Before you start: This is based loosely on the Pokémon Black and White games. The first ones. Most of our basis for world mechanics is from the games and some from the anime/cartoon. All the other stuff is us.

Warnings: Rated T: hella bad language. hella as in a lot instead of very. unless you think the f-bomb is very bad. then yeah. hella as in a lot and very. both. possibly graphic stuff too. like bloody-graphic. but not that graphic. no lemons, smut, or whatever you call it nowadays

In Notes, Author V will be italicized. Author D is bolded.

Chapter 1

Even though spring was quickly approaching, nights in Castelia were still cold enough to fog your breath and numb your fingers. A young trainer stood in a dim alleyway lit distantly by a streetlight, their hood up, with an impassive Pansage with droopy eyes standing alongside.

"I guess this is Doc's last batch, huh Sesame?" Vitoya puffed quietly as she lifted the box to rest on her hip. Sesame said nothing and hopped on her shoulders in response. "You're pretty quiet tonight. Nuthin' to say?" she laughed to herself, "But hey, maybe if Doc hasn't put Anastasia away yet, you guys can say bye in person… in Pokémon?" At this, Sesame let out a small chitter. Vitoya hummed back absentmindedly.

She walked out, slowly making her way to the bar in the next alleyway four blocks down. Castelia nights weren't too bad. Looking out to her right, she let out an appreciative sigh as she watched the moonlight bounce off the waves by the dock. Nights like these were strange. Even the city that seemed to never sleep took naps on occasion.

Vitoya turned away from the docks and brought her attention back to the task at hand. The box was labeled as glassware, to handle with care, but she knew better. It was medication and anesthetics and all that junk for Doc's patients. Sometimes she couldn't believe that Doc trusted her with picking up his stuff. He knew she had a habit of taking things. Eh. But Doc's cool like that, she mused.

When she finally made it to the bar, no one was there, as per usual. This rinky dinky old place, with its dusty counters, wasn't as good as the jazzy pub a few blocks back. It also didn't help that it wasn't exactly in the nicest part of the city. It was fine anyhow, as it was more of a cover than an actual bar. Oh, there's a spot of dried blood there. Vitoya made a mental note to clean that up later.

Making her way around the bar counter to the back of the bar, she walked down the cold stone steps of the cellar where the real work happened. The cellar always gave her the creeps. Not that she'd ever tell Doc that.

As she got closer to the entrance to Doc's workshop, Sesame's grip on her head and stance on her shoulders shifted uneasily as his nose twitched. His green foot pressed into her right shoulder a little harder. It was his warning to her that something was wrong. Something wasn't right.

Vitoya set her box down quietly, stepped over it, and peeked around the corner.

"Shit," she breathed out under her breath quietly.

A wave of nausea hit her as she stared in shock. Three burly men stood around a trash bag. They had their guns tucked into the back of their pants. Two of them were cramming what looked to be an arm into it. The last one stood watching them. He had a gash on his arm but it didn't seem to bother him. In the stretch of the bag she saw the shape of a face towards the bottom stretching and pulling at the plastic. Broken glass and debris lay around the counter tops and floor.

Vitoya snapped her head back around the corner. She'd seen her fair share of blood that came with working with a person like Doc, but never like this. Not this kind of crude mutilation. She could feel the bile rising, a heavy pressure in the back of her throat, as she slowly backed away from the scene inching back closer to the box she'd left forgotten on the ground. The word fuck passed through her head as she tripped and fell backward in what seemed like slow motion. On impact, a grunt was forced out of her lungs and everything seemed to speed back up.

Seconds after she hit the floor, she quickly shot back up to her feet and flew up the stairs taking three steps at a time with Sesame on her tail. The men in Doc's workshop were stunned in confusion before they realized someone had seen them. No witnesses. They sent two of the three after her.

Vitoya ran as fast as she could, her heart leaping in her throat in fear as she jumped over the counter. She burst out of the shop and into the alley. She made a quick turn, climbed some discarded crates next to a dumpster like stairs, and ran on top of the dumpster's lid before leaping to a ladder of a fire escape. Scrambling up the ladder, she only made it up two flights and next to a window before they were out of the shop as well.

