive two memories without knowing their content. You need to understand, now more than ever, that it's unwise to allow all of the memories in here to be revived, for your own sake.”

She coughed, sniffed, and began to cry again at the fatherly scolding.

"I was busy with something else. You'll forgive me for being late next time, won't you?"

"I...is that true?"

"Huh?"

"Killing the baby Seviper...is it-"

"Everything in here is from your old memories, Luna. It's all true."

"I didn't mean to...I didn't want to."

The masked man turned his back on Luna, and started to walk away.

"Look before you leap next time. Don't worry; you'll know what to choose and what not to choose if you just concentrate, and play it smart. And hey, if you're a little patient, I'll swing by and help you decide, if need be."

"Wait!"

The cloaked figure stopped in mid-walk.

"The two memories I just recovered...how are they related?"

The man laughed.

"Now, isn't that funny? You're getting pretty smart, pretty fast, aren't you?"

Luna sniffed, her voice cracking with every word that escaped her mouth. "What?"

He started walking back into the shroud of darkness that surrounded the bloody watered beach. "You have four of seventeen plates. You're about a quarter of the way to your goal now. Keep it up, baby."

He disappeared.

"You're not aware of it, but your personality is violently changing. This is natural. Don't worry about it too much.

Besides, maybe that Noah boy will be able to help."

Luna was left alone. She turned back to the ocean. The water was gone. The dark colored sand stretched for what seemed like miles.

Luna, out of options, leaned against the sand, and continued to sob until sleep took her away from her fresh, wretched memory.

==========

"-weather outside is looking to-
-is dominated by Brock's Steelix! This i-
-the case of the vanished island conti-"

Noah groaned at the direction of the constant noise, a faint light from the window above him signaling that it was now morning, and time to head toward Floaroma. The television channels kept changing every second or so, catching Noah's attention when he opened his eyes for the first time that day.

Luna was resting at the foot of his bed, slumped and sprawled on her belly. A single, free claw pushed down on a button in the remote control, the stations on the television switching with every gentle nudge. Her lenses were a darker shade of red, the milky white of her eyes somewhat faded. Her lids seemed heavy and exhausted with sleep deprivation. The fur underneath her eyelids matted, as if they'd been hastily dried.

"Luna, what are you doing up so early?" he asked, sitting up in the bed, taken back by her lack of energy.

"Couldn't sleep," she replied in a hollow, coarse voice, "Just watched stuff for a long time."

Noah crawled out of bed while she continued to somewhat mope. Noah, curious, pressed on. "Is something wrong, Luna? What's up?"

Luna didn't budge, still flipping across channels at a snail's pace. "No. Just tired."

Noah cautiously tried to sneak his way through their bond. Within it, Noah felt a strange presence. As if his thoughts were being forced away from Luna's bond with him, the one in which they were allowed to willingly share thoughts and feelings.

Noah refused to push on in the case that Luna spotted him wading through her mind. He hoped she would eventually open up to him about whatever was going on, but until then, he couldn't do much about it. Scratching the back of his head, Noah walked into the bathroom, swinging the door open to take a quick shower before meeting up with the others.

Luna's ears drooped off to her sides as she heard the door open behind her.

"What the fu-"

Noah gawked at the remains of the bathroom in front of him. The small mirror above the sink had a large, gaping crack crawling down the center, with a decent sized hole separating the mirror into two partially equal halves. Shards of glass littered the bleached sink. Small drops of dry blood stained the bowl of the sink itself, running down into the drain.

The wall opposite the mirror had deep, long gashes running diagonally down through the tiles, with another pair of wounds running through the opposite direction, making a checkered pattern. Several more drops of blood stained the carpet at his feet, and dull, gray fur clung to most of the carpet's surface.

'Talking to her about it right now wouldn't help...'

Noah tried his best to quickly sweep up the broken glass, trashing it in a wastebasket that was tossed over before he put it back upright. Luna sighed when she heard the shower turn on through the now closed door.

The connection their minds shared went unused throughout the entirety of the morning, even through Noah dressing himself in his usual attire: a red vest, black shirt, and dark blue jeans with black and white shoes- he always made it a point to carry several copies of his favorite set of clothes.

An hour passed by before Lynus and Jerry met with Noah in the Pokemon Center's lobby, the two of them having woken up earlier to take care of several issues in Oreburgh's small business sector. Noah discussed the damages to the room with the nurse at the desk before leaving the center, taking full responsibility for the actions and signed over a sum of money for the repairs, a miniscule, ant bite's worth of expenses for him to worry about. Hungry, the three travelers opted for a quick breakfast, Jerry picking out a diner deemed as the "town-favorite".

The restaurant had just opened, the line of customers that casually walked through the wooden doors still just stirring in their sleep. Several tables and booths were neatly lined up along the length of the building, a bar at the front littered with stools, where miners and businessmen alike would ease their daily troubles with mug after mug of beer and other alcohol. A weak smell of egg and bacon hung in the air as they took their seats.

Noah and Luna sat across from Jerry and Lyn at a booth near a glass window, waiting for a waitress to approach them to ask for their orders. Luna mindlessly picked up and dropped the menu; her eyes staring blankly back at the lifeless and cold table beneath her.

Jerry quickly sat himself upright and cupped his hands together when the waitress seemingly appeared from out of nowhere.

"Excuse me miss," Jerry broke the ice with a gentle smile, "but I've been hearing about this great dish recently. I haven't been in town for several months, and I've seen nothing but positive feedback on the 'Oreburgh-City-Special'. Mind telling me what that is?"

Noah, Jerry, and Lynus all listened in as she listed off all of the breakfast items that came with the "special" of the town: two waffles- choice of strawberry, blueberry, or regular- two eggs, two strips of bacon, and a nice, giant platter of hash browns with a cup of their choice of syrup on the side. After deciding on their drinks, the trio quickly agreed to the meal, leaving Luna to herself.

"Luna...uh...what do you want?" Noah quickly nudged her, her claws lightly grazing at the menu flat against the surface.

Without thinking about it, Luna grumbled out in plain English, the first item on the list she had heard from the lady, "Two waffles..."

The waitress and Jerry stared back at the mongoose, eyes wide in disbelief for what they had just heard. Lyn froze in her seat, while Noah quickly turned from Luna, back to the lady.

"Did...did your Pokemon just speak?" Jerry had to ask. "She just said 'waffles', right?"

"No. I didn't hear anything," Noah outright lied, looking at Lynus. "Did you hear something?"

Lyn picked up the hint right away, remembering that Luna had been told not to speak back when she had first met them both.

"Nope. I just heard her grunt."

"Weird...I could've sworn I just heard her say something," Jerry continued. The waitress shrugged it off, believing that she was just hearing things. It was still early morning, to be fair, and sleep still lingered nearby.

"Well...she'll have two waffles...please," Noah quickly changed the subject back to the food. A few moments of scribbling later, and the lady bolted back to the kitchen with the order.

Jerry waited for everything to calm down around them, despite the lack of customers currently at the restaurant, before opening his mouth.

"So...Zangoose, er, I mean Luna, can talk? Since when?"

Noah and Lyn looked at Jerry as if he was insane.

"Don't be stupid, Noah. I know what I heard."

Noah's eyes quickly returned focus on Luna, who was now slouching over the table, her arms covering her entire area.

"We can't keep this thing under wraps if you keep talking to whoever you feel like talking to," he spoke to her.

"So she-"

"Yeah. She talks. I just don't want her to talk too much in public. Don't want to catch attention."

Jerry took a good look back at Luna, who hesitated to lock eyes with him. Her usually bright eyes seemed rusted and worn in the sunlight creeping over the Coronet mountain valley, bags starting to be clearly visible under the fur on her head. Her ears drooped to the ground at her seemingly hideous appearance.

"Is she alright, Noah?"

"Yeah, she's fine."

"I couldn't sleep last night," Luna spoke to Jerry directly, a small gasp fleeing from the listener.

"Wow...incredible," he nearly whispered, wrapping his finger around his upper lip, pondering. "Not many Pokemon can speak the English language. Noah, how did you do it?"

Noah looked back at him. "I didn't. She knew how to speak when I met her."

"Amazing. How?"

“Don’t know. She just did.”

Lyn chuckled at Jerry, still stricken with awe at the "new" development.

The drinks were swiftly brought down on the table: Orange juice for Noah and Jerry, apple for Lynus, and chocolate milk for Luna- Noah figured she wanted it, as she scratched at it the most on the menu when the waitress requested the drink orders.

A quick and dull tutorial later, Luna had learned how to drink from a straw; a pile of chewed and torn straws piled on the edge of the table. Cautiously, at first, she sipped a small portion into her mouth, letting her tongue savor the sweet flavors in the beverage. A gentle smile appeared on her face, her tail wagging softly across the booth's cushioned seat, kept shakily under her control.

