~Chapter 1: The Plan~

"Hey! Ms. White! We finished excavating over here!"

I turned around and grinned at the short man standing in front of me. "C'mon, Clay!" I said to the gym leader in front of me. "You don't have to be so formal. You can call me Touko!"

"Sorry ma'am, but that would be odd for me, seeing as you're the champion now and all."

I sighed and didn't press the argument any further. We had had this argument almost daily now, for several months, and Clay would not budge, the stubborn man.

"So how much do we have left to uncover?" With the help of Clay, miners loyal to him, and many Pokémon, we had been excavating Team Plasma's secret palace that had been built under the Pokémon League. Honestly, I don't know how anyone didn't notice the construction of a giant palace at some point in time, but ii learned sometimes it's just best not to question things.

"Well," Clay said adjusting his hat. "We just finished clearing out a pretty big room and some smaller ones. All that's left is the main throne room."

"Good," I said nodding my head in approval. "We can start on that tomorrow. I think everyone deserves a well-earned break." Clay looked as if he was going to protest but decided against it. Instead he turned around and began barking out new orders to the workers.

"Move all that rubble over to that pile, we'll use rock smash to pummel it into gravel later. Be sure to put in all the support beams! I don't know how sturdy this place is. And you!" he said to a man holding a soccer ball. "Get those toys outta here!"

"Wait!" I cried at the man with the soccer ball. He turned to me, looking very tired. "Could you please show me where you got that ball from?" The man agreed, looking slightly bemused, and led me down a passage way into a dimly lit room.

"Here you go," he said, waving an arm around the room. "The place is filled with all sorts of toys. Clay's given the orders to scrap everything, seeing as it won't be useful to anyone.

"Don't," I said quietly. "Don't touch this room." The man looked as if he was going to argue with me, but decided against it. Being the champion had some perks, whatever I said overruled Clay. The man just shrugged and left me to stare at the dark room.

I tossed and turned in my overly soft bed. Even though I had been champion for almost a year now, I still was not use to sleeping in my "new" room. Because I was faced with new challengers each day, I found it easier to live at the League with the Elite Four. It was easier than commuting each day, but it still felt odd. Finally I got up and put on my shoes. I wore long pajama pants and an over-sized tee shirt, and quickly pulled my hair into my signature ponytail. I grabbed my bag with my poke balls and headed outside.

You'll catch a cold a voice said inside my head.

"Why aren't you asleep?" I asked my Reshiram. My majestic Pokémon did not fit into the regular sized rooms of the League, so I had to ask for an open dome for battling, and I hated putting it in a poke ball after it had been trapped inside that stone for so long, that they usually slept outside.

I should be asking you that they replied. Go put on a coat. I huffed my protest of being told what to do by my Pokémon, but went in and did it.

"Better?" I asked sarcastically coming back outside.

Much, Reshiram replied with a slight purr. Don't stay out too late now.

"I won't," I said, waving over my shoulder and descended down into the forgotten palace.

It was eerie to walk down those halls by myself. Not in the sense that I was afraid, but because the last time I did my journey had come to an end. I had defeated Team Plasma, become champion, and yet I felt empty.

My feet seemed to know where they were going and I walked into the room from earlier that day. Reaching into my bag I grabbed a poke ball. "Gavin, I need you." A flash of red light, and a Garvantula looked up at me. "Could you use flash to light up this room?"

"Van!" he replied, and the whole room lit up. The room was filled with toys that lay neglected, and a half pike took up most of the room. Many of the toys were broken, I couldn't tell if it was from play of when the castle had collapsed, and there was a fine layer of dust over everything. Tears sprang to my eyes and I hastily wiped them away, it was stupid of me to come down here. I hadn't even known him that well, yet this room called to me. He had changed my whole world and impacted my fate so much; maybe that was why I eagerly agreed to this project when Clay had suggested it. It had been a year and he had not returned, who knew if he was even coming back. Why would he, it's not like he had anything to come back for. Or anyone. My heart clenched in my chest, and I noticed that I was crying.

Whipping them away I called out the rest of my team. "C'mon guys," I said, my voice slightly thick. "We got some cleaning to do."

I heard a knock on the door frame and my Serpiror, Sasha, nodded her head in greeting to our visitor. "Hey Clay," I said without turning around. "I'm almost done in here," I said placing a few books on a bookshelf. "I woke up early and decided to get a jump start on the day."

"Now Touko," a voice said. "We both know that the day you wake up early is the day that Cheren confesses his feelings to Bianca."

"Touya!" I said, hugging my childhood friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Well I haven't visited in a while, so I thought I'd drop by. Plus my mom is nagging me to get a job, so got a job opening for me?"

I laughed, knowing what he was implying. "Not unless you can beat me in a battle."

"Nah, you're too strong, anything else?"