"There he is!" one of the goons shouted as he spotted her. Her hood had still been up. Wouldn't have been the first time she's been mistaken as a boy, but that's not important right now.

"Shit, Ses break the window. Fury Swipes!" she urged. Sesame chattered an affirmative and made quick work of the window, breaking it in two swipes and a kick from Vitoya.

She got in the rundown and abandoned building when they fired off a few rounds at her, just barely missing her. She ran down the hallway, barged into the stairwell, and proceeded climbing, taking three steps at a time. She climbed ten flights when she heard them slam into the stairwell with her, which caused her to trip and bang her shin painfully on the concrete step before she got back up in necessity. She could feel her breath become more and more ragged as she sweat in exertion and fear. Didn't help that her shin now throbbed in pain either, but she'd live. She'd had worse from the fights in regular school before she dropped out and learned to live on the streets.

But guns were a no no. No thank you, no gracias, nope goodbye. She very much wanted to live. Know when to pick your fights.

She dared to glance down the stairwell and happened to catch the goon's eye. AH, fuck did I slow downfuckshitfuck. Before she could react, he pointed his gun at her. She felt something yank her head back as a shot rang out and resonated in the enclosed space. He had missed; Sesame had pulled her out of harm's way and retaliated by shooting Leech Seeds at his face. He screamed in pain as the seeds took root in his eyes, and that seemed to snap Vitoya out of her mental meltdown and caused her to double her previous efforts in escape. There was still one more goon chasing her down. She had a plan. Sort of.

After what seemed like a terrifying eternity of running, she burst out onto the roof. Without preamble, she grabbed a Net Ball out of a pocket in her cargo pants and let out a Frillish. Sesame twitched at the arrival of his teammate. At first, Princeton looked at her with contempt and annoyance but upon seeing her expression, he looked a tad worried.

"Princeton, there's someone out to get me and these people killed-," Vitoya tried to spit out what had happened and what she needed him to do, but the words got caught in her throat as what she saw in the cellar just only a few moments ago flashed violently in her mind's eye. Sesame chattered at Princeton with a sense of urgency, and that seemed to suffice as Princeton's red eyes glinted with anticipation and he let out a ghostly warble in affirmation before turning towards the door leading to the stairwell.

How could she be so weak? To let what she had saw only a few minutes prior to choke her. It was only death. It was only just a little blood. Only a- She felt something nosing her dark hair, her hood has slipped down when she was running up those flights. It was Sesame. His comfort helped ground her to the present. She took a breath and shut down her panic. Focus.

The task at hand was to get away. Princeton would come home later, as he always did after she released him to hunt.

"You ready, Ses?" Vitoya asked as she prepared herself mentally for the additional physical exertion to come. He chittered once then leapt off of her shoulders to the ground to run beside her. For the first time the whole day, he smiled. It was a small one, but it was there.

She turned away from the door, ran across the rooftop, and leaped across the gap from the roof she was on to the next. She landed with her knees bent to cushion the fall, then transitioned to a roll to keep her momentum going, and then got back up on her feet to continue running in one smooth motion. Sesame followed her closely as she leapt across the gaps between the city's buildings. She vaulted herself over a few obstacles that got in her way: several skylights, some air conditioners. She swatted at the clothes that people had left out on their clothesline overnight, ran, and pulled herself up when the next building was taller than the one she was on. She just needed to get home. Away from this nightmare.

Soon, her destination was in sight and she internally cheered. She had begun to feel the weariness seep into her bones, but she couldn't stop until she was inside. Three rooftops away. Two. One. She heard Sesame let out a short screech in alarm. Oops. She misjudged the last jump. The last leap had her crashing into the fire escape; her gut had collided with the railing resulting in her flipping painfully over it and inside the escape with a resounding, metallic clang.