"Good?" Lyn asked her, to which the cat ferret gave a silent nod. She continued to drink her glass in peace as the other three started up a conversation.

"There's actually a shortcut that was constructed several months ago that takes us directly from Route 203 to Route 204," Jerry started, "It's just a small shift to the right before reentering Jubilife. It only saves us about an hour of travel time, but it's absolutely necessary if the goal is to get to Floaroma as fast as possible, right?"

"Yeah. I want to get to Floaroma quickly. Once we get there, we can sit down and train the group. I don't feel like much of the wild ones around here are putting up much of a fight for Luna, and Koko went completely even with Luna for most of their battle. Going a little up North may give us more opportunities to train our teams with Pokemon with a more challenging level of strength."

"Alright then. Lyn and I already took the liberty of packing for the road across the two routes. We woke up a little early to go and buy some supplies."

"You want me to pay you back for me and Lyn?"

"Of course not. Money isn't a problem for me, you've always known that."

Lyn turned to Jerry, "Both of you seem pretty well off. Is there any particular reason why?"

"Inheritance," the two young men replied.

"My family is one of the founders of the new system to educate up and coming Pokemon Trainers," Jerry bragged, not much to hide his pride, "We're the only reason any one of the trainers in our generation are even licensed as such. Once we agreed upon a contract with High Noon about the procedures and policies that we were told to enforce by the government, the rest was history."

"I see," Lynus replied, turning to Noah. "And you?"

"My family worked for High Noon," Noah nearly mumbled out, reflecting Luna's speech earlier. "We got by pretty well."

"Speaking of High Noon, haven't you heard, Noah?" Jerry asked. Noah picked his head up slightly, staring back at Jerry, his curly black hair covering the majority of his forehead.

"Heard of what?"

"The shift! You haven't been looking at the news lately!?"

"Well, no. I've been running around in forests and mines. Why, what's going on?"

"Cynthia's gone missing, and Lance is dead."

Lyn sat back, having no idea of what was going on with the outside world over her years in the forest.

"Lance...Lance died? How?"

"Suicide," Jerry answered.

"I..."

"At least, it looks and points to suicide."

"This was all on the news? Including Cynthia's disappearing?" Noah asked, remembering a live report back in Sandgem on the news concerning Lance’s demise. His memory was still a bit of a fuzz when he tried to think back to Sandgem Town.

"Yeah, why?"

Noah knew he could trust Jerry with whatever information he shared with him. They had been close friends ever since Noah's parents passed away, so he had no reason to hide anything from him- something he questioned in terms of keeping Luna's ability to talk a secret to begin with. Lyn also seemed like someone he was sure would trust in what he had to say. Though he had absolutely no proof that could back up what he believed, he felt as though he could just simply trust in her to believe in him. It was an odd feeling.

"Well, Cynthia's not missing. She's dead."

Jerry almost spit out the orange juice he was currently drinking. Luna was uninterested in the conversation, waiting for the waitress to return with another glass of chocolate milk. She yawned as Noah continued with the events that took place at his house on the day he returned to Twinleaf after meeting Luna.

"What?! I haven't heard anything about that!" Jerry's voice stirred up attention from the one or two customers who had walked in since they ordered.

Noah shushed him down and continued, whispering only loud enough for the group to hear. "I know. It's weird. She was kinda...dropped off at my house."

Jerry had a difficult time believing him. Noah could see it on his face. “Why?”

"I think it was a warning. She was escorting me to meet someone I needed to talk to. We were attacked by a large group of thugs."

This caught Jerry's attention. "Noah, I need to ask you. Please, tell me, what did these grunts look like?"

"I can't remember too well, it was getting dark. They were wearing all black, except for this one pair. They looked like they were the ones in charge, and had light gray vests over the black outfits. One of them was...tall and masculine, very pale skin. The other was much smaller and thin, and had blonde hair."

The color in Jerry's face almost faded completely.

"Galactic."

"What?"

"Galactic! Team Galactic! That's who they are!"

"I don't...but," Noah remembered Bee's message back in Jubilife, about how Galactic was interested in Noah for some unknown reason; a chill ran up and down his spine. Luna shivered as the message was uncontrollably sent over the bond.

"It's Galactic. Those two you just identified are notorious. They're believed to be higher leveled members of the organization. There's not much known about them other than a few consistent traits from eyewitness reports: Two of them, one large in frame with pale skin, and another with fair skin, thin body, and blonde hair."

"And how could you be so sure that it was Galactic?"

Jerry looked down at the table. "Only someone like those two would have the nerve to go up against a High Noon member like Cynthia. You knew how strong she was, Noah."

Noah nodded, and Lyn could only sit on and watch as the two continued.

"Noah, this is bad. Really, really bad."

"What?"

"Galactic is back, there's no doubt about that. But if what you say is true, and Cynthia really is dead, then Sinnoh's in danger...this is so bad."

"How can what I say not be true? I SAW the body. It was practically thrown on my fucking doorstep!"

"Did you call the police!?"

"They came to the house! They said that they were informed that her body was there."

"That...can't be right."

"Why not?"

Lyn shuffled around, uncomfortable in her seat. Noah hadn't told her of any of this information, and it put her on edge that he'd kept something like this to himself, especially considering how important the information would be to the nation in its entirety.

"Noah, when did this happen? When did the police arrive and carry the body away?"

Noah thought back to Twinleaf Town. "It was the same day that Luna and I ran into you outside of Route 201 near Twinleaf. It was that morning, actually."

"No way. The report on the news said she had gone MISSING. AFTER that day."

"Why would they report her missing and not dead?"

"I don't know," Jerry finished, looking incredibly misplaced, something out of character for his naturally suave, cool demeanor, something that put Noah on edge.

"Just understand that I'm having a difficult time believing it, Noah..."

"I do. It does sound extreme."

"I'm a bit concerned about it though."

"Because of Sinnoh?"

"No. Because of High Noon’s effects on Sinnoh."

"Why?" Lyn added in, the suspense pushing her to ask for questions. "Why is it that you're so concerned about High Noon?"

"The stability is one thing. If Cynthia is gone, and Lance is dead, that only leaves the two representatives from Kanto and Hoenn to take charge of the Sinnoh and Johto regions. Two members alone can’t maintain control of four regions for long before something snaps. However, what concerns me more is my family's contract."

"That contract? That same one you mentioned earlier?"

"Yes. See, when we made that contract, we agreed to a large sum of money, as well as a small portion of the money that comes in from the academies that were constructed all around the four regions for tuition. On top of that, the government underneath High Noon also agreed to give us posted updates on anything that could potentially affect our contract with them."

"And Cynthia being gone does that?" Lyn continued.

"Yes! Without Cynthia's authority, the academies in this region can't officially give out Trainer's licenses. She's the one that hands them out at the graduation ceremonies."

"How does that have an effect on your family?"

"Academies can't enroll new students if they're unable to give out official licenses. Our income will come to a complete halt. Not to mention the bonuses from the government will cease once we are unable to allow the next group of classes to graduate."

The waitress came by, refilling the drinks at the table while another worker brought out the food they had ordered. The smell lingered in the air, teasing their appetites and watering their mouths. Jerry, Noah, and Lyn had completely stopped their conversation, thanking the workers as they retreated to service other tables.

None of them started to eat, Noah signaling Jerry to continue.

"High Noon realized the potential of the new academies my family formulated throughout Sinnoh, Hoenn, Kanto, and Johto. Once we opened negotiations with them, they began to talk about a work force of strong trainers to keep the regions under a safe watch. They promised us the large sum of money, additional income, and extra, inside intel of High Noon, so long as the protocols they created were implemented in the schools all around the nations."

"What were these protocols?" Noah asked on.

"Basically, teaching us how to become strong trainers who could live off of the land."

Lyn continued the questionnaire, "There has to be more to it than just that. What's so important about these protocols?"

"The Pokemon League's connection to High Noon is the key," Jerry said as he picked up his fork and tucked his napkin into his shirt, his voice back to its natural calming coolness. The others two quickly did the same. Luna was already eating her waffles and getting her fur sticky with syrup as they slowly ate their food.

"The Pokemon League is more or less a qualifier test for those Trainers who excel as Trainers. Once they reach a status quo in terms of skill, they are invited into High Noon as a low-leveled officer."

"What?"

"Yeah. There's an entire hierarchy in High Noon. Trainers who wander around and take the league challenges are just Trainers, and nothing more. Trainers who become enlisted in High Noon are just called 'Enlisted'.

You can see these trainers at gyms in each town, training with the gym leaders.

To avoid a long, lengthy discussion of this, the hierarchy goes like this," Jerry said, flattening his hand on the table. "This hand represents the Enlisted." Jerry then put his other hand slightly above the first. "Then you have the gym leaders, then the Elite Four," he put his first hand on top of his second. "Then the Champion of each region, and finally the four members of High Noon.

