Author's Note: I'm planning to make a PMD story with these characters. It's still in the early planning stages, but I just can't help but write a short story about these three. Since I'll be cutting straight to the point without bothering with character introductions, I'll tell you about them here.

CHARACTERS

SABER, the leader - or better known as the amnesiac human-turned-Nuzleaf who often gets weird dizzy spells and is more often than not unsure of his role in the world.

VERTIGO, the psycho - the pretty Roselia who specifically sharpens her thorny vine whips to cut the arteries of her enemies - and sometimes her friends... and herself.

KARMA, the newbie - one of Dusknoir's Sableye minions (supposedly) turned good who's so naïve that he thinks everyone's all a part of Arceus' huge novel.

All right, let's get on with it, shall we?

Cover (c) mblock on DeviantART.

Our Dear Psychopath

...

Saber, Vertigo, and Karma felt like they had been a trio forever, although that certainly wasn't the case. Saber and Vertigo came from Treasure Town, whereas Karma had been brought up in the future of darkness.

That was where they met Karma for the first time. They'd gone to the future of darkness and come home again, this time bringing a new friend with them. They'd wriggled out of their executions, supposed to be carried out by Karma's own brothers who were on Dusknoir's side. However, most important of all was the fact that they'd met Grovyle, whom they'd always thought was a notorious Time Gear thief, and learned that he was actually collecting the Time Gears to prevent the planet's paralysis. He was actually trying to save the world... And that meant he was on their side.

Now, back at their headquarters at Sharpedo Point, they were wondering where Grovyle was, whether he had succeeded in collecting any more Time Gears in the eastern part of the Pokémon world. Their own task was to collect the remaining Time Gears in the western part, and they'd already planned to go to the Amp Plains the next day once they'd gotten a good, much-needed rest.

Vertigo suddenly stood up, breaking Saber's line of reverie.

"I'm going for some fresh air at the beach," she announced, and without waiting for Saber and Karma to say anything, she left.

Karma watched Vertigo leave, looking deep in thought. Finally he asked Saber, "Do you think we'll get another permanent team member, Saber?"

He looked down and played with his fingers. "I mean, Grovyle is on our side and he is brave and good-hearted, but he doesn't feel like a permanent member, if you get what I mean..."

"I understand," Saber assured him. "He does prefer to work solo."

Karma nodded. "So, do you think we will or we won't?"

Saber paused for a moment. "I do hope we will," he finally responded. "As they always say, the more the merrier - defeating enemies is easier when you have a lot of Pokémon on your side, right?"

"That's what I thought, too!" Karma looked up excitedly, pleased that Saber and himself were on the same wavelength.

He suddenly blushed and looked down again. Tiny traces of sand fell from his cracked diamond eye.

"...And I do hope it's a girl," he added shyly.

Saber's eyes widened. He had never seen Karma being interested in subjects such as this.

"Why do you hope it's a girl?" he asked.

"Well..." At first Karma was loath to explain it, but finally, he did. "If our team consists of two boys and one girl, who will I get to be with?"

"Oh, Karma..." Saber started, when he froze. "Wait a second. What do you mean by that? I don't understand; who do I get to be with?"

Karma stared at him incredulously as if he knew Saber could have done better than that.

"Why, you're with Miss Vertigo, of course," he said matter-of-factly. "I've been watching you interact with her, Saber. You and Miss Vertigo make a fine pairing."

"Ah..." Saber turned away. "N-no, Vertigo and I are just friends."

Karma grinned and tilted his head to the side. "Yeah, that's what they all say before they turn into "special friends"," he said. "At least, that's what always happens in my novels!"

"Unfortunately, this isn't one of your novels. This is reality."

"Yeah... Unfortunately," Karma chuckled.

Saber suddenly realized with a start what he'd indirectly implied. "I know what you're thinking and no, I did not mean it that way at all," he said firmly.

"Of course you didn't, Saber." The look on Karma's face was, as usual, innocent.

Saber sighed. Karma could think up the most ridiculous ideas and still look innocent. He thought it was the Sableye's special talent.

No one said anything else because the next moment, Vertigo was parting the vines covering the cave's entrance and coming in. She frowned when she saw that Saber and Karma were still up.

"What are you doing still awake?" she chided them. "We need to set out at dawn tomorrow. Get some sleep."

"Well, I thought since it's obviously not your bedtime yet, it's not mine and Karma's, either," Saber said matter-of-factly. "But you've got it right there. We should probably get some sleep now. Vertigo's right, we do set out early tomorrow."

"OK," Karma said.

Vertigo did nothing but continue to stand there. Saber thought she was being rebellious (as usual) when he realized that it was because they had no hay piles left to sleep on. There had only been two, and now Saber and Karma were occupying one each.

Then the Thorn Pokémon shrugged and walked over to one side of the cave, apparently deciding to sleep on the cold stone floor.

Of course, Saber couldn't let her do that.

"Here, you can have my hay pile," he said quickly, standing up. "I'll sleep on the floor."

"No, Saber. Lie down." The Roselia didn't even turn around.

"Please. You're the only lady here and you're sleeping on the floor? It just won't do," Saber went on.

By now, Karma had realized that it was because of his joining the team that they no longer had enough hay piles. He quickly stood up also, feeling guilty and uncomfortable. "You can have mine, Miss," he said shyly.

"No, Karma," Vertigo said. "Both of you. Lie down and go to sleep. You've bothered me enough. I'm sleeping."

With that, she lay down and curled herself into a tight little ball.

"Goodnight and hope I don't kill you in your sleep."

Then she drifted instantly to sleep.

Saber and Karma could only look at each other. They were trying to convince themselves that Vertigo wasn't serious. Sure, she was a psycho, but she wouldn't do that to her own teammates, right?

Saber glanced at where the Roselia was curled up. Although she acted tough and strong and pretty much unbeatable in real life, in sleep she looked tiny, helpless, and lonely, as if he was supposed to keep her safe like a precious treasure.

Something in the past made her this way, he tried to reassure himself. This isn't her fault.

Yeah. That's what you always tell yourself when for some weird reason you fall for a psychopath, he thought sarcastically. When you do, you'll be telling yourself over and over again that "something in the past made them that way; it isn't their fault".

Karma, annoyingly, seemed to read his mind.

"That was a nice move, Saber," he said with a smile. "Giving up your comfortable hay pile for Miss Vertigo, that was awesome. She'll like you back in no time."

"Please, let's just go to sleep," Saber sighed in a tired voice.

...None of them slept on the hay piles.

Author's Note: Wheee! That was really short! I hope I'll get around to actually writing the long fic. Ugh.

If you'd like to read more about the characters in the meantime, I've actually published another oneshot about them. The title is Execution, she said. It takes place before Saber and Vertigo met Karma, however, so he doesn't appear in that story.

Reviews are appreciated!