Welp, if I wasn't sore before… Ha ha, ow, she laughed to herself thinking about the people who might've gotten scared from the racket she had caused. She quickly stopped and winced. It hurt to laugh. Not exactly the right moment to be laughing. I heard people laugh when they're in shock. Maybe I'm delirious. I should get up though. Vitoya tried to move from her position on the metal floor of the fire escape. Owowowow. Okay, maybe in a few minutes. Sesame popped into her field of vision, a worried look instead of his usual tired indifference was on his face.

"Oh, sup Ses. Wanna help me up?" she asked him. He moved out of her field of view, and she heard a small huff exhaled through his nostrils. Vitoya couldn't help but smile. Once upon a time, she had been taking care of him, a runt of a Pansage, when she had first got him at age 8, but maybe it was Sesame that had always been taking care of her dumb ass. Hey, what are friends for. Her happy nostalgia was short lived, however, because she then felt his paw slip beneath her head, and she hissed in pain. She had hit her head when she flipped over. She figured she'd deal with it. Roll with the punches. Man up. Or woman up. Whatever. Get tough.

Once Sesame got her shoulders off the grate floor, he put his paws on her back and pushed slowly while using a Vine Whip on the upper flight for leverage, getting her to a sitting position. She thanked him and then put her hand to her abdomen and groaned.
"That's going to hurt like a bitch later," she noted mildly. For what felt like a bajillion hours, she very slowly got back up and climbed up the two flights of fire escape to the destination she so desperately needed to get to. When she got there, she noticed the light was on, and mumbled, "Guess my crash landing woke him up." She yanked up the window and stuck her head in.

"Honey, I'm home," Vitoya deadpanned.

"OH ARCEUS FUCK!" the man in the studio apartment yelped and something clattered to the floor with an echo. The sound of alarm had come from the kitchenette. Vitoya invited herself in and climbed all the way inside the apartment with Ses hopping in after her. She shut the window behind her. It was warm in here, and she didn't want the chill to get in. "Oh my god, Jubi! What did I tell you about coming in through my window? I'm going to have a heart attack one of these days and then I'll FUCKING DIE," the brunet lamented exasperatedly as he came out from around the corner that lead to the kitchenette. Normally, she'd laugh or make a snappy comeback but instead Vitoya tensed at what he said as an image of her best friend's hypothetical death snapped to the forefront of her mind.

"Hayden, I told you not to call me Jubi anymore," she barked.

"Jubilee…" Hayden frowned, his eyebrows furrowed as he peered at her worriedly.

"I'm not that person anymore. I haven't been Jubilee for a long time and you know that, Hayden," she said. She spoke more to the floor than to Hayden. He crossed the room and put a hand on her shoulder. At the touch, she jerked and looked up at him.

"Don't be a Jim, Jubi. You know you'll always be Jubi to me," he said quietly with a small smile. She couldn't help but smile back. Making fun of Jim was always funny.

"Guess I'll never change your mind, huh?" she sighed resignedly, yet the corner of her mouth twitched in a smile.

"Nope," he said, he smiled cheekily, "Come on. I made some hot chocolate; you want some?"

"Made with milk?"

"Nah, I just used water," he told her.

"HB, that's fucking sacrilegious!" Hayden made a face, his mouth twisting and nose crinkling.

"How do you even know that word?"

"Ah, well Doc- oh fuck," Vitoya cursed suddenly at her casual mention of the recently deceased doctor.

"What? What happened?"

"He. He's…" She took a deep breath to keep her voice steady.

"He's what?"

"Dead." The word felt heavy on her tongue. When she was parkouring and then had rammed into the fire escape, she had momentarily forgot her troubles. However, she had remembered now. Hayden's eyes widen in shock.

"What!? What do yo-," he started to ask in alarm.

"HB, Imma need to skip town. I needa keep my head low and leave for a few months. I needa-," Vitoya spoke quickly as her panic rose.