Each group covers an authority over a section of land, but all in all, High Noon itself, the four representatives, control the world, more or less, by keeping the others below them in check. There are some exceptions to the rule though. Several Enlisted Trainers are ranked high enough due to their exploits that although they don't have any authority over High Noon, or even the Gym Leaders at the lower levels, their power has a huge influence in decision making."

Jerry took a deep breath and cut up his food to eat. He let the explanation sink in to the two sitting around him. Luna was already almost done with her meal, and on her second glass of chocolate milk.

He didn't allow them a question as he started up again, "But that wasn't the point I was trying to make originally. The fact of the matter is that if Cynthia is really dead like you said, then High Noon outright LIED to my family, who is suppose to get information on that kind of backroom news."

"I wonder what would make them do something like that. Can't you get them in trouble for infringing upon your contract?"

"It's not that easy, Noah. They've covered up Cynthia being killed if that's the case. No one would believe us if we claimed that she was murdered...even if we accused Galactic of doing so, though that's not to say that they committed the murder."

"So...what do we do about High Noon?" Lyn asked Jerry and Noah.

The two of them just sighed. Jerry was the first to open his mouth.

"There's really nothing I can do right now. I don't want to bring this up with my parents, at least not yet, so as to avoid any conflict that may rise. I'd much rather my family stays financially secure for the time being.

"When the time comes, we'll figure out how to convince everyone that Cynthia's dead."

"Right," Noah said, though another thought crept up from earlier. "Wait, what about Lance? Are they positive that it was suicide?"

Jerry thought deeply about the question Noah had thrown him. "They told us that autopsy reports were impossible because of the state is body was in when the medics finally arrived on scene. Whatever they DID try to look at gave no signs of influence, so an attack from a Psychic type has been for the most part, ruled out."

Lyn had goose bumps run down her arms. "What? What happened to him?"

"He jumped off of the radio tower in Goldenrod City. There was recorded footage and everything. I didn't need High Noon's additional intel to figure out what I saw: He melted. Melted right into the damn ground. Can't do an autopsy on a puddle of goop."

"Dear Arceus..."

Noah didn't utter another word about Lance.

The group continued to finish off their meal in silence. The waffles, light and buttery, made Noah nearly forget the dramatic opening to the morning. His company enjoyed their meals and ordered up another group of drinks before paying the tab and making their way out of the diner. They wanted to get to Floaroma as fast as they could.

"How far are you going to go with us, Jerry?" Lyn asked him, her hands in her large, brown cloak pockets as the group made their way towards the Oreburgh city boundaries.

"Eterna, most likely, but we'll see what happens when we get there. I wouldn't mind catching up a little more with Noah, and to be frank, I'd like to talk with you a little more too."

Lyn looked away, embarrassed. Noah chuckled to himself, while Luna continued to drag her feet behind them as they assessed what items they were taking with them along the routes.

"Everything’s ready?" Noah asked everyone else.

Lyn nodded, Jerry giving Noah a thumbs up on his end.

"Alright then, enough dawdling around here, let's get to Floaroma."

As the group left the city, the sun's warming rays brushed up against the ruins of the mines to the south. A group of people were still climbing amongst the rubble of the collapsed, smoking chasms, still finding pieces of smoking Electrode here and there that needed to be trashed.

==========

Cratos groaned, his back aching as he marched side by side with Eris. They made their way down the same, plain tiled wall they marched through almost every week, preparing to relay their report to their leader. Eris' anxiety could be seen in her trembling, balled up fist. Cratos made an attempt to calm her down as they approached the large, widened doors at the end of the long stretch of hallway.

"Getting nervous isn't going to make this any better. Let's just get this over with," Cratos told her face to face.

Eris swallowed her fear for the moment as they both gripped at one of the two handles on the large entrance. The doors moaned as they swung them completely open and continued their synchronized march down a grey carpet that lead to a desk.

The entire room was dark, the blackened curtains blocking out whatever sunlight fought its way valiantly inside the room. There was enough light to illuminate the ghostly color of Cyrus' face staring back at the two subordinates he had summoned into his office. His eyes locked with Cratos' own pair, and then quickly shifted to Eris, who quickly looked toward the nearest wall on her right.

Eris hated looking into those eyes of his. There was something completely inhuman sleeping inside, and being able to "sense" it through her intuition made her queasy.

"Report," their boss whispered in a calm, demanding tone.

Cratos cleared his throat. "The damage dealt to Oreburgh Mines went well beyond expectations. The entirety of the mines has been sealed off, and reports of recovery plans are already being publicly released."

"And what do these reports say? Quickly," Cyrus motioned his fingers, ordering for the information to be fed to his ears.

"Reconstructing an entrance to the mines, and getting a workforce reinstated to continue mining activity will take an estimated six to seven months."

"Perfect. Oreburgh, as far as we're concerned, is no longer a threat. Continue."

Eris stepped in. "As for surveillance of Noah Sol, we discovered that he was actually within the vicinity of Oreburgh when the attack took place. He's in good condition and at the last check-up, had just left Oreburgh's Pokemon Center and headed west toward Jubilife."

Cyrus let the information sink in. His deal remained unscathed; something that irritated him more than it pleased him.

"And what about the mutt?"

"Still no word on him, nor have any reports come in regarding Mezzanotte, or High Noon's current actions in regards to the attacks on Oreburgh," Cratos read off of his mind.

"How about High Noon in general?"

"Nothing relevant to us has developed, sir. They've just been publicly discussing information in regards to hiring new members for Sinnoh and Johto's branches of the government."

Cyrus leaned back in his chair, content with the quick report. "I didn't think they'd so easily shrug off the idea that we were behind Oreburgh's bombing. This is perfect."

He pointed toward the two highest ranked members of Galactic, himself being the one and only exception.

"We're ready for our next attack then."

Cratos bowed to his boss. "Sir, what's our next target?"

"Eterna."

Cratos and Eris stopped breathing; staring back in disbelief at the order they had just received.

"Order as many Electrode from the Black Market farms as you need. Leave nothing untouched."

"But sir, we need time for something that severe!" Eris retorted, shaking at the thought that he could kill her for simply questioning his methods.

"What she means to say, sir, is that we'd have a difficult time preparing for an attack of this magnitude without disregarding our other objectives."

Cyrus rubbed his chin with his hand. Their lack of employees was detrimental in situations like this, but he would gladly take several members who were as efficient as these two over an army of incompetence. He decided to make a small sacrifice, despite how dangerous it could be. A desperate gamble wouldn't be an accurate way to describe his decision. Without a doubt, the word reckless came into mind. However, the payoff would be enormous if it would go off without a problem.

"I want you two to cease surveillance of the Sol brat. Your attention from this point until the mission has been carried out is to stockpile a large supply of explosives and eradicate Eterna City. Understood?"

Cratos and Eris nodded to his final order. "Sir, we will start immediately, but what of Gardenia?"

"You have four days to build up enough stock to destroy the city. I want you to attack on the fifth day. Your goals are to ensure that the Pokemon Center, Gym, and local authorities are completely obliterated. Destroying anything beyond that isn’t highly recommended, but will be rewarded greatly.

As for Gardenia, don’t worry too much about her. She should be no threat for the two of you."

"And if we meet any other opposition?"

"Crush them."

Cratos and Eris bowed again, saluting their boss before quickly exiting the room, an entire workload waiting for them back at the lower levels.

The two of them sighed. They hated resorting to negotiations with the Black Market farms.

==========

"Monferno! Mach Punch, NOW!"

A fist came charging toward Koko's face, the speedy projectile grazing her as she evaded to the right, her jaw lifted into the air and prepared for a counter attack.

Monferno's hands quickly opened wide as Mawile's extraordinarily large appendage came crashing down on his body, the jaw kept open only through Monferno's resistance. The two of them continued to grapple and struggle in place, Jerry and Noah staring on as the two combatants struggled for dominance.

A distance away, Scyther was practicing on his precision of his vicious Slash attack with Jerry's young but powerful Larvitar. The small, rock skinned creature gained the benefit of target practice in his stationary position, putting in a strong effort to control the giant boulders orbiting his body. Using his tiny claws, he hurled a couple of boulders straight toward Scyther, who had braced himself to make a move on the hard rock.

His blades gleamed in the sunlight as they sliced easily through the hard rock of the first boulder, the fragments falling right behind the mantis. His wings fluttered and lifted his body slightly above the ground. Using the momentum his wings propelled him with, he charged the second boulder, strafing to the right of it and letting a single scythe slice cleanly through the center of the hardened rock.

It sliced into two perfect semi spheres, falling onto the ground and bobbling in place before coming to a halt.

Mawile and Monferno pushed off of each other to reset their battle positions and control. Koko's jaw moderately burned, but ached for more battle against the muscled primate. Saliva dripped from the jaws mouth, the fiery ape's trainer shouting to him to focus through the new scent in the air.

