Ten years... Ten whole years ago, Hell had sunken back down into the depths of the Earth. It was still hard to believe that the terror of that era - known to some as the Era of Despair or the Era of Death - had passed... The constant fear that loomed like storm clouds over the head of every organism in the world was gone. And ten years after the eight-year era had passed, Nicholas Morrow could still not believe it had passed - or even, for that matter, believe he had lived through it.

And to think - now he was a member of the Elite Four for the Kanto region; amazing!

The pale man had been only eleven during that time - it was hard to survive, knives constantly being put to his neck and crazed Pokemon chasing him across the ruins of his once lavish region. Hell had arisen from its depths those many years ago - and Nicholas had been one of the few to help defeat the Chaos that had overwhelmed the world. Now twenty-one, it seemed only natural for any who did not know Nicholas well that Nicholas would be a member of the Elite Four. Granted, they didn't know the others who had helped, or Nicholas back then.

But like so, so many other things in the world, Nicholas had changed.

From an innocent scaredy cat to a hollow shell of a person to a suicidal teen, Nicholas had been through it all. His life was one hell of a roller coaster ride, his personality changing greatly every so often - the scared, shy boy he had been years ago had vanished nearly completely, only a part of his conscious now. His sweet, kind nature had been hidden behind a speculating face, worn by the treacherous life he had been forced to live - the lovesick child had left years ago, a more quiet and reserved being taking the place of the clingy child.

So, so much had changed... So, so much he had abandoned...

The vacant stare of two aqua eyes was suddenly broken - the eyes, calm and emotionless, blinked out of their reverie at the staccato tapping noise that was grower closer to him. The brown-haired man tensed immediately, brown arm hair (the same color as both his short, neat hair and his thin eyebrows) raising anxiously - and when he saw a thin woman older than himself step into the vast room, he was pulled back into his memories once more.

This time, however, the memories were nowhere near as mild as they had been before; it was bloody.

An angel from the heavens sent to protect the world was not supposed to harm one of the Kibou no Senshi. Alexis was harmless and innocent - the blonde-haired girl had probably never hurt a soul except herself. Why was Nami - dressed as beautifully as always, in soft blue cloth that allowed her to fight and fly with ease and reminded Nicholas of the fact that she was an Articuno Pokemorph - attacking someone on her side? Nami wasn't supposed to do that - Nami herself was innocent, Nicholas knew that!

And yet, the graceful flyer swooped down, her two swords swinging down to slash mercilessly across Alexis' back, staining the delicate white dress the older girl had been wearing. Nicholas stood, gaping, innocent eyes wide with fear as Nami flew over his head. There was a moment where time seemed to stand still, the only being moving was Nami - soaring gracefully through the night like some owl, killing its prey without any clues to its intentions. Finally, Nicholas kneeled down beside Alexis, shorts getting drenched in the metallic liquid that ran down her back, slightly darker than his red t-shirt.

He remembered this - the clothes he was wearing were quite like those he had been wearing all those years ago, except the shorts were now loose-fitting jeans and the t-shirt was replaced with a polo of the same red hue. The 29-year-old that had entered the room to challenge him was wearing a dress like Nick remembered her usually wearing, although this one was a nice light yellow, most likely an attempt to brighten up the land halls of the boring building she had entered. She gave Nicholas a small smile. "Hello."

Nicholas was dumbfounded when she finally spoke, blinking repeatedly (instantaneously losing his emotionless mask) to make sure he had heard her correctly. He frowned after a moment, deciding it didn't matter - he'd left the Kibou no Senshi behind for a reason, and she had probably done the same. But what would it hurt to just say "hi" to her?

"Alexis? ...You still battle?" The last of the elite four paused. "Do you still have the same Pokemon you used to?" Nicholas paused once more, seeing her confused expression. He should have suspected as much - Alexis was nice, but she wasn't the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree. "I guess you don't remember me..." he muttered forlornly, shaking his head. He saw Alexis blink in confusion at this, but said nothing - instead, he tugged one of the Pokeballs off of his belt, tossing it out to the battlefield to release his Skarmory. "Come on, Sky!"