"Jubilee! Calm down!" he exclaimed and grabbed her shoulders turning her to face him, "Look at me. I want you to breathe. C'mon Jubi it'll be okay." Vitoya glanced up at his face. Her breaths came in short puffs. She couldn't breathe and her heart was beating really fast. It felt like every time she tried to take a breath it would get caught on the panic that clogged her throat and settled in her heart. But when she saw her best friend and saw the look on his face, she forced herself slow down a little and take longer breaths. She saw him nod at something almost imperceptibly somewhere off to her right.

All of a sudden, her panic ebbed away as a sweet, aromatic scent filled the room, and she felt like she could breathe again. She flicked her eyes up at him and clenched her jaw. At least, he looked a little guilty.

"Did you seriously just do that." It was more a statement than a question.

"Sorry?" he smiled embarrassedly. His eyes flicked off to the side rather than at her face but then he looked back at her. "But you were, like, having a panic attack! That hasn't happened since you were ten and that dude let out his Darmanitan in the park!" he defended.

"Shut the fuck up! I can't believe you just had Flo use Aromatherapy on me!" Vitoya exclaimed as she motioned off to the side to the Pokémon in question who had released the soothing scent. The Petilil trilled in response to her name with a 'lillillil' from her spot on the bedside dresser. Sesame sat next to her, watching the show, seemingly disinterested, and sipped from a mug in his hands.

"But hey you're better now, right?" he tried with a crooked smile and shrug. Vitoya huffed and sat herself down in the middle of Hayden's bed. She was tired mentally and physically. She just wanted to rest.

"Fine," she bit out tersely, "whatever man. But still, I have to leave. They chased after me, so they'll probably be on the look out for a redhead with a Pansage cause I mean- oh fuck man. Ses fucking shot that fucker with Leech Seeds in his eyes and he's probably blind and people don't like it when their homies get hurt!" Vitoya groaned and pulled at her short hair. She flopped down into the pillows.

"Jubi, calm down. We'll figure something out," Hayden said as he put his hands out in front of him as a placating gesture and sat down on the edge with her. "That does sound pretty serious," Vitoya gave him a look, "and it's probably for the best, but where would you even go?"

"I don't know. Just anywhere. Just away!" she cried out.

"That doesn't seem like a sound plan… You gotta do something. Like what? Are you just going to wander the region until they forget about you?"

"Well, you sound annoying," she groused. She didn't want to talk about this anymore. She was tired from the shitty night she had had. Vitoya reached out behind her, grabbed the edge of the comforter, and rolled herself into a blanket burrito. The last thing she heard before she fell asleep was Hayden's voice exclaiming 'is that my mug?' and a positive chitter from Sesame.

-V-

It starts off with her running. It's a hallway, and she doesn't know where she's going or what she's running from but she passes barrels upon barrels. She sees the end of the corridor and it forces her to turn right. She looks back and she regrets it. Various bloody extremities chase after her and what bothers her the most is the arm that floats after her, swinging a black trash bag round and round with what might be a bowling ball inside. She knows it's not that. She tears her eyes away from the pursuer and tries to double her pace to get away but she can't. Her legs move at the same pace as they had in the beginning. Even so, she keeps going.

The barrels become large pine trees, and suddenly everything is hot. She's still running but she has a feeling that it's not away from the same thing just a minute ago. She shrinks and becomes smaller and her face becomes wet with the memory of tears. Her face heats up from running. It's hot.

It's too hot. It's stuffy and she can't breathe. It's too hot.

-V-

Vitoya woke up and she couldn't breathe. Her hair was plastered to her forehead, her neck was sticky from sweat, and her face was burning. Something was smothering her and she became very confused. She tried to flail her arms but found that they were restricted; she was wrapped in something. While she briefly panicked, she heard pressed whispers, human and Pokémon. Get away from her! She'll freak! and some chittering.

She realized that she was just trapped in the comforter she had rolled up in earlier before she had fallen asleep and calmed down a tad. When Vitoya started shimmying towards an exit in the blanket to poke her head out, she saw a faint red light through the sheet before it faded just as quickly as it had came. Finally, she had found an exit to the puffy death trap to breathe fresh and cool air when she saw a blurry Hayden at the foot of the bed cram his hand into his pocket.