Monferno focused and stared at the empty spot in front of him, where Koko was standing just an eye blink ago. He gasped as a pull from his back him threw off his balance. Koko had pounced behind him through his shadow in the sun, sneaking up with an attack that was nigh unreadable by even the psychic type species.

She pulled him back; Monferno stumbled around, trying to regain his footing. A large, blunt object swung across his head, sending him barreling down and into the grass. Not giving Koko a single moment of relaxation, Monferno nearly bounced off of the ground and into the air. His body grew hot, his tail's flame starting to engulf him from head to toe, curling himself into a ball and beginning to spin toward Koko.

On the other side of the open ended field between Route 203 and Route 204, Lyn was struggling to stave off consecutive Confuse Ray attacks by the specter Rei was currently faced off with. Budew, not the most mobile of the group, fumbled around and tripped when the assault on her continued to quicken, every so often slowing down the onslaught by sneaking in quick Stun Spores in between the oncoming attacks, effectively making her training an intense ranged battle.

Rei had just effectively rolled away from another Confuse Ray after a previous one had knocked her down, quickly pouncing to her small, timid feet and charging headfirst toward Misdreavus. The ghost retaliated with a psybeam toward the ground beneath the tiny plant’s feet. The beam collided, sending dust into the air, blinding Budew's vision.

Rei shook her head around, struggling to locate the opponent. Misdreavus, underestimating Rei's nerve, reappeared in front of her with a terrifying glare, trying to scare the fight out of her. Though startled, the young warrior’s initial response was a thick cloud of stun spore that fired and covered the entire area around her bud, effectively putting Misdreavus out of commission.

Luna, having no one to train with- unless Soki was a choice- half-heartedly ran across the field, running laps to up her endurance. She would stop for a breath every few laps, and start swinging her claws at an invisible opponent in front of her to practice her attack form.

Noah was busy surveying the entire group, taking notes on everyone's habits and errors. His attention was mostly glued onto Koko's fight with Monferno, though he was without a doubt, thoroughly impressed at Budew's fighting capability as she started to wail on the paralyzed spirit.

Luna refused to train with anyone else that day, and was completely against the idea of fighting, something Noah found odd considering her lust for battle that she'd shown over the last few days.

He stopped taking notes and looked back at Luna, who had completely stopped running laps and was currently sitting down, picking and scratching at the ground while staring at her claws. It didn't take their bond for Noah to understand that Luna's mind was anywhere but on her training session.

'Luna, are you fine?' Noah said through their link, not wishing to put effort into shouting her name. Luna's ears perked from the other side of the field.

'I'm okay.'

'You sure? You don't seem like it.'

Luna's claws dug deeper in the soil. Koko's cries as a powerful Flame Wheel collided with her body could be heard from her end of the field. 'No Noah, I'm fine. Just a little tired.'

Noah thought back to the morning. The bathroom, the shattered glass, and the tiles that had been scratched to high hell: Something was obviously eating away at her. Noah tried discretely prying deeper through their connection.

He felt a strange feeling, and had trouble finding a word to describe it at first. He quickly broke off the link before Luna could pick anything significant up through the bond.

"Hollow," Noah muttered, "it's like her will to fight completely vanished overnight."

He pondered upon whether or not to confront her about it.

'Probably better if I just wait until she's calmed down a bit longer.' He continued to scribble notes, his attention back at Koko's fight.

Jerry, having left surveying his partner's battle, walked up to Noah, looking over the notes Noah was rereading. Lyn stayed at Rei's side, coaching her on, Soki resting on the grass next to her feet.

"How's the group doing?" Jerry asked, stretching his arms and picking a pokeball off of his belt, tossing it into the air and catching it to give his hands something to do.

"Fine right now. I've been focusing mostly on Koko and Monferno, but I've been going back to watch the other two fights going on as well."

Jerry looked over to Lyn, his eyes racing from her head to the back of her legs before glancing over to the ghost type he had claimed.

"Misdreavus is having a hard time with that Budew?"

"Yeah. Rei scored a stun spore at the very beginning of their sparring session, so Misdreavus has been struggling to catch up ever since. Budew looks like she has the fight."

Jerry sighed, rubbing the morning sleepiness out of his eyes. The sun hung above them in the sky, signaling the beginning of the afternoon. The group had been traveling West up Route 203 that entire morning without much discussion going on, and had just made it toward the new path that provided a shortcut to Route 204 before Noah decided to rest.

They discovered a large field just off of Route 204, and decided that now was better than ever to get their Pokemon's different "levels" evened out. They all seemed to be slowly but surely improving in strength and technique as the minutes passed.

The afternoon sun was pleasant today, the lack of scorching heat typical of Spring time a gift from the heavens as the sparring continued.

"I've been telling Misdreavus to stop using Mean Look so much. It's her favorite move, and it's costing her every time she tries it."

"Yeah. Right into the stun spore."

"I figured."

Noah looked over his notes as Jerry continued to stare at the battle- Noah assumed he was looking at the girl more than the struggle- making sure there were no errors in what he had wrote down:

Koko: Defenses are fortified by her elemental type. Main focus seems to be putting her energy into defensive battling style, and punishing opponents for missing or hitting her with weaker attacks. Needs to work on speed, agility, and offensive strength. Attacks have a large range, but don't do much damage overall, and struggles to avoid faster attacks. Major strength would be her ability to surprise opponents with her control over a large area around her body using her jaw. At the time, it's best to use her for trapping opponents in closed space.

Monferno: Speedy, powerful, and has an attack power that devastates his opponents. Seemingly functions as a glass cannon, as even Mawile's attacks have been causing severe damage to his body. Attacks are precise, but his ability to evade needs work. Largest downfall is definitely his lack of defensive options, and combined with his completely offensive move set and frail endurance, this makes him a liability in longer battles.

Larvitar: Not much to be said, as his level is too low to accurately judge his strengths and weaknesses. Having said that, his mastery over the Rock Slide technique is admirable. It is to be expected that Larvitar will eventually evolve to play the role of the heavy hitting tank that Jerry caught him to be. Healthy balance in comparison to Monferno.

Skai: Swift and reliable. Skai's only problem is the dedication he puts into his attacks. This makes him wildly predictable, as he opts to use Slash whenever it's within reasonable possibility. Despite the predictability, his Slash is incredibly effective. Overall, his attack strength is good, and his speed is decent for evasion- his ability to fly makes it easier to evade incoming attacks. His endurance is also very impressive, but if anything, he needs to focus on his entire move pool and broaden his horizons, or else his predictability is going to cost him heavily in battle with other trainers.

Rei: Pretty remarkable for a baby-esque Pokemon. Her damage output isn't too great, but I'll peg that on her limited move pool. Despite this, and her lack of mobility, Rei's endurance and defensive capabilities are very solid. I see Rei as a key fighter on Lynus' team once she learns more status techs and heavy hitting attacks.

Luna: She's been refusing to fight all day. Something's personally bugging her, and it's hindering her ability to train. She's even stopped running laps- regarding her speed, since it's the only thing she's been working on: it's fantastic, and easily one of the fastest, heaviest hitters in our party, based on personal experience. She can take more hits than Monferno, and only barely dishes out less damage, which makes her a pretty solid fighter in that regard. Once I get her out of this funk, I'll try having her focus on building up endurance by training with Koko.

We're going to need her strength to find all of the plates, and her refusal to train only puts us behind on time-

Noah stopped reading, looking toward Lyn, whose yelp broke his focus. Jerry was already walking down toward her with a grin on his face, holding a Paralyze Heal in his hand for Misdreavus, who he treated almost immediately before turning his attention toward Budew.

Noah looked around for Rei. All of the Pokemon in the party has ceased what they were doing, and stared toward Lyn's direction, where a bright light had engulfed the body of the plant Pokemon.

The light bulged and throbbed as the form of the Budew morphed. Two large appendages sprouted from each side of Rei's body; giant, bulbous shapes hanging on the digit-less ends. The tip of her head grew slightly less than a foot in height, and branched into three different directions, while the chubby body she once had stretched with the increase in height, leaving it slender and smooth. Several giant leaves grew from where the neck was in the light, covering the frame of the body in a naturally made dress.

The light faded as the Pokemon all gathered around Rei's new form, Luna opting to lag behind, barely making it to the group as the light faded.

"Congrats Lyn," Jerry said, "Your Budew evolved."

"That was amazingly fast," Noah added, "you only caught it two days ago."

Rei opened her eyes, giving a blank stare back at the group, having difficulty grasping what had just happened to her body. She looked down, realizing for the first time that she had arms now. The bulbs at the ends of her arms sprouted open, revealing a beautiful set of colored roses, blue on the left, red on the right. The scent they released relaxed the group as it carried itself over through the gentle, afternoon breeze.

Lyn knelt down and grabbed Roselia into her arms, giving her a congratulatory hug, Rei still confused, replied with a small hug of her own.

"Be careful, Rei. Those new roses of yours are filled with thorns," Jerry warned.

