A/N Hey everyone! Yep, I'm finally doing it. XD This is my first ever Pokémon Fanfic, so go easy on me please! Without further ado, here is Paradox!

Disclaimer: Amber does not own Pokémon. It's been on my wish list for a few years, but no luck…

Chapter One: Black N White With a Hint of Grey

I brushed through my hair again and threaded my ponytail back under my hat again. I slipped the notebook my dad and I had made into a pouch at my belt and sighed. Today was the day, I guess. I would have to get over my fear eventually…

I went to my door and put my hand on the knob, preparing to open the door, but it burst open before I could twist the handle.

"WHIIIITE!"

My hands flew to my ears as my friend Bianca burst in. I gave her a pointed look and she covered her hands over her mouth.

"Oh, I'm sorry! You were standing right there weren't you? Are you okay?"

I nodded warily and sat on my bed.

She giggled and sat next to me. "I finally got here before Cheren! Yay me!"

I heard footsteps as Cheren himself came down the hallway to my room. Unlike Bianca, he had the courtesy to actually knock.

"Come in!" Bianca said and Cheren obliged. He readjusted his glasses and he held up a box.

"Your mom told me to bring it up. Quick, before your brother gets-"

"I'M HERE! ARE THOSE THE POKEMON? AWESOME!"

Black pushed past Cheren and took the box from his hands. I rolled my eyes and watched the three of them huddle around the package, carefully opening it.

"There are only three pokeballs…" Bianca trailed off sadly.

"T-that's okay. You guys can take them." I said.

"Are you sure? Let's at least see what they are, and if you like one you can take it. After all, it was delivered to your house." Cheren told me, straightening his tie.

"No, no, it's really fine-"I started to answer, but not before Bianca released the Pokémon from their balls.

I recognized the little creatures instantly from my times reading books with my dad, but I still put space between myself and them.

What's with you? We don't bite. Well, not unless we learn the move, but we won't bite you!

The Oshawott was blinking up at me from the floor and the Snivy pulled one of its ears.

You know humans can't understand us!

The Tepig shook his snout at the two. "It was worth a try, Elm."

"OH MY ARCUES! THEY ARE SO CUUUTE!"

This time, even the Snivy, who I'm guessing was Elm, twitched his tail in response to Bianca's yell.

"I'll pick first!" Black cried out. "Since it is my house."

I rolled my eyes at this comment. Brothers can be so annoying…

The Tepig walked up to Black, clearly begging with its eyes.

He looked down at the Pokémon and crouched to Tepig's level.

"Do you want to come with me little guy?" he asked it.

Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?

Of course, all Black heard were snorts of enthusiasm.

"I'll take that as a yes!" he said, picking the little Tepig up. "What should I call you?"

"My name's Torch." It said, snorting fire helpfully.

"Hmm… How about Barbecue?" he asked it. That's my brother, always thinking about food. Which in this case was not a good thing, as pigs are used in barbecue!

I gave in and decided to help the little Tepig out. "He says his name's Torch."

He nodded. They already knew about my being able to understand Pokémon, so my answer didn't come as a surprise. "Torch it is!"

Torch gave me a pondering look. "Can you understand me?"

I gave him a slight nod and he snorted in delight. Elm looked incredulously at me and crawled up my bedpost to get a better look at me. I yelped and clutched a pillow, backing to the far side of the bed, against the wall. Thank goodness he wasn't intimidating, or I probably would have fainted.

What's wrong? Are you scared of Pokémon?

I nodded feebly, and he didn't pry. The Snivy slithered back down my bedpost and over to Cheren, who delightedly picked him up, much to the Snivy's discomfort.

I soon learned that the Oshawott's name was Conch, and I helped Cheren and Bianca with their names, much to Conch and Elm's relief.

"Let's have a Pokémon battle!" Bianca shouted.

In my room?

Thankfully, Black stepped in. "They've barely gotten to know us! Let's wait until after we train them a bit."

I let out a sigh of relief. Great! Now not only would I not have to go with them, I didn't have to clean up the mess they would leave behind!

Sadly, only one of these would remain true.

After returning their Pokémon into their balls, they started to head down the hallway.

"Come on White! We're losing daylight!" Black cried, grabbing my arm and pulling me down the stairs.

The losing daylight part was true as it was already 7:00 at night. But there was no way I was going! I struggled in my brother's grip, but to no avail.

"Oh come on White! This will be a perfect way to get you to talk more often and help you get over your fear of Pokémon! It's a win win!"

That's easy for you to say…

Nonetheless, Black managed to drag me to Professor Juniper's lab. I gave my brother a questioning look.