"Well," I said sitting on a bean bag chair shaped like an Oshawat head. "Lenora is thinking of retiring as Gym Leader, but you might have to fight with Cheren over that position."

"Normal types, no way! He can have it!"

"Fine then!" I said, mocking false exasperation. "You'll just have to go find something yourself!"

"What about Chili, Cress, and Cilan? Aren't they retiring?"

"Already found a replacement. You're a week to late."

"Damn," Touya said, sitting on the floor next to me. "Just my luck," he said grinning. "So…have you been down here all night?"

I hesitated for a moment. "Yeah, couldn't sleep."

"What was this?"

"N's play room, at one point, I think."

"Huh," Touya said, looking slightly sour. "Well," he said standing up "I have to kidnap you now. It seems that you have a challenger here. Grimsley asked me to fetch you."

"The truth is revealed!" I said, standing as well. "Stall them will you, I probably shouldn't face my opponent in my pajamas."

A short, easy battle later I walked out of my arena in a white dress that billowed out slightly at my waist, wearing a black cardigan on top of it.

"That was fast," Touya said regarding me.

I just shrugged and began to walk, not paying attention to where I was going. "It was easy, all it took was one Pokémon and they gave in, pretty disappointing really."

Touya suddenly grabbed my arm and yanked me back. "Where are you going?" His question was sharp, and it surprised me.

"Nowhere, I'm just walking."

"Don't lie to me Touko, look where you are." I looked around and realized I had led us back into the castle, on the right was the door to N's play room. I blinked in surprise; I hadn't realized I had been walking there. Touya let go of my arm when he saw the surprise on my face, and ran a hand through his hair. "I think," he began slowly "you need a vacation."

"What? No I don't"

"Yes, you do. You've become obsessed with this project. Neglecting your rounds to visit the gyms, not visiting your mom as often, you haven't talked to any of your friends in months. It's not good. You're…hung up on him."

"Who?" I asked confused. I wasn't neglecting my duties as champion was I? I pulled out my pokétech and looked at my schedule. I had made my rounds last week, and had plans to meet my mom in Nimbasa city tomorrow. I was even going to go to the musical with Bianca after, and Cheren and I had talked earlier in the week. The only person I hadn't been able to get in touch with was Touya because he had been off training.

"N!" Touya yelled, making me jump. He slapped my pokétech out of my hand, making it hit the wall. "DO YOU KNOW HOW FRUSTRATING IT IS TO SEE YOU LIKE THIS? TO SEE YOU YEAR AFTER A GUY WHO TREATED YOU LIKE SHIT? A GUY WHO DIDN'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR FEELINGS AND LEFT YOU AFTER YOU LEADING YOU AROUND ON SOME FANTASY? TO SEE, IN THE FIRST TIME IN MY LIFE, YOU CRY AND IT'S OVER SOME FUCKING GUY YOU BARELY KNOW?!" Touya stopped to catch his breath and grabbed my wrists tightly. "And even after all the comfort," Touya said quietly "and times I've been here for you, and you don't even realize how I fell about you. How I've always felt."

"Touya," I said softly "I never realized…I'm sorry." He looked at me hopefully and released my wrists. "But I can't return your feelings. I-I do like N…it doesn't make sense, even to me, but I care for him deeply." I felt my face turn red, and I looked down at my feet embarrassed. "I know it's stupid and irrational, because I don't know if he will even come back, but I think I-," I took a deep breath and found myself smiling slightly. I raised my head and hopped Touya would understand. "I…think…I lov-" I never finished my sentence. My head jerked painfully to the side, the right side of my face hurting.

"DON'T SAY THAT!" I turned my head and looked at Touya; anger contorted the handsome features of his face. "HOW CAN YOU KNOW WHAT LOVE IS? YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW HIM! HE LEFT YOU!"

I felt something in me harden, and I saw Touya as I did when we were children. I saw a little boy, jealous of the attention Cheren was getting over an award he got in school. I saw a boy screaming at his mother, blaming her for letting his father hit him. I saw a pre-teen boy, telling me I couldn't be friends with anyone else other; because I was HIS BEST friend and they were only after me for my body. I saw a teen, manipulation other girl's hearts in order to get what he wanted. I saw a man, abusing his wife, and I didn't want that to be me. I turned my head and looked at the play room, and my heart softened. In there I saw a little boy, playing with abused Pokémon, trying to please and get attention from his father. I say a boy sitting in his room, bandaging himself up and putting on a smile for his Pokémon after being abused by his father. I saw a pre-teen boy, working hard in what he believed in. I saw a teen, telling me I looked lovely, when I was splattered in mud from head to foot. I saw a man holding out his arms for his wife, and I wanted that to be me.