The scent of Rei's roses came in full force; Noah's muscles all seemed to relax.

"Let's take a break for lunch, then head back on the trail. Everyone did great today."

Jerry, Lyn, and all of their Pokemon refused to object to the idea, opting for a quick break before they continued their march towards Floaroma Town.

==========

The voyage down Route 204 wasn't what Noah, Jerry, or Lyn would call necessarily long, but the surprisingly large number of trainers that continued to ask for battles against the three of them culminated, wasting away half of the day they had meant to spend edging closer to Floaroma town. It was when the sun had finally settled down for the night that Jerry suggested the group stop for the night.

"We'll be able to get there by tomorrow evening, hopefully, but until then, we're just going to have to camp out here. The wild Pokemon will get way too hostile if they see a large group of us walking around."

Lynus, with Skai, helped make a small clearing off of the side of the road- to avoid any vehicles that rarely cross the road at any time during the night. The sliced bits of grass were swept to the side of the circular opening Scyther had made into the ground, an area large enough for the small tent Noah had dragged along with him to be set up.

Skai stood watch as Lyn and Rei teamed to pitch up the tent, while Jerry, Noah, Luna, and Monferno had set off toward the woods to fetch some firewood to cook them a light dinner before going to sleep. The woods off in the distance let small snaps and cracks of twigs pop in the night from the team's romp.

A small beacon of light illuminated a tiny area through the trees along the border of Route 204, indicating where the group currently was to Lynus. The flame was amazingly distant from their campsite minutes ago, but while Lyn was busy trying to set up the group's tent, Skai noticed the flame growing larger as it neared camp.

A low chimp-like grunt signaled the coming of a familiar face, Monferno breaking past the border with several chunks of wood in both hands. He dropped them a distance away from the tent, toward the center of the shaved area of land while his master and his friend's caught up.

Jerry and Noah came next, panting while carrying more firewood to add to the pile. Luna came back empty-handed, and seemingly empty-headed, her eyes aimlessly wandering around, only moderately curious about what was currently going on.

"Did you bring anything special for us to eat, Noah," Jerry asked him as Noah dropped himself on the ground by the pile.

"Nope. Just some trail mix I dragged from the Pokemon Mart back in Jubilife. I'm saving the meal for tomorrow morning."

Jerry playfully frowned, replying bitterly, "I thought you knew how to cook. Guess not."

Noah chuckled, taking off his bag to lighten his load while Jerry quickly walked over to the tent to aid Lyn. Noah reached inside his bag, and after a small bout of shuffling, pulled out a large sack, tied in a knot. The contents rattled around with each movement it made, Luna's ears perked as she stared at the sound's source.

Jerry and Lyn looked back at Noah, the tent complete and ready to sleep in.

"Let's start putting our gear and sleeping bags in the tent. Monferno, can you start us a quick fire?" Jerry said.

His companion nodded back, scampering over to the logs nearby Noah, and rearranging them in a stable pile before waving toward Noah to back away from the incoming flames.

Noah complied as a weak jet flames sprayed from Monferno's mouth, the wood igniting several seconds after the constant exposure to the flame. It quickly grew into a tiny, steady, controlled bonfire. It warmed Noah's body from the chilly air of the outdoors. Without the sun, the temperature away from the cities had a tendency to drop; he remembered his early experiences with Jerry, where they resorted to bundling up in several layers of clothing to survive a night of ice cold weather. An aspect primarily belonging to this northernmost region

He laughed at the wave of nostalgia as he estimated the quantity of trail mix he was pouring for everyone, making sure that the bag was still half full for when they were to continue traveling north after breakfast.

==========

The entire group, Noah, Jerry, Lyn, Skai, Soki, Rei, Luna, Koko, Monferno, Misdreavus, and Larvitar, all settled around the fire in several smaller sects, watching the flames cackle while peacefully talking amongst themselves, occasionally popping a handful of trail mix whenever the need came.

Rei, Koko, Soki, Misdreavus, and Larvitar were all released from their containers before "dinner-time" had started. Koko busied herself by prowling around Rei's newfound body, admiring her precious scent and new, colorful look.

"You're almost as tall as me now!"

"Yeah...I suppose I am."

Koko let her hands run along the outsides of the roses that made up Roselia's hands, letting a quiet "mmmm" out when she took a quick sniff at their sweetness.

"Uhm...can you stop that, please?" Rei asked politely, moving her roses closer to her body.

Koko's head bounced back as she rose from smelling Rei's pedals. "Oops! Too close?"

"Y-yeah."

"I'm sorry, it just smells so good."

Rei looked back at her small pile of mix on a napkin. Avoiding eye contact with Koko, she quickly grabbed a peanut and popped it in her mouth.

"Are you gonna do that thing again soon?" Koko playfully asked, still dancing on the fine line around Rei's personal bubble.

"Do what?"

"That thing were you changed. The lights were bright!"

"You mean evolve?"

"Yeah yeah, that!" Koko leaned in, her height barely beating out Rei's by several inches. Koko looked into her blank eyes, full of curiosity, before quickly shuffling around Rei's body again, trying to look for something significant.

"I don't know. It depends on what my master wants."

"Master?"

"Master Lyn caught me, so she's my master, correct?"

Koko made a squeaked little grunt out of confusion for the term. "That's weird."

"Isn't that boy your master?" she asked, pointing to Noah, who was preoccupied staring at the general direction of Luna.

"He never said he was my master...I just thought we were friends."

Rei looked back at Koko, equally as confused.

"That's odd. I guess it depends on the circumstances of being captured."

"What?" Koko failed to understand.

"Nothing, Koko. Let's just enjoy our food."

Koko smiled with a strong nod. She grabbed a claw-full of mix as her appendage swung over in front of her, opening wide enough for her to toss the snacks inside. The jaw shut and started to chew, a bit of saliva dripping down the side as the mix crunched between the teeth.

"I taste something sweet...mmm," Koko commented, tasting a bit of chocolate snuck in between the grains and nuts.

Rei was absolutely puzzled by what she'd just seen. She inched closer to Mawile, tapping her on the shoulder to snag her attention.

"How did you- I mean, how does that thing work?"

On the other end of the round table, but closer toward the outskirts of the shaved arena, Monferno was exercising, punching and kicking into the air, not really caring to look back at the group. He loved to train; he loved the feeling he'd get after a long day's worth of fighting from sunrise to sunset. He remembered a time when Jerry had taken him to Veilstone City gym. While Jerry went about town on what he was told was "business", Monferno was allowed to stay with Maylene, the gym leader, and her Lucario.

He grinned during his routine when he remembered all of the experience he had gained on that day. Fighting the countless Meditite and Machop in the gym excited him, but sparring with Lucario was, at the moment, the highlight of his life. Sweat flew off of his clenched fists as he continued to focus on his strict routine.

Lynus and Jerry sat on the dirt in front of the fire, several feet apart, but still too close for Skai's personal tastes. He stood firm behind Lyn, keeping his sights locked onto Jerry while still keeping his ears open for any outside noise that could intrude closer to the campgrounds.

"Fuchsia City? I've been there once," Jerry continued their conversation.

"What for? Gym battles, or the Safari Zone?" Lyn asked, Soki resting on her lap, his beady eyes staring back at Jerry, a spectator in their discussion.

"Neither. I went with my family when I was still a young boy. We're an affiliate of the company who owns the Safari Zone properties, so we thought we'd swing by for some discussion. I don't remember anything else about it though. In fact, I had no idea we were involved with Safari Zone at all until just recently."

"That's nice. I wish to go back to Fuchsia someday soon."

"Soon? Why not now?"

"I don't want to just yet."

"I can help, you know. I have the resources to do it."

"It's not that. I wouldn't even be here right now otherwise. Noah himself asked me if I wanted to go back when he saved me."

"Saved?"

Lyn told of her encounter with Noah in the woods along Route 202, from rescuing Noah from the river's hungry rapids, to their confrontation with the seemingly possessed Arbok near Jubilife. Jerry's eyes grew wide, taking quick glances at Noah every few moments that Lyn stopped to catch her breath.

"In the end, Noah saved my life, and the lives of my Pokemon. That's all there is to it. I decided to come with him because he helped me when I needed someone the most. It felt like the right thing to do. I owe him that much"

'That Noah...' Jerry thought. 'He's something else.'

"Lyn, I appreciate that you shared this with me. If you excuse me, I have something to take care of," he finished, dusting himself off and heading towards the isolated boy on the other side of the fire.

Lynus looked down at Shuckle with a gentle smile. "Alright, I think that's enough."

Soki's tendrils receded into his shell as he barked back his reply. Lyn reached beside her, picking up an aged bowl with what seemed like grounded powder. After setting it down in front of her, she gently gripped Soki's shell from both of his sides, calmly turning him upside down, the empty hole directly on top of his back rotating toward the ground. As the cherry-colored shell shifted, small droplets of juice started to gather at the edges of the opening. Lyn tipped him over completely, letting out a small spoonful of maroon colored liquid into the bowl, leaving an odd yet sweet strawberry scent in the air.

