Prologue

The moonlight shone down on the battered walkway where a lone trainer and an umbreon walked. The umbreon's yellow eyes and blue rings seemed to glow in some of the darker areas. Its trainer was a young teenager dressed in all black and the moonlight reflected off the trainer's glasses and the earring that hung from his left ear. Umbreon suddenly wiggled its ears and started off in another different direction.

"Shadow, what are you doing? We're supposed to be masters of stealth, and you're taking off? Get back here; don't disobey me." He followed the umbreon away from Team Snagem's hideout and into a more secluded area. Once there, Shadow nuzzled against an espeon. "So this is where you've been sneaking off to, is it?" Sunglasses came off.

"Is this umbreon yours?" He looked up in the tree and amber met emerald.

"It is and I assume this espeon is yours? Why don't you come down? No need for trainers to hide from each other, right?"

"I suppose not…fine I'm coming down...WAHHH!" The young male in the tree proceeded to fall down out of it, in an attempt to save himself from a few injuries he tried to teleport back to the branch but in his panic ended up teleporting right into his fellow trainer's arms. "OH I'M SO SORRY! PLEASE EXCUSE ME!"

"You're awfully cute this close up you know."

"Ummm thank you, ummm but really I'm not….." The young male's cheeks turned a bright shade of pink before he wiggled away.

"You know our pokémon seem to like each other, maybe we should go grab a cup of tea and a cake at the local cafe. I'm Seishirou by the way."

"O-okay…Seishirou-san...I'm Subaru."

~#~

"So did you go the trainer's academy?"

"I did; and got all three medals."

"Meaning you're qualified to be an Elite Four member but you never applied for it?"

"No, um, you see I'm not that good really and I just have a vast knowledge of pokémon which is why I aced the tests, and being a breeder I can adapt to battle since I can tell how well a pokémon's been raised, where its weak spot is and usually what attack they're going to use."

"Impressive."

Again the young breeder's cheeks turned pink. "Thank you…"

Nervously Subaru spoke up, ignoring Sakura nuzzling against Shadow. "What about you?"

"Hmm?"

"Did you go to the academy?"

"I did, and like you, got all three medals."

"So why aren't you an Elite Four member?"

"Who says I'm not?"

"I know most of the Elite Four members, so unless you're a member of Renes' Elite four…."

"Not to worry I'm not. I've always been gifted with battling. Because of that, I got pulled into the family business here in Orre, Team Snagem, but when I saw the look on my sister's face when my teammate stole her skitty, that was the final branch to be broken. So I'm the rebel trying to shut them down."

"Do you want some help?"

"If you want to. I need to steal their shadow pokémon identifier as I can't tell them apart from normal pokémon, even as talented as I am."

"Shadow pokémon? Do you mean pokémon with a black aura around them?"

"Yes...you can see it?"

"I can. I don't know why I can, but yes."

~#~

"Skitty was the last one I needed to snag back from them."

"How did you snag the rest? I thought you couldn't see which were shadow pokémon and which weren't?"

A sly smirk twisted its way onto Seishirou's face. "I can't, I just snagged all of them. I'll need your help purifying them. Before that though…I need to get my sister her skitty back."

"If it's that urgent you get the skitty back to her...there's a flute that can help you...I can take you to my home."

"Sounds okay to me."

A quick teleport later and they were in Azure Village. "We'll sneak in the back way...Kamui's probably out front playing with his friend Fuuma. And my sister is probably watching the pokémon contests on TV."

"Hmm... Wait, did you say Fuuma?"

"Yeah; why?"

"That's my little brother's name...looks like we're connected in more ways than one."

"If you say so. Come on, let's go inside."

"THERE YOU ARE SUBARU! WHERE HAVE YOU—OOH WHO'S THIS?"

"He's…my…friend…Hokuto-chan...meet Seishirou-san."

After the flute was played, skitty was back to normal and it batted at the single gold hoop dangling from Seishirou's ear. "Oh yes, very cute, into the Poké Ball with you."

~#~

"Here you go Kotori...she's back safe and sound."

"YAY! Thank you bigger brother!"

"Stay safe."

"Are you leaving again?"

"I am…the journey's only begun."

"Subaru-kun, journey with me across the world...we made an amazing team so let's take down every challenge."

"Of course I will…my family's been harping on me to use my brain and become a good trainer."

~#~

"HOW! HOW YOU COULD YOU MURDER THIS INNOCENT POKÉMON'S MOTHER? WOULD YOU LIKE IT IF IT WERE YOUR FAMILY?"

"It shouldn't have tried to protect its young should it have? It would've been all for nothing and as for you; you can't protect the cubone and fight us all by yourself."

