A/N: Given there was some interest, I've been trying to stash some time away each week to keep working on this. Unfortunately, sometimes that stash is only enough for a paragraph... but please know I'm trying my best. Updates will be slow, but they will happen. Also, just so you all know this will eventually flip between what's happening on Touko's end, and what's happening on someone else's. You'll see.


"The answer is no!" Kenta scowled, fervently shaking his head to emphasize just how much he meant what he was saying. "I almost lost you once out there – when it was safe! I'm not risking that when everything is…" He sucked a breath through his teeth, not daring to finish the sentence. Being in their own home didn't always mean no one else could hear them. There was no guarantee of privacy – no guarantee of anything.

"But, Papa…" Bell tried again, clutching onto her brown messanger bag while her lower lip trembled. Standing next to her, looking somewhat uncomfortable was Touko. She had gotten a white tanktop and black vest from a nearby store, complete with some rather short shorts. To complete the ensemble were black combat boots, with the original laces replaced with a pink pair courtesy of Bell. Touko's hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and slipped through the back of a white hat she had found. Much of the reason she was uncomfortable had to do with the blonde – Touko could not understand why she wanted to come with her.

Yesterday, when she came up with her own name, Bell fainted. Touko hadn't known what to do, so she summoned Kenta and together they got the blonde to her bed, and waited for her to come to. Neither entirely understood why it happened, but regardless it had. Then, later that night Touko announced she was leaving the next day – she was going to find a way to tear down Team Plasma. There was a lot about herself that Touko still didn't know. But one thing she was certain of, it was that she would not sit around trying to recall memories when Team Plasma injured innocent people, and took advantage of being some of the few humans left with Pokemon in a world without them. Being one person, she knew it was impossible to take down an entire organization working to subdue even the slightest rebel.
But her soul screamed to try and tear it down all the same.

"No Bell. You're staying home. And you…" Kenta turned to Touko, who turned to face him. Beneath his gaze, she remained curious but did not waver. "You can do what you like, so long as you know you're throwing your life away."

"I'm doing the same when I do nothing." Touko retorted, the words leaving her mouth before the thought formed in her mind. The man stared at her, momentarily thrown off by her statement.

"She's right!" Bell added, nodding her head fervently and twisting the sling of her bag into knots.

"That's not going to work this time. Bell, I… I almost lost you once. Please, please don't ask me to let you go so I can lose you forever…" Kenta pleaded. Feeling guilty for being the cause of this, Touko took Bell's shoulder to turn the other so the girls could face each other.

"Bell… please. Stay with your father. You're his only family. He needs you more than anyone else possibly could. I'm going to go, because far as I know… I have no family. No one that needs me the way he needs you. Please. For him, stay." Touko requested as gently as she could. Staring at her, Bell's face slowly fell as her eyes watered.

"That's… that's so sad… Touko, I'm sure someone… someone out there needs you but-"

"All the more reason for me to leave, and you to stay. If we're together, I might not notice someone. They might not notice me. Okay?" Touko pressed, forcing the issue slightly but knowing if she gave a little that was all the blonde needed to win. And then Bell's shoulders sagged, and she sniffled.

"Oh-okay…"
"Thank you… Touko… and please, be careful." Kenta sighed, relieved his daughter was going to stay.

"I will sir. Thank you." With a polite bow, Touko walked out of the house with the clothes on her back and her own messanger bag filled with snacks and some money (that Bell gave her from her tepig bank). But if she were to be honest, she had no idea what she was doing. She just knew that someone had to stop Team Plasma, and that she was going to be one of them. Certainly there were others out there trying to bring the downfall. But where were they? Would they let her join? Would it be so easy to find these people?

Frowning as she walked, leaves crunching beneath her feet the brunette wondered how this venture would pan out. Would she, ultimately, find herself lying naked in a forest all over again? Only the next time, filled with memories how she got there and wishing she could forget all over again? She shook her head, trying to not dwell on that possibility. Mind swimming with thousands of ways this could turn out, she walked onwards.