She softly flipped Soki back around, his tentacles prodding from their respective holes once again, chirping his approval to Lyn.

"This batch is perfect. Thank you," she smiled to him.

She gathered her spoon, and with a musical tune filling her head, she began to hum her favorite song, stirring the powder with the juices to form a thick liquid in the bowl.

The melody reached every inch of their campsite, everyone from Monfero to Luna turning toward the direction of the serene tune of her sweet voice.

Koko and Rei were the first ones to yawn. Misdreavus and Larvitar, who had been passing the time throwing their food at each other- to Jerry's disdain- felt their eyelids grow heavy.

Skai let out a deep, relaxed sigh while Luna continued to sit by herself at the opposite edge of the camp, staring at her claws while constantly letting them recede and extend. The moon's weak lighting lightly illuminated her dull fur, making her stand out amongst her surroundings.

Koko, Rei, and Jerry's Pokemon all approached their masters, clicking themselves into their pokeballs to rest until morning, half of them yawning their way across the campsite. Lyn returned Soki shortly afterward, still humming as she continued stirring her concoction, pulling a tiny yet thick bottle out of her cloak to soon place the mixture in.

"Hey Noah, what's up?" Jerry said, standing beside Noah, who had just finished off the last of his pile of trail mix.

He cleaned his hands on his jeans, "Nothing."

"That's all you have to say? C'mon Noah, we haven't just sat down and talked in forever! How've you been?"

Noah looked up, not at Jerry, but at Luna, who was still sulking. "I've been getting by. Things in Twinleaf still haven't really changed."

"I've been gone for so long, too. That's actually a shame to hear, Noah."

"Yeah. Everyone still gives me odd looks in town."

Jerry sighed with a tinge of frustration evident in his voice. "You'd think after three years, they'd stop that nonsense. It's really just Twinleaf, too."

"What?"

"You're time in the spotlight vanished a long time ago, Noah. When I bring up that I traveled with Noah Sol, no one even bothers to roll their eyes or throw out a backhanded comment anymore."

"So..."

"So if you're right about them, then Twinleaf is pretty much the only town that still holds onto it. I would say that I can't blame them, but I just can't bring myself to do it."

"Why not?"

"Because the reason why they still have something against you is rubbish."

"Isn't it because of...Eterna?" Noah hesitated.

"Well...that plays a part in it. The way I see it, people are upset that the prodigy 'spoiled' what Twinleaf had. The Sols were the only reason Twinleaf ever had a say in anything outside of their town. Without them, Twinleaf really has nothing going for it. It's sad, really."

Noah shoulders slumped. "So I didn't live up to the expectations then..."

"Eh...kinda, maybe. But that's no reason to spite someone."

Noah gave a deep, depressed chuckle. "I don't think they'll ever stop."

"I know it's hard, but I'd just forget about them. They're the type of people who need something to look down upon. You just happened to be the target because of circumstance."

Noah sighed deeply. "It's not fair, man. I'm telling you."

Jerry sat down next to Noah, his arms resting on his lap with one leg arched up, the other stretched out.

"I know it's not, Noah. You think I don't know that?"

"...no."

"I've already told you that there's nothing else you can really do about it. Those who are ignorant have already made up their mind about you, so there's no point in trying to sway their opinions otherwise."

"Ugh..."

"Just forget about it already."

"I can't just drop it. Not like that."

"Why not?"

"It feels wrong."

"I don't think I quite understand what you're getting at."

"You're a spectator in all of this, Jerry. Yes, you experienced some of the...rough parts of my life alongside me...but they didn't happen to you. How would you know how it feels to be in my situation? You don't know anything about it."

"Is that honestly how you see it? You think it didn't hurt me to see you get crushed like that?"

Noah's anger began to rise.

"Your family wasn't targeted by some terrorists, your Pokemon weren't murdered in front of your eyes, and you weren't belittled for a crime you didn't even commit."

Jerry sat quietly, taking in the severity of Noah's words. "...I wanted to help you, Noah. But you wouldn't let me."

"....."

"I felt useless. A good friend of mine was suffering in front of my eyes, and despite my best efforts, I couldn't help him."

"...I can relate..."

"Noah, I-"

"Drop it."

"Please, c'mon-"

"Just stop. Maybe some other time, but not here, and not now."

"...sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up..."

"Well you did," Noah's words stung in Jerry's ears.

"...let's just forget this ever happened then," he replied, reluctantly searching for a temporary resolve.

"Sounds perfect."

The small blaze in front of them pranced about, feasting on the fire fodder remaining. The small inferno would go out soon.

The fire's light began to dim out several minutes later. Lyn had already packed up her materials and silently made her way to the tent, where her sweet swan song failed to reach the boy's ears. The frail sticks of grass bent to the will of the wind whenever it beckoned, the dirt road in the center of the route empty of both travelers and vehicles. The sound of a Noctowl's haunting hoot could be heard from a distance, another pawn in the migration shift of Pokemon toward Sinnoh. The rodents, several Bidoof and Ratatta, scurried to their burrows at the sound of the dangerous predator, through the darkness between each of the trees along the route's border, the moonlight from above blocked out by the blanket of leaves that swayed with each chilling breath that made its way through the thick foliage.

"So how long have you had her?"

"Huh? Luna?"

"Of course Luna."

Noah stammered, taken back by the sudden change of topic. "A-About a week, give or take."

"She's an impressive one, Noah. Definitely has potential if you were able to keep up with a Mawile and save Lynus from the woods."

Noah turned to Jerry. "She told you?"

"Everything. Noah, it sounds incredible, you know that?"

"If you count almost dying as incredible, then yeah."

The two of them laughed, both slightly unnerved at their morbid humor after what had just happened.

"I should thank you, honestly."

"For saving Lynus?"

"Of course. She's one heck of a catch."

Noah blushed. "It's not like that. At all."

"Oh? So you're not interested?"

"It's not that I'm not interested. I just have a lot on my plate right now, what with Luna and training and whatnot."

"So do you like her?"

"Yeah."

"What reasons?"

"She's a nice girl."

"That's all you've got to say?"

"What about you?" Noah teased back, the two of them openly messing with each other, though keeping the volume down in case Lyn walked back out of the tent.

Jerry turned back to the tent, then back at Noah. "Noah, she's gorgeous."

"Really?"

"Yes. I don't think I've ever felt this way about a woman before."

"Wait, since when have you felt any way about any woman?"

Noah received a friendly, yet strong punch on the shoulder. He laughed it off.

"I don't know. I just see something there in her eyes. I want to get to know her...you know?"

"I suppose so."

Luna's scratching noises in the grass grew loud enough for the two of them to hear, breaking their conversation up inadvertently.

"Noah, what's wrong with her?"

Noah looked back at her, scratching the back of his head. "I don't know. Ever since we woke up this morning, she's been in a terrible mood."

"I haven't seen her much, so I wouldn't be able to say much, though she DID look shaken up about something at the restaurant in Oreburgh."

"She didn't even want to train today."

"Yeah. She even stopped running after awhile and just sat there."

"Something's on her mind."

"You should talk with her about it. She can talk anyways, right?"

"Yeah...I've been meaning to do that. She was so excited about fighting and getting stronger. This just isn't like her."

"I see," Jerry moved around in place, putting his arms to his side as if getting ready to lift himself off of the ground. "Do you want me to-"

"If you can, please."

"Sure."

Jerry quickly got up, and dusted himself off one more time before heading for the tent as well, looking forward to a good night's sleep and the breakfast Noah had promised in the morning.

"Thanks." Noah whispered back, Jerry waving him good night, his body disappearing behind the veil of the tent.

Noah continued to sit there, looking back at Luna, who refused to turn around and return his gaze. Her pale white fur seemed to fade in the weakening moonlight swallowed up by the clouds. He knew that they were going to have to get over whatever it was that was bothering her before they could continue.

'Might as well get this over with,' he thought before opening wide the gate between his mind.

'Luna, you going to sulk all day, or are you going to go to bed?'

No response.

'Everyone's already sleeping. You need energy for tomorrow.'

Again, silence on her end. A calming wind blew through Noah's hair before a weak response was finally made.

'I'm not tired.'

Noah looked back at her hunched shoulders and weakening frame. 'Don't lie to me. You need sleep too.'

'I just need to think about something.'

'About what?'

'It's none of your business.'

Noah's brow furrowed. 'It is when you don't train with me and the rest of the team.'

'Don't worry about it.'

'I think I will worry about it.'

Luna quickly turned to Noah, her eyes locked onto his face, her irritation seen through the rise in volume of her mind-speak. 'Shut the hell up, Noah.'

'I'll worry about it because you're my Pokemon.'

'I'm warning you,' Luna threatened, getting to her feet.