"I dunno wha' ya doin', HB, and I don' care," Vitoya slurred from her cocoon as her vision slowly cleared more and more with each blink, "I'm sore as fuck though. Look." She rolled around in the comforter until she was free then pulled up her tank top and hoodie to show him the bruise that was on her stomach. She heard him hiss in sympathy. She put her shirt back on. "Wha' time's it?"

"It's four in the morning, Jubi. You slept for about three hours."

"Welp, now's as good a time as any," she surmised and started to get up.

"Dude, no! You're hella wrecked you need to rest."

"Dude, no!" she mocked, the impersonation muffled by a pillow she shoved her face in. She rolled onto her back again. "Bah humbug or whatever the fuck." She rolled once more.

"Jubi, you're gonna-" His warning was cut off with a thump as Vitoya rolled completely off the bed. He sighed and walked over to her and held out his hand to help her up. She smacked it lightly in response.

"I don't need your help," she joked and took his hand anyway. Hayden's eyeroll was practically audible.

"By the way, Princeton's back," Hayden mentioned and shuddered.

"Cool. Then that means I can definitely go now."

"Sesame returned him when he started, uh getting out of hand again. Sometimes I can't tell who's the actual trainer, you or him," Hayden sighed, "But hey, while you knocked out, I got some stuff together for you. Princeton's ball's in there too." Hayden went into the living room to grab the messenger bag.

"Aw, thanks for packing my lunch mom," Vitoya smirked. Hayden just rolled his eyes in response and handed her it. She slung it over her right shoulder and adjusted the strap until it felt right.

"Are you sure you'll be fine? 'Cause I mean, I can walk you to wherever you're going? It's the least I can do..." he trailed off.

"No, you fucking worrywart."

"But you said you were sore, right?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Eat this," he held out a small leaf.

"UGH. But that shit is so bitter!" she griped.

"Deal with it, Jubi. It wasn't my idea this time. I think Sesame asked Flo for it. So unless you want to be all sore while you're running around doing your flipping shit and stuff..." Hayden trailed off. Sesame nudged her belly to make a point. Vitoya yelped and swatted at the probing tail.

"Fine!" she surrendered. "Gimme that," she said and snatched it out of Hayden's hand. She shoved the Petilil leaf into her mouth and chewed. With a great effort on her part, she finished and swallowed the leaf. She shuddered and gagged at the taste but it was done and she felt the effects immediately. The ache in her muscles faded and she felt refreshed. "I guess I needed that," she admitted begrudgingly. Sesame nodded and Hayden laughed. "But we've gotta go." She made a beeline for the door, but stopped as she was about to exit, turned and looked at Hayden with a somber expression. "Hey if you ever miss me, remember this," she added.

She tugged at a necklace chain hidden underneath her hoodie and pulled out a small charm that was attached to it. It was the red half of a Pokéball and the white button. Engraved into it was the word, BEST.

Hayden pulled his necklace out as well. It was the other half of the Pokéball, looking a little like a black and white magnet, and was engraved with the word, FRIEND.

"Best friend," Hayden said and held out his fist.

"Best friend," Vitoya repeated back and bumped his knuckles with hers.

After they had said their goodbyes, Vitoya and Sesame headed out. Sesame hopped back onto her shoulders as she walked down the sidewalk towards the general direction of Skyarrow Bridge. She didn't know where she should've been going. Should I go to Pinwheel? She cringed at the thought of returning. I don't know what'd I do there, but it's not like I'd get lost like everyone else would in that maze of a forest… she thought. She stopped directly under a streetlight and turned towards where Route 4 lay. Or maybe Route 4 would be the better place to lay low? Mmm but if I remember right, aren't there fire-pokemon? I heard it's pretty common for trainers to travel in groups... Even if the trainers don't know each other. Isn't that dangerous? Couldn't that stranger trainer mug you or some shit? … Wait. What the fuck am I talking about. I'm the one who would probably rob them. Ses probably wouldn't let me though… Whatever. Where to go…?