"Except he's not alone now, is he?"

"WHERE'D YOU COME FROM?"

"Your worst nightmares I'm sure. Subaru-kun, leave the cubone with Shadow." Amber eyes glanced at the umbreon. "Shadow, do not by any means let these ingrates near that cubone, understand?" The umbreon nodded in response to his trainer.

"Now for all of you. You see, for the most part I couldn't care less how people treat their pokémon, it's not of my concern. However, to go and murder its mother is just as bad as closing a pokémon's heart and I simply can't forgive that. We're in Lavender Town in the Pokémon Tower and ghost type pokémon happen to be one of my specialties."

Subaru blinked. Looking at his traveling companion, there was something almost sinister about Seishirou now…

But that didn't change how he felt...

~#~

"Chairman, the Secret Hallow has been officially finished as of today. Would you like the key?"

"And tell me Captain, what are the chances of poachers breaking in and stealing the key from me? I may be Chairman of the UFP, but I daresay I'm not as powerful as some of the Elite Four."

"We can't ask the Elite Four to guard it, they have their own post."

"I know, it's a real shame."

"Chairman? Captain? If I may make a suggestion, I just may know of two trainers that can handle it."

"Oh really? And who are they Sakura-chan?"

"One of them is Subaru Sumeragi. I used to work with him at the breeding center."

"The Sumeragi Breeding Center? He was to be the thirteenth owner correct? But then he took off?"

"That's correct. He took off and is together with who was supposed to be the thirteenth head of Team Snagem. Together they've traveled all the regions and conquered everything that's come in their path; I can contact Subaru via Pokégear and tell him to come here."

"Please do, both of them."

~#~

The ocean breeze caught in Subaru's hair. This was going to be it…this was when they would part ways forever. Yeah sure they had done a few things like kissed and even slept together, but that didn't mean anything. Lots of people did that on their travels. But surely Seishirou saw what a great team the two of them made, right?

"So Subaru-kun, it appears we've conquered everything there is to conquer, it was a fabulous journey that was for sure."

"It was…."

"Seems there's only one thing left to do now."

This was it…this was when they were going to say goodbye... Subaru fought back the tears and offered a smile. "And what's that?"

Sunglasses were pulled off and amber met emerald. "Subaru-kun…I…"

Subaru stood on tiptoe to properly kiss the taller and older male. If they were going to part ways, Subaru wanted the last memory to be a good one.

He was slightly surprised to feel pressure against his lips meaning he was getting kissed back.

When they broke apart they just stared in each other's eyes for a moment. "I'm sorry...please continue…"

He was met with a playful smirk. "No worries Subaru-kun...I do enjoy your confident side. That's why I want you to marry me."

What? Had he heard right? Was the exact OPPOSITE of what he feared happening? "You want me to marry you? Why?"

"The same reason you're going to say yes...we love each other."

"If—I didn't I swear I would use telekinesis on you for giving me near heart failure…but yes…the answer is yes…yes...just yes..." The tears were pouring out of emerald eyes he hadn't realized that this much happiness could be painful.

"It's not much of a ring yet we'll build that up. We're the strongest trainers in the world, we've proven that and together were unstop—"

The older teen was cut short by getting pulled down by his scarf for a kiss.

"I don't care so long as I'm with you. Being the most powerful trainer means nothing to me."

"I'll tell you a secret Subaru-kun…I couldn't care less either. I just want you by my side."

Subaru grinned and leaned up to meet Seishirou halfway for a kiss when something in his pocket starting beeping.

"Oh hold on, my Pokégear's ringing." Seishirou nodded but looked less than amused.

"Sakura-chan, hi, what is it? The Chairman wants to see us? But why?"

"Seishirou-san?"

"Hmm?"

"The Chairman requests a battle with us."

"Oh does he? That will be interesting."

"You think so?"

"I know so; we can win Subaru-kun."

"How can you be so confident?"

"Because a wise trainer taught me to have faith in my pokémon and I do, and of course I have faith in my battle partner."

Subaru smiled softly reaching out for Seishirou's hand. "Teleporting will be the fastest and most discreet way."

"Who says I want to be discreet?" Nevertheless he took Subaru's hand.

"Are you Subaru Sumeragi and Seishirou Sakurazuka?"

Subaru nodded. Seishirou however, smirked. "No we're Seishirou and Subaru Sakurazuka."

"Seishirou-san!"

The slightly older man twirled the chain around his neck. "So Chairman, why did you summon us here?"

"The Secret Hallow is finished and we need a strong area guardian...that would be the two of you. Providing you can defeat me in a battle."