Noah gulped, hesitating before he continued, 'You're part of the team, just like everyone else.'

"I'll hit the FUCK out of you if you don't shut up," she warned him in her voice, approaching him from the distance.

Noah braced himself, taking in a deep breath. "Why do you refuse to talk about it?"

Luna lunged at him, a loud clapping noise echoed through the trees in the darkened skies above. Lynus flinched in her sleep as the curly haired boy quietly listened inside of his sleeping bag, flinching at the strange sound outside the tent.

Luna took several short breaths when she had finally realized what she had done. A large, red mark appeared on Noah's face, tiny cuts from where her claws had grazed started to dribble blood at the openings. Noah's breathing stammered as he withheld the stinging pain throbbing on his cheek. The ferret had both of her paws over her muzzle, in shock of what she had just done.

"Oh god. Noah, Noah I'm sorry, I didn't-I mean I was just-"

"Do you feel better now?"

Luna looked back at him in disbelief. Their collective breathing slowed back down to normal as Luna let her body flop back onto the grassy floor.

"I don't know how you managed to put up with me today," she said through her paws, which now masked her face in shame and regret.

"Don't worry about it, you don't need to apologize."

"But I'm sorry, Noah. I was just mad and-"

"Don't worry about it. It'll heal in time."

Luna let her arms down on her sides, staring back at the fire as Noah did, her partner not showing much signs of his own agony besides his hand rubbing the softened flesh. She hit like a champ.

"So...are you ready to talk about it now?"

Luna thought to herself for a few moments before giving him an answer, "Yes. I mean, if you're willing."

Noah was already growing fond of this new side of his companion. "Always. I'm here to help."

Luna rested her head on her paws, staring from Noah, to the campfire, and back to the ground in thought, trying to find a way to ask what was bothering her all day.

She found a good start, "Is...killing others a bad thing?"

Noah stared back at her, trying to keep focus, hearing her words move through his mind.

"...what...made you start thinking about that?"

"A dream that I had last night."

'A dream,' Noah thought to himself, "Tell me. What happened in this dream?"

"That's the scary part, Noah. I don't think it was a dream," Luna said, slightly trembling.

"What are you talking about? How could it not be a dream?"

"I think...I think it's a memory."

"A memory? How?"

"Yes," her voice dropped, but she continued to speak, moving in closer to Noah, "It's in my head."

"No, what I meant was how you know it's a memory," he replied, a bit nervous by her previous statement.

Luna hesitated in telling him about her little encounters late at night with the masked man. "When we collected the plate from that snake guardian, I had a dream that night in the big city, and I also had a dream back in the small town by the sea."

"And what were these dreams about?"

"This scary, tall man."

"What? How did he look?"

"I don't remember. He's always wearing a white mask, and covered in black. He tells me things..."

Noah was hit with déjà vu, but failed to remember where he had encountered someone with those features.

"Keep going, Luna."

"He showed me a dark and empty place, with a few bright holes scattered all over the place. He said...something about how my memories disappeared when I came here."

"You mean when we met, right?"

Luna's voice was calming down as she continued. "Yeah. He said I'd be getting them back if I could collect those," she pointed to Noah's pendant.

"The plates..."

"He said that they hold my memories of my past, and that I'd learn more about where I was from through them."

"And how does your question involve all of this," Noah wondered, trying to find a connection.

"There was this dream I had last night..."

Noah could feel a strong, negative vibe coming from his friend.

"I found another memory...of me killing three baby Seviper..."

Noah calmed down from hearing the first part. "Luna, they're Seviper. You're a Zangoose. It's something natural."

Luna stopped, raising her eyes to meet his. Noah saw something painful through the moisture building up at the base. Her voice started to crack.

"Noah...what I saw wasn't natural."

Noah quickly grew uncomfortable, Luna on the verge of crying her eyes out. Noah prepared himself for anything as he asked her another question.

"Luna, can you share this memory with me?"

"...mm-hmm," she replied through a closed mouth.

Noah felt a tingling sensation in his head as he set the gate in their connection completely open. An image appeared, sent over from Luna, of a Zangoose running through the forest in first person view. It seemed to be on an auto-pilot, Noah having no control of the outcome.

His eyes widened as the memory reached its conclusion, his breathing slowed down from the shock. He closed his portion of the connection the moment the memory had made its run through. Another chilling memory to add to his collection.

"...Luna..."

Her breathing grew short as she tried her best to hold back her tears.

"I knew it! It's not natural, isn't it!?" she nearly busted.

Noah wanted to avoid hurting her more, but he refused to lie about the memory he had just experienced through her.

"No. It's not."

Tears started to stream down her face, her paws coming up to hide her miserable state from Noah, humiliated.

"I knew it...I'm a fucking monster! I killed them! I killed them, and I fucking loved it!!" she cried out loud, her paws rising to right beneath her head. She stared at them, placing the two of them over the wetness of her eyes.

"Luna, calm down!"

Luna opted to cry louder, dropping her head lower. A single paw rose to one of her ears, and started pulling as hard as she could, a suitable punishment. Her cries escalated as she pulled harder on her left ear.

"Luna! Cut it out!" Noah ordered, picking himself up. He quickly jumped over to Luna, grabbing her paw and trying to break her grasp over her helpless appendage. He wrapped his other available arm around her midsection, pulling her into his body. With a bit of exerted effort, he managed to break her grasp on the aching extension. His other arm came around to Luna's midsection, gently pinning her arm against the red pattern on her belly. Her head stayed low as she whimpered, her open paw still covering her eyes from his gaze.

"Shhh, c'mon Luna. Stop it. Stop," Noah told her, his eyes closed tight as she held her body close to his.

Her sniffling and crying continued for several minutes, the fire slowly starting to die in front of them, the darkness of the night sky swallowing up the borders of the camp. Noah, shaken but quiet, kept her tightly next to him. He could nearly feel her heart beating violently through his left arm, letting his firm grip down.

He kept his arms completely wrapped around her, opening his eyes to look at his wreck of a Pokemon.

"Luna...? Are you okay now?"

She hiccupped and sniffed back more tears, removing her free paw from her eyes to look back up at Noah. The lens of her eyes seemed a much darker red than usual, her cream colored irises glistening after wave after wave of tears had come crashing through.

"I'm...I'm fine," she said, barely convincing Noah to loosen his already weakened grip. He let go and sat right next to her, letting his hand reach to the top of her head. He scratched in between the ears, calming her down.

"Let's look at this dream more carefully. Is that okay?" he asked her. She nodded.

"In it...'you' killed three young Seviper," Noah stammered as he continued, "...excessively."

Luna's head sunk lower than she thought possible.

"But...HOW could you have done it?"

Her ears perked back up. "Huh?"

"Ever since you came to me back at Lake Verity, you've been with me the entire time. That means the only time you could've done that, after you took control of that Zangoose, is when we were knocked unconscious by Arbok, and Lyn was watching you that entire time."

Luna's eyes grew wide. She had been too busy worrying about the memory that she had failed to realize this information.

"So...so I couldn't have done it..?"

"Not while you were with me." A thought occurred to Noah, from back at the Verity Lakefront. "Luna, when you possessed that Zangoose's body, what did you say to me about your memories?"

Luna tried thinking back, not the best creature at recalling past events. "I said...that I know some basic things that you know through the connection, like language..."

"What about the Zangoose? Anything from her?"

"I..."

"Of course you have!" Noah exclaimed. "You knew how to fight as Zangoose right away. You knew how to swim. You even knew how to hunt."

Luna finally started making the connection to what he was saying. "Are you saying that...it was the Zangoose's memory, and not mine?"

"That's exactly what I'm getting at, Luna. You're memories are a scrambled mess, but I know for sure that you haven't done anything around me. The only other way you'd be able to get a memory like that is through receiving the memory of the Zangoose host before you came along."

"So I didn't do it!"

Luna's tail suddenly stopped wagging. Noah noticed right away. "...what's wrong with that?"

"So it wasn't me who killed them, but the host...?"

"Well, that seems to be the most likely explanation at the time, right?"

Luna seemed to become reserved again. "But if that's true, then that doesn't really change much. This body, these claws, they killed something that I didn't want to kill at all."

Noah just looked at her as she became lost in her thoughts.

"It's my body now, but this body killed before. Now I own this body. That makes me bad...because killing is bad, right?"

Noah sat back and sighed.

"I think it's different for Pokemon and humans."

"How?"

"Well...humans normally make it an imperative to never kill another human."

"So your kind don't kill each other?"

Noah rubbed his eyes. "Some humans do. They're those humans who never managed to grasp the concept of killing another one of their own."

Luna nodded, waiting for more. "And what about Pokemon?"

"Pokemon?" Noah brought a hand to his chin. "Well...if it's for Pokemon...I would think killing another Pokemon for food or defending territory would be okay...because they need to do it to survive."

"But what about my memory?"