Nicholas saw Alexis blink in confusion once more at the battle's speedy start before the pretty woman tossed out a Pokeball containing a Gyrados. Just as Nicholas' Skarmory began to rush forward to attack with Night Slash, Alexis' Pokemon used Thunderbolt. The jet of electricity hit the Steel bird square in the chest, knocking it to the ground. Nicholas grimaced as the Gyrados used another Thunderbolt for good measure, making Sky faint. Nicholas returned the Pokemon to its Pokeball with a frown before tossing out his Magneton. "Maggie, use Thunder!" cried the pale man after the Pokemon had dodged a Fire Blast from the Gyrados. Clouds rolled above the heads of the trainers and Pokemon for a moment as a bolt of lightning hit the Gyrados in the back. The snake-like Pokemon fell to the ground with a groan, trying to get back up before it was hit with a Thunderbolt a lot like the one that had taken Nick's Skarmory out. The large Pokemon's head fell to the ground with one last groan and Alexis gasped - one down, five to go for both of the trainers.

"What Pokemon to chose, what Pokemon?" she chirped worriedly, blue eyes wide with shock. After a moment, she tossed out a Pokeball containing a Dragonite. Nicholas froze here, aqua eyes wide as he once pulled into his memories for the third time in twenty minutes.

The kind of glare you got from her - the girl with deep crimson eyes and midnight black hair - was not something you wanted to be faced with. Especially when you were only eleven and she was a good ten-years-older than you, with more experienced Pokemon and a dagger that seemed to be her best friend.

Nicholas shuddered at the thought - her dagger. She could see his fear - Nicholas couldn't hide his emotions, but then again, what eleven-year-olds could? She took this fear as an opportunity. "Yoake, use Hyper Beam!" The silver Dragonair immediately obeyed it's trainer, it's jaws opening so that a ball of energy could be seen at the back of it's mouth. "Mystique!" he cried out, watching with horror as a beam of yellow light shot at him. The pale boy closed his eyes, shrinking back, expecting to feel the pain any second...

Nothing. He wasn't hurt. "Whuu?" he slurred, wondering why he wasn't hurt. He opened his eyes, blinking in confusion - he was above ground, cold wind whipping freely at his face. And there he saw her pale face, grinning down at his younger features.

"Saved your butt again, didn't I, Nicky?" the blue-haired Articuno 'morph mused as they flew away from the woman who had been out to kill him (along with everybody else on the planet).

Dragonair evolved into Dragonite - the similarities made him shudder, both with pleasant memories of the blue-haired girl who he had fallen for all those years ago and of the miserable memories of death and loneliness. Life was supposed to be simple now... Hell had left ten years ago and the memories of it were supposed to be locked away. Why else had Nicholas gone by Aiden ever since joining the elite four? A new identity, a new team of Pokemon... His old pain was supposed to be laid to rest with this new life. How could some girl - a girl that showed up frequently in his past, along with all those other people, but left in the end - bring all that back to him?

'She shouldn't be here... She needs to leave,' a part of him hissed, and the man nodded, brows furrowing. "Maggie, use Lock On and then Thunder!" With an electric-sounding buzz, the Magneton zoomed forward, body charged with electric energy. It target unable to flee, a jolt of energy hit the Dragon. It cried out in pain before it shot forth, punching the Magneton with a Fire Punch. "Mag-netonnnn," it muttered feebly in its language, and Nicholas understood that it was too worn out to go on. He nodded, quickly sending out a replacement - his Empoleon.

Again, the dragon rushed forward, this time with a Thunder Punch. Trident, as the Empoleon was nicknamed, groaned but remained upright, glaring at the dragon. It would pay, that much was obvious when a mixture of snow and ice came crashing down on the dragon. This time, it was out. Alexis frowned, 'eep'-ing at the sight before tossing out her only Legendary: Jirachi. Again, Nicholas was pulled into his own thoughts, forced to drown in the memories.

"But... Keiichi... K-Keiichi would n-n-never hurt y-you," whimpered the four-year-old, tears welling in his wide eyes. Despite his Legendary companion's attempts at comforting him ("Nicky, it'll be all right... Nicky, don't cry, please.."), the small boy felt miserable inside. Surrounding him were all of the Legendaries in the world - and all were out to kill his brother. Mystique, his protector, his Latias had kept this from him. And all the legendaries - even the cute ones, like Celebi and Jirachi - were staring at him expectantly, clearly wanting to know about the man who was said to turn the Daughter of the Northern Wind evil. It was a living nightmare.
In silence, Nicholas returned his pokemon. Despite her confused expression, the thin man began walking to the right of the room, towards a locked door that lead up to his room. Behind him, he could hear her ask about the battle - what she should do. As the door that lead up to his quarters slid open, Nicholas' (or, "Aiden") turned his head slightly, able to see her from the corner of his eye. "I'm not in a fit state to battle. Please move on to the fight the champion - feel free to tell them why the battle progressed so quickly. My apologies." That said, he walked up to his room, feeling sadness worming its way into its heart, just as it had done all those years ago...