She sighed at her indecision. Sesame patted her head sympathetically but then his stance shifted and gripped her head uneasily. Vitoya tensed and looked around urgently. In the distance she could see two, three shadowy figures. She heard a soft shout from their direction and then she bolted towards the Bridge.

A few feet in front of her was a bike rack and she saw that one of the bikes wasn't locked up. Its frame and chain looked a little rusty, but it still looked usable. She slowed when she reached the rack, pulled the old bike out, hopped on it, and started pedalling.

To her surprise, the bike moved with shocking speed. She quickly reached the rest stop building at the beginning of the bridge and flew through it, ignoring the protests of the guard. She rode the bike up the ramp next to the stairs and got on the bridge. After a minute of pedalling, she slowed her pace and snuck a quick glance behind her. There was no way they could've caught up to her. She shook her head and continued forwards, pedalling leisurely. The decision was made for her. She was headed to Pinwheel Forest.

When Vitoya reached the midway point and the Skyarrow Bridge began to slope downwards, she stopped pedalling altogether and let gravity do it's work.

"This is pretty great, huh Ses?" she asked over the wind whistling past her ears. She didn't really expect him to respond. Ses just held onto her a little tighter.

As her bike rolled along the Bridge, she felt the floor rumble through her bike and heard something that sounded like thunder. Sesame dropped from his place on her shoulders onto the rusted rear seat of the bike to look at what or who was coming. Vitoya's heard this sound before, albeit on TV. It was the sound of galloping Zebstrikas.

"FUCK. WHAT THE FUCK!" she yelled in exasperation. "Alright. Sesame, when you see the first one, use Grass Knot to trip it!" Sesame made a sound of agreement that was lost in the wind. He raised his tail to grip the hood of her jacket for additional balance. He then spat seeds on the ground of the Bridge to prep the attack as they were not in normal conditions to use the move. Grass can't bust through a steel bridge over water.

The thundering grew louder and the vibrations grew stronger, and three Zebstrika came into sight, one running a tad faster than the other two. Soon, the leading Zebstrika came upon the trap. Sesame's eyes lit a glowing green, and the seeds began to grow at a rapid pace as they wrapped around the striped Pokémon's hooves and up it's legs. The Pokémon tripped and fell to its knees and hocks which caused its rider to fly off of it and crash painfully before tumbling along the Bridge some more. The other two Zebstrika pulled to a stop, backing up on their hind legs, causing the other goons to slip off their steeds and fall to the floor. She distinctly heard one of them shout a distraught 'MARTY!' and continued on biking.

The rest stop on the other side of the Bridge came into sight and Vitoya prepared to slow down. However, when she gripped the hand brakes on the bike nothing happened. Uh oh. Next, she tried to pedal backwards but yet again. Nothing. She was going too fast to jump off and telling Sesame to use Vine Whip to get them out would put too much stress on his vines at this speed. I guess that's why this bike wasn't locked up.

"You might want to hold on tight, Ses!" she warned.

She was already at the ramp down, zipped through the rest stop, and turned right then left then right again. All too quickly she was in the forest bumping around on the leaf littered floor which helped slow the bike down a bit. Ses jumped off, roped a branch with a vine, and tried to grab Vitoya with his second one, but he wasn't quick enough to grab her. She crashed the bike into a bush, flew out of her seat, and collided into something that squawked in something akin to fear and surprise.

-V-

Note: Flo (Petilil) knows Aromatherapy, but it doesn't necessarily mean she's level 28. Movesets are more like what the Pokémon are capable of learning naturally and/or with training. It depends on the different factors on how much effort it will take a certain Pokémon to learn and master a certain move. Depending on each individual Pokémon's aptitude and determination, Pokémon of the same species can learn the same moves at different 'levels.'

When Sesame was talking to Princeton, he pretty much said "Do whatever. Get rid of him. The ones with guns. See you at home." Not a Pokémon of many words.

Fun Fact: This chapter's 'fuck' count is 17 fucks, including variations like 'fucker' and excluding this message. Fucks:Brought to you by Hayden, he'll give 'em all!