"The Professor wants to see us before we start." He explained.

We entered the lab and Juniper herself greeted us.

"Cheren, Bianca, Black-and White! I didn't expect you to be here!" she said.

I glared pointedly at Black.

Juniper pulled out three red devices. "These are for your journey. They're known as Pokedexes. They calculate Pokémon you meet-White, do you want one? I think there's an extra one lying around here-"

"No, no it's fine." I interrupted her. " I pulled out my dad's notebook and showed it to her. "It has drawings and information of every Pokémon said to have existed. We finished it right before he…"

Died.

Juniper smiled at it and nodded, explaining the basics to the other three as I placed the notebook back in its pouch. She finished and ushered us out.

"Now go on while there's still some daylight left!"

Black gave me an 'I told you so' look and we exited the lab.

At the start of Route One, I nearly chickened out. All of the Pokémon that could be lurking in the shadows at any turn…

A rough push from behind sent me moving forward. It was Bianca, Conch at her side.

It's alright. We'll protect you!

The little otter thumped his chest, striking a noble position.

We went on a little more, until my companions caught sight of wild Pokémon.

"I see a Pidove! That could definitely help me on my journey!"

"A Purrloin. It seems interesting."

"Look at that Lillipup! It's SOOO cute!"

The three Trainers bolted off in different directions, leaving me alone. So much for protecting me…

It was eerily quiet. I couldn't even hear the voices of wild Pokémon. Rubbing my arms, I started forward along the path; careful to avoid the patches of tall grass for fear that a Pokémon would pop out.

Footsteps resounded behind me and I whipped around, expecting Black, Bianca, or Cheren. Instead, I saw a white-haired teen standing at the edge of the path, looking at me questioningly. I raised an eyebrow and he came forward.

"I apologize." He said. "You just reminded me of someone."

I nodded and smiled. "Can't say I get that a lot."

He smirked and stuck out his hand. "My name is Grey."

"White." I replied, cautiously shaking his hand.

"Strange. Seems our parents were keen on naming us after colors." he chuckled, and let go of my hand.

"I guess I should go, I'm trying to find my friends. Nice meeting you Grey." I turned and began walking again, listening for my friends and brother.

I felt a hand on my should and turned around again to see Grey.

"I heard a small group of Trainers walking towards the town." He said, pointing ahead. "I could escort you."

"Oh, um, alright." I agreed reluctantly.

After about ten minutes of walking, I saw sunlight up ahead.

"Thank you Grey-" I started, turning to face him.

But he was gone.

I continued and brushed off the gnawing suspicion that had closed over my mind.

"Sis! There you are, we thought we'd lost you!" Black's voice came from the end of the path.

I gave him a steely glare.

Bianca squealed happily and ran towards me, waving around a pokeball.

"I found a Lillipup!" I'm gonna call him George!" she cried, releasing the said Pokémon.

I gave a yelp and backed away from the furry dog that had begun bounding in circles around Bianca.

Let's play Master! Let's play!

Bianca laughed and scratched the Lillipup's ear, and it instantly curled up and started snoring.

"Alrighty, return George!" she called out, and the dog went back into its ball.

Cheren pushed his glasses back up his nose. "Accumula Town. There's no Gym here where I can prove Elm's strength, but it's getting too dark. We should find somewhere to head for the night."

I looked to the town square and my eyes widened. I tugged on Black's sleeve, and he looked as well. At the northern part of the square, a platform had been laid out and a bunch of people dressed as knights, some of them holding flags, were gathered around a man wearing a…bathrobe? Cape? Snuggie? I couldn't tell from where we were standing.

"What's going on over there? Are they doing some kind of medieval reenactment or something?" Black asked, pulling on the rim of his cap.

"Let's go see!" Bianca cried, running over to where a crowd was gathering.

We followed Bianca and joined the outer edge of the crowd just as the man in the bathrope-cape-snuggie-thingie cleared his throat.

I noticed the man had a glowing red device where his right eye should have been and I felt a shiver run down my spine. Up this close, I could also see that the flags some of the others were carrying had a P insignia with a lowercase Z behind it.

"Good evening ladies and gentleman. My name is Ghetsis. I hail as a humble Sage in the name of Team Plasma. I have come to deliver a message given to us by our King."

The crowd murmured curiously, and I myself couldn't help but take interest.

"Team Plasma is supported by the beliefs of Pokémon happiness. Now I ask of you, are your Pokémon happy? Happy, as you force them to battle for sport? Happy, as you lock them in computers and contraptions rather than let them roam free? Happy, as we push them beyond their natural limits in power-hungry quests for strength?"