"You’re a Zangoose. Your kind is known to us for your bitter rivalry with Seviper. My guess is that those three were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Zangoose and Seviper kill each other all the time."

"Like...like that?"

"That's the only problem. Not like that," Noah gulped. "I don't know how Zangoose function as a clan in the wild, so I can't say much of anything about why the original host did what it did..."

Luna stayed quiet.

"...it could've honestly have done it just for fun." A shiver was sent down both of their spines simultaneously.

"So...killing is always wrong for humans, but okay for Pokemon sometimes?"

"Well...protecting your own life by killing someone else would work for humans too, I guess," he scratched the back of his head.

"Killing is wrong only when you don't do it for survival then...am I getting this right?"

"Yeah...mostly, I think."

Luna looked away from Noah, breaking their eye contact. "Even if I didn't really do it...it's still my body. I feel...responsible somehow."

"Luna," Noah said, shifting his feet around before they started to cramp, "the way I see it, you’re not at fault at all for what that memory showed, if it's really true."

"What do you mean, 'the way you see it'?"

He took a deep breath. "I grew up with a certain way of thinking. I've always felt that humans and Pokemon have certain...rights. Rights that should NEVER be taken away. The rights to defend themselves, to be able to freely talk, and, in general, to just live their lives. The responsibility of each individual is to protect their own rights until the day that they die, even if they don't exercise them every day. To preserve these rights, we have certain rules we must follow, but above all is one simple rule:

Under no circumstance are you to ever kill someone, human or Pokemon, outside of survival.

As a Pokemon Trainer, your responsibilities stretch to your Pokemon as well. It's up to you to protect their rights as well as your own. This also works for mothers, fathers, and anyone with responsibilities to someone they take care of."

Noah stared at the fire, the flames quickly disappearing into the abyss.

"Killing someone, through the actual act of meaningless murder, or as the result of your lack of responsibility, means that you've breached upon their rights, as well as your responsibility toward your own.

Once this happens, you forfeit the very rights you've ever had. You no longer have the rights given to you as a human or Pokemon.

At that point, you become free game to any of the sick fucks out there wanting something to shit on."

Luna shook as she listened to Noah, his voice calm, and terribly cold for the one whom she had come to know as her partner.

"However, in cases like yours, it's different."

"How so...?" she said, curious.

"When I think of these rights, I think of them under the assumption that everyone lives only once. After all, that's the absolute truth. You only get one life, right?

Well, you're the exception. You're host may have breached these rights, but that issue gets thrown out the window the moment a new being takes control. Namely, you. What I'm saying, is that you have been given your own set of rights, separate from the primary host. You aren't bound by their actions, nor are you at fault for what they've done, understand?

You've been given a new identity, and that identity saves and preserves your own rights. You're still green, in that regard."

Luna sighed.

"Killing is wrong if you do it outside of survival, and even if your memory showed us this, you are NOT at fault for what may have happened."

Luna and Noah sat, the air between them silent as the flame, finally finished with its wooden meal, diminished, a trail of smoke rising from the ashes. A pleased grin stretched across Luna's face at Noah, what felt like a ton of weight lifted off of her body.

"Noah...thanks."

Noah took a deep breath, and looked back at Luna, who had turned back around so their eyes could meet once again through the darkness. "No problem. I care about you guys. You, Koko, and everyone else."

Luna jumped to her hind paws, dusting her claws off. "I'm sorry...for being so weird today."

"That's fine, Luna. You were having a hard time. I understand."

"...sorry for the Pokemon Center too..."

"Don't worry. I covered that."

Luna felt something odd build up inside her. A burning feeling that rose to her face. A pleasing warmth spread through her body.

"I don't..."

"You don't need to do anything else Luna," Noah interrupted, not noticing Luna draw herself closer to him, "your apology was enou-"

Luna wrapped herself around Noah, hugging him tightly against her body. Noah's eyes widened as he felt her tongue drag from the lower end of his right cheek, across to right beneath his eye. She quickly let go, the burning feeling rising to a new level of excitement inside of her body.

Noah felt a tinge of the same feeling through his mind, never before getting so close to a Pokemon as he had just done.

"What...was that just now?" Noah gazed at Luna, dazed at what just happened.

"A hug n' kiss?" Luna replied. "I dunno, I saw it on my favorite show this morning. It's all I could think of."

She walked away before the awkwardness could continue.

'I...uhm...she's gotta stop watching television,' he told himself, rubbing his cheek dry and trying to shake off the beet red color building in his face.

"Oh, Noah?" Luna voiced back, already at the opening of the tent.

Noah looked at her, her toothy, mischievous grin visible through the night. "Yeah?"

"One more question. What's a 'Nyxis'?"

Noah raised an eyebrow. "Nyxis? I have no clue. Where'd you hear that word?"

Luna shrugged, ending the conversation as her body disappeared into the tent.

Noah followed behind, tucking himself into his own private sleeping bag several feet from Jerry and Lynus, Luna curled up not even inches away from him.

Another pair of eyes, from the curly haired trainer, strained to stay awake, having heard a majority of the ordeal through the tent.

"Noah...is that what you really think...?"

He heard Luna shifting around. He turned around to see her taking her usual spot on top of him, purring as she drifted off.

"And this Pokemon. She's insane...

...Noah...Arceus...please have mercy..."

----------

Name: Jeremiah "Jerry" Van Tussel
Type: Human
Height: 5'9''
Age: 19
Weight: 176 lbs.
Eye Color: Brown
Skin Color: White
Hair Style/Color: Curled at the ends, Black
Body Type: Standard medium build. Muscle, but none visible through his outfit.
Outfit: Usually in a brown trenchcoat with khaki pants and matching boots. Wears a buttoned white shirt, and a belt which matches his pants. His other attire usually consists of various styles of tuxedos.
Other Items: None
Hobbies: Running the family business, training his Pokemon, keeping order
Homeland: Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh
Personality: Straightforward, Very Polite, Calm, a high sense of justice
Bio: Jerry is the richest child born in Twinleaf Town, and possibly even the region of Sinnoh. His family is responsible for the development and establishment of Pokemon Academies worldwide, the entire process built upon their terms. Through their establishments, they have made almost impossibly large sums of money, and pass portions of it to Jerry to use on his ventures. Pampered since youth, Jerry was raised a smart, wise, and polite young man, graduating second in his class at Twinleaf Pokemon Academy, second only to Noah. His tactics in battle are almost, if not even, with Noah's battle tactics, and because he has journeyed farther than Noah, he has more battle experience. He's definately a formidable opponent, but far from unbeatable. He dreams of becoming a master one day, and will do whatever it takes to reach that point.
Weaknesses: Jerry has no glaring weaknesses from any particular standpoint. His weakness in battle would be the imbalance of his current team, and despite his knowledge and experience, his team isn't anything outside of average in terms of strength. You still must be cautious, as underestimating Jerry will force your hand early enough to spell defeat.
Pokemon Team: Monferno, Misdreavus, Larvitar
Threat Level: Moderate

UPDATED PROFILE

Name: Noah Sol
Type: Human
Height: 5'8''
Weight: 180 lbs.
Age: 19 Years
Eye Color: Brown
Skin Color: Tan/Mid-Brown
Hair Style/Color: Untamed; Black
Body Type: Moderate build, with a small trace of muscle, but nothing too noticable.
Outfit: Dark Blue Jeans, with Black and White running shoes, with a plain Black t-shirt, and a red vest.
Other Items: A peculair golden medallion on a necklace, with 17 sockets, and a black Trainer's bag.
Hobbies: Surfing the web, cooking, training his Pokemon.
Homeland: Twinleaf Town, Sinnoh Region
Personality: Bold and Courageous, and very Cunning.
Bio: An incredibly well endowed student whom graduated from the Pokemon Twinleaf Academy. He was deemed a prodigy in the making during his youth before he threw away his dreams of becoming a great trainer like his legendary parents. He aspires to try, for the third time, to becoming a master through his endeavors with Luna, and has sworn to help her in recovering her mysterious plates. Even though he never advanced too far, his knowledge of Pokemon is astounding from even an advanced trainer's perspective, and he prefers to focus on exploiting holes in the opponent's attacks rather than overpowering or outmanuevering them.
Weaknesses: Noah's critical thinking seems to suffer under extreme pressure when put in dangerous situations, most likely a result from the trauma he was put through in his teenage-years. He's also resorted to becoming a hermit, and partly developed anti-social patterns and attitudes, avoiding any conflicts with anyone outside of his living space. Luckily, much of his negative quirks can be fixed with conditioning. With time, and a bit of closure from anyone who can get close enough to him, he should be able to recover from these behavioral patterns. To defeat him in combat, one must be prepared to outsmart and overpower his team in a majority of the aspects of battle. Despite how smart he is in a fight, his team is nothing short of mediocre at the time of this documentation.
Pokemon Team: Luna (Zangoose), Koko (Mawile), ?, ?, ?, ?
Threat Level: Minimal