The brunette had been walking for a few hours when she came across another human being. It was a man, with orange-hued hair and blue eyes that were glossy and spent several seconds trying to focus on Touko, of whom was raising a brow at him and walking in a perfectly straight line. The man wore a blue shirt, with a white tunic over it that had an emblem blazed across it – beneath his clothes he had chainmail, covering his torso and legs completely. "Whadda we… have we?" He asked, stumbling slightly as he spoke. Cautiously, the brunette tried to decide if he was asking suggestively or drunkenly – she couldn't be sure.

"A drunk knight, I think." Touko responded carefully. The man chuckled, his head bobbing up and down in agreement.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah… yeah." He admitted, and began chuckling almost uncontrollably. "You, uh… you live around here?"

"No. Traveling." The brunette replied curtly, brows furrowing while she stared at the emblem on his chest. It looked… familiar… and then there was the fact he was dressed like a knight of old, but why?

"Traveling? Like a…" The man busted out laughing again, his laughs more like giggles. "Like a… hah… Pokemon trainer?" And then he was on the ground, laughing without pause for breathing or consideration. Touko looked down at him, eyelids lowering halfway down blue orbs.

"Traveling like a decent person." She corrected him, and resumed walking – stepping right over his laughing form. At this, the laughter turned to snorts and he dragged himself to his feet.

"Excuse me?" He slurred. Rather than acknowledge him, the brunette continued her casual gait to the next town. Growling, he stumbled after her. "Hey! You! Don't just… dis'pect me like that!" He yelled, but she continued to ignore him. Roaring in a drunken rage, he charged after her. Muscles relaxing, Touko stopped walking to wait for him to catch up, to wait for him to be just within reach…

And then she whipped around, momentum rising behind her leg as she raised it to swing high and crash into the man's face. There was a sound, something like rocks in pillows colliding, and the drunkard spun around before falling flat on the cleared road. Taking a deep breath and staring down at him again, the brunette spun on her heel to resume walking. Didn't matter if anyone saw – her blood was pumping, adrenaline raging through her veins and blue eyes were darting all over looking for another person to crack open the skull of.

But the road was empty with exception to the body, so the brunette grumbled to herself as she continued along the way. Part of her had no idea why she felt so violent, or why that emblem kept flashing through her thoughts screaming at her to understand what its importance was. Touko wanted to know – oh Arceus, more than anything she wanted to know! Yet no answers came, only a scream inside her head using garbled words she couldn't make out. Shaking her head, curls bouncing along the way, she sighed and resigned herself to just keep walking.

By nightfall she reached Accumula, tired and hoping that if nothing else changed, Pokemon Centers were still open for all travelers that needed somewhere to stay. Instead, when she got there she was mortified to see it was not – instead, it was a bar where there were more of those people in the strange knight uniform. Those emblems, all of them were constantly engraining themselves into her eyes, visible from each angle so that she could mentally construct a three-dimensional model even though they were all flat on tunics.

Not knowing what else to do, she stood there watching men and women wrestle with one another and throw back beers or some other kind of fluid, sucking not a drink but life out of the center. Touko could hear some glass breaking, and her jaw clenched. Blood was already pounding in her ears, and she was trying to find a way she could take them all out by herself.

Who was she kidding? Just her, take out about a dozen of men and women covered in chainmail? Even if they were drunk, the only parts of them she could hit without really hurting herself were their heads. Besides, they weren't really doing anything except getting wasted. It was just the memory of that man stumbling past… and those damn emblems…!

"Plasma." A familiar voice offered helpfully. Touko nearly jumped out of her skin, spinning around to gape at Bell who was happily behind her. "Those are members of Team Plasma. New recruits, really. You can always tell. They get stationed here, and then get pretty drunk. They're fairly harmless, more offensive than anything else. Kind of like that guy you clocked over the head." The blonde rambled, showing no signs of hesitating or stopping. All the while, the brunette's mind was racing as she tried to figure out what the other girl was doing there. "Is something wrong?" Bell asked innocently, still smiling blissfully.

"B-Bell… what are you doing here?" Touko gasped, reclining her head back slightly wondering if the blonde's father was following closely behind.