I blinked in astonishment and the crowd buzzed, pondering what he had just said. Was this man right? Thank Arcues I wasn't a Trainer having to face the emotional conflict that was obvious on so many faces…

Ghetsis raised a hand and the audience stilled. He cleared his throat and continued.

"In order to obtain this goal, this noble quest of Pokémon happiness, we must do one thing."

"Liberation!" I turned and found the person who had spoken up. It was a green-haired teen, who looked like he completely believed Ghetsis and even honored in what he was saying.

"That's right. Liberation. In order to let Pokémon live in a perfectly happy, peaceful environment, we must first release our Pokémon. Then and only then can we achieve this goal, this dream of a perfect world. Thank you for your time, and have a wonderful night."

With that, Ghetsis bowed and left the platform, the rest of Team Plasma filing out behind him.

As soon as they left the crowd burst into uproar. I heard sounds of pokeballs being opened and I yelped, backtracking to avoid the sudden increase of Pokémon in the square.

I turned to my friends and saw that they all had looks of contemplation on their faces, their starter Pokémon by their sides. Cheren was even fingering the button on Elm's ball. Only Black looked completely unconvinced by the speech.

"Should I let Conch go?" Bianca actually stared at me when she asked this, as if I would have an answer! She stared at Conch undecidedly. "White, I know you're scared of Pokémon…but could you tell me if Conch is happ-"

"You're afraid of Pokémon?"

We all turned to see who had spoken, and it was none other than the boy who had spoken up during the speech. His gray gaze was focused disbelievingly on me.

I couldn't answer. If I said yes, he'd probably be offended. If I said no, he would see I was lying…

"Yes, and for good reason! So don't bug her about it!" Black had stepped in front of me and was glaring at the boy.

"Relax. I didn't mean to offend you. It was just an honest question, nothing personally."

I put a hand on Black's shoulder and stepped around him to face the teen.

"My dad and his Pokémon were killed protecting me from Kyurem."

He cocked his head and his eyes showed sympathy.

"I have to say, it's a shame that you have this fear. As I would assume that you are not a Trainer, I hope that being around your friends will lessen this fear."

I nodded stiffly and Conch glared at him.

Who are you to ask questions like that anyway?

Conch, he can't understand you, remember? But I do hope that Cheren doesn't take what that sinister man said to heart. He's a wonderful person, and I've never been happier around him.

"Your Pokémon!" the teen exclaimed, looking at Elm. "Just now it said-"

"What are you talking about? Pokémon can't talk." Cheren interrupted disbelievingly.

"You can't hear them either? How sad." The boy turned to walk away, but of course, Bianca had to say something.

"Actually, she can understand Poke-" I clapped a hand over her mouth, but it was too late. The green-haired teen turned back around and stared at me incredulously.

I stepped back and pulled the rim of my hat down.

"Is this true? You can hear their voices as well?"

Of course she can you idiot!

Oh Conch.

"You're very rude." The boy said to the otter-like Pokémon.

"You're vey green." Conch retorted, sticking his tongue out at the teen.

"Hey!" Elm cried, glaring at Conch. "Green is a very fashionable color!"

"Sorry Elm."

I smirked at the two and looked back up.

"Amazing. I haven't met another person who could her them… My name is N."

"Nice name." Black chuckled, making N give him an amused look.

"Oh really? And what might your name be?"

"Black."

"Then you don't quite seem in the position for judging how strange a name is." N's gaze flickered back to me expectantly.

"White." I said simply.

"A pleasure to meet you, Miss White. I have a feeling our paths will cross again." N then looked at my brother and the silent Tepig by his side.

"I have yet to hear your friend's voice. Would you do the honor of battling me?" N asked, taking out a pokeball of his own.

Black nodded, accepting the challenge, and told us to reserve a room in the Pokémon Center for us while he battled. We agreed, and before we left, N nodded to me, his gray gaze locked with my blue. The last I saw of N, he was sending out a Purrloin.

Somehow, I failed to notice the white-haired teen standing nearby…

A/N Whoo! That took over five hours to type! Oh Arcues. Alright. First off, at the beginning I mentioned White having a blue and white hat. This was on purpose, as I loathe the color pink. :D

Anywho, guess Grey's role! If you get it right, I'll dedicate the next chappie to you! ;D

I haven't decided the pairing yet, so vote your favorite in your review! Any will be accepted, be it ferriswheel, atyourservice, whatever it is! I'll even let you vote if you want Grey to be a shipping option. I have no final plans (except Dualrivalshipping) so just tell me!

And remember, reviews are appreciated!

Live, laugh, be awesome!

-Amber Icefire