"I think you should go, Touya." I said returning my eyes to his. "Now." Touya froze, I know what he saw. He saw a girl whose gaze was frozen, a gaze that finally saw him, and he knew he could never fix this rift.

"Fine," he said, sulking. I watched him walk away, watched my best friend of 17 years, walk away, and yet I couldn't cry.

"I don't understand," I said to Reshiram, gazing at the stars through the giant whole in the wall. It had been a week since I had seen Touya, and Clay and his team had finished all the excavations, and declared the palace safe to wonder through. It was our hope that wild Pokémon would soon come to live here, and hoped it to be a good training ground for trainers waiting to battle the Elite Four, and myself. For now, the ex-Throne Room served as a chamber for Reshiram.

Your attraction to the green haired hero? He's your other half.

"Yeah, that makes much more sense, thanks."

Don't be sarcastic with me. Look at it this way. Zekrom and I were once part of a whole, but were split based upon two different wishes and ideas. We cannot be complete without our two heroes, and likewise our heroes cannot be complete without each other. We vowed that our next heroes would be each other's other half, so that peace could be obtained.

"So your telling me that you knew, as a rock, that n was my soul mate."

Yes.

"Great, a rock knew it before I did."

Do not let what the angry one said get to you, the green haired hero would not have returned it he did not also feel strongly about you.

"He hasn't returned," I said leaning against my dragon.

Well, Reshiram said, if I am not mistake, and I rarely am, that is Zekrom flying this way. We might want to move out of the way. Reshiram stood up and neatly lifted me out of the way with its claws and walked idly to the other side of the room where it sat down and held me like a doll. Seconds later a giant black dragon like Pokémon flew in through the opening in the wall, and a tall man with long hair jumped off its back. Reshiram gently put me down and began to fuss over me. Fix your hair, it's a little wild. Your dress is wrinkled too.

"Gee, I wonder how that happened," I muttered, but I quickly flattened my thick hair and adjusted my pony tail. I then tried to straighten out the wrinkles in my dress, but gave up.

The man walked towards me and stopped about three feet in front of me. I felt my heart rate increase, and he reached out to touch the right side of my face. "Touko," he breathed, "what happened?"

"I got into a fight…with Touya."

N nodded solemnly. "Does it still hurt?"

"No, the swelling has gone down and in a couple more days the bruises should fade. Why are you back?" I asked slowly closing the distance between us."

N looked sheepishly at me. "Would it be odd of me to say it was because I could not stop thinking about you? I tried to stay away because of the whole mess Team Plasma made, but it drove me insane. I do not know why I feel this way, and I cannot describe these feelings but-" I cut N off by bringing my lips to his. It was quick and light, but it got the point across.

"I feel the same way about you, I just-I couldn't," I felt frustrated at my sudden lack of words. "C'mon, I have something to show you." I pulled N out of the Throne room and down the halls until we reached the play room. N's eyes grew wide in amazement.

"You fixed and cleaned this room up? Why?"

"I don't know," I said truthfully. "I just felt that I had to, as a friend."

"Thank you," N said pulling me into a hug. "This room holds all of my good memories as a child." N pulled away slightly, "though I do not wish to call you my friend, Touko. Through my Pokémon and through you when we first met, I have learned what friendship feels like, and this feels stronger than that. I feel like I want to be with you all of the time, to hold you, to kiss you. Is this normal?"

"Y-yes," I said blushing slightly. "This is what you feel when you care for someone deeply. A relationship like that grows into something stronger and the two people can further their relationship by becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. It is called dating. I…IwanttobeyourgirlfriendN." I said the last part quickly and I felt my face grow red.

But he understood and brought his lips down to mine. We were clumsy at first, unsure of what to do since we had never kissed anyone else before, but we slowly figured it out. I wrapped my arms around N's neck and entwined my fingers in his long hair. N wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him. I nibbled at N's bottom lip, and when he gasped in surprise I slipped my tongue into his mouth. N's tongue met mine and began to push against it, all the while he pulled me closer to him. Suddenly N pulled away and looked at me.

"Touko, please," he whined "come travel with me. I do not think I can be away from you again. But I cannot stay here, it is not safe, the police will arrest me."

I rested my head against his shoulder. "I can't," I said quietly. "I'm champion now, I can't just leave."

"Why don't you think of it as…a sabbatical," a voice behind me said.

"Yeah!" A second voice said, "you deserve one. You haven't taken a break all year!"

I turned around and found Shauntel and Iris standing in the door way.

"We came looking for you," Shauntel said from her spot. We have a League meeting, remember.

I slapped myself on the forehead. "Crap! I forgot. Why are you here Iris?"

The young dragon trainer looked sheepish. "I was hoping that you'd let me ride Reshiram."

"Yeah, you can." I said smiling at her. "But first, come with me to the meeting, I have an idea."