"I'm accompanying you!" The simple answer earned a frown, so Bell sighed with her shoulders slumping and her face obtaining a more hurt visage than the chipper one. "I couldn't just let you navigate Isshu. Not alone, not without…" She shook her head, straightened her shoulders, and then green eyes stared straight into blue ones. "Touko! You're a girl without a home or any memory of who you are! You have no one… no one that you can remember to tie you to the ground, to keep you from getting swept up into the storm. I snuck out, because you need that and I'm the only person who can be it right now.

So don't ask me to go back home… because I won't." Concluding her small speech, she clutched her fist to her chest while shaking her head. The was most of the truth, but she wouldn't lie to herself about the ulterior motives. If Touko truly wanted to take down Team Plasma, then that meant Bell had a chance at rescuing Cheren from prison. And that, just maybe, if they looked hard enough… they could find Touya. There was no body, no proof he was dead. An official proclamation from Ghetsis, King of Lies, meant nothing far as the blonde was now concerned. Especially since she was feeling hope again.

Gazing at her, silently appraising the dedication and determination Touko released a breath and placed a hand on her hip. "All right. You can come with me." A grin graced her features, Bell brightening at this. "But only if you help me figure out how I'm even going to do it."

"Oh, yes, anything!" Bell cheered, rushing forward and pulling the other girl into a tight embrace. Releasing her, she beamed. "We can do this, Touko! I promise, I'll be here with you through anything! We're friends now!" Her heart was swelling, every inch of her body filling to the brim with joy and hope. There was another human she could connect to again, she dreams with. Her father was a wonderful man, but he was overprotective – his concerns crushed her goals before she could really dedicate herself to them. That was what she enjoyed most about Cheren and Touya's company – even if sometimes Cheren would roll her eyes or laugh at her words, he never doubted she could do it if she set her mind to it. And Touya…

…he was the one who looked her in the eye and made her promise to invite him to see her when she succeeded. Closing her eyes, she forced herself to remind how he looked. The kind smile, brown eyes turning soft. His hand taking hers. His voice… a brief sensation of panic, what did he sound like again? It had been so long, too long. Then those familiar words came, and she was talking to him once more. "I promise we'll find you." I know you will Bell. I'll be there when it happens, okay? "I know you will."

"Bell?"

"Huh?" Green eyes snapped open, and the girl immediately flushed. "Oh, I'm sorry… I just talked to myself, didn't I?"

"Yeah, you did." Touko laughed, a bit unsurely. They stood there uncomfortably, Bell too ashamed to look at the other so she just stared at her feet. "You going to tell me what you were talking to yourself about?" She pressed, realizing just leaving it hanging would do no good. Biting her lower lip, the blonde glanced over at where the drunkards were, now only half in their uniforms. Following her line of vision, the brunet nodded and took her head. "We'll talk about it when you're ready." She assured her, and then gave a wink. An understanding reached, the two cautiously made their way deeper into the city.

Traveling the streets, Bell stuck closer to Touko while she let her eyes wandered. Since everything happened, she hadn't exactly left home much. The world was so much darker without her friends. In the world again, her heart sank just a little when she saw that much of her fears were a reality. The cemented walls near the high staircase of the city was littered with the drunken graffiti of the new recruits. The locals were in their homes, and the air was devoid of the musicians who typically played the piano and drummer once upon a time constantly. Accumula Town was once inviting – now it was strangely lonely. Initially she thought it was the lack of humanity, but slowly she realized that wasn't it.

There was nothing living in the sky, nothing making sounds. There were no pokemon. Gripping her messenger bag with one hand, walking through the streets of a lonely town, Bell reached forward to take one of Touko's own. Pausing to look at her inquisitively, the blonde's hardened gaze met quizzical eyes.

"Striaton City." Came the abrupt announcement. "In Striaton City, I'll be ready. And we'll… we'll make plans for that birthday party." Smiling again, she offered her own wink. Touko was bewildered by the statement, and then understanding quickly set in. She grinned.

"Then what are we standing around here for?" Touko laughed, gripped the hand harder, and the two girls tore down the street. There was nowhere to for travelers to stay anymore. But they had sleeping bags and a goal, and at least the reassuring knowledge that for the moment, the only monsters they had to worry about were those who couldn't even walk in a straight line.

As they ran through Accumula, stumbling into the town with a head ache and empty rage, a Plasma Grunt was determined to repay a brown-haired girl twice over.