Second chapter; up (again)! Have fun!

Disclaimer; Once again, don't own the song or the Pokemon franchise.


"Here we go, come with me! There's a world out there that we should see."

–Rocketeer, Far East Movement


Freaky people in quilted robes are the last thing I expect to see in peaceful little Accumula Town. But then again, a lot of things that I didn't expect have happened to me, so I can't really talk.

I had taken my first step out of my hometown onto Route 1 at exactly the same time as Cheren and Bianca. According to my flighty friend, it was "a bonding thing." And since she got to choose about us doing that, Cheren decided to have a Pokémon-catching competition.

. . . After Professor Juniper showed us how to catch Pokémon. Apparently, you can't just chuck a ball at the thing and be done with it. No, you had to weaken it first, and then throw a Poké Ball and wait for three wobbles and a click.

That woman just knows everything.

After that, I meandered around Route 1, enjoying the scent of the yellow flower petals drifting by, and breathing in the briny sea air by the small beach. I was excited to finally be out of Nuvema Town, after 17 years there.

Snivy strolled along beside me, leisurely picking up the odd flower or leaf and examining it carefully. We caught a Pidove together, and Snivy grew two levels by battling wild Pokémon that we found in the tall green grasses.

When we reached the end of Route 1, we found that the result of our little "competition" was that we had to call it a draw. Cheren had caught himself a Purrloin, Bianca a Lillipup, and I had my Pidove. Seeing as we all had one new Pokémon each, Cheren called a three-way tie.

And that about brings us back to now. I take my first step into Accumula Town, and instantly, something's different. Maybe it's the smell of flowers in the air instead of sea salt. Maybe it's the tall apartments instead of short, squat cottages. Or maybe it's the freaky robe people standing on a little hill a few routes away.

Cheren looks at me, and then back to them. "What the hel- meh. Whatever. Come on, Touko, let's go to the Pokémon Centre." The Pokémon Centre. Something else I had never heard about.

At this point, you're probably thinking, "Who let this girl go on an adventure?" The reason I know absolutely nothing is my mom. Short and simple, my dad left one day when I was eight, saying that he would be back in a few days, and that he was just continuing his adventure.

He never came back.

I mean, he sends stuff in the mail all the time, so we know he's not dead, but it's not the same as having a real flesh-and-blood dad standing in front of you. Arceus, he sent me a flat-screen TV once, but it doesn't take away the sting. My mom and I were both broken-hearted, of course, and she decided never to teach me anything outside of Nuvema Town so that I would stay.

Fat lot of good that did, but at least I know that I'm coming back someday. But from then on, I haven't let any boy near to me except Cheren, who I already knew. I didn't want to go through the process of loss again. Maybe this journey will change things. Who knows?

Anyways, Cheren and Bianca each seize one side of my vest and pull me over to a large orange building situated smack in the middle of the town. It looks like it has two stories, and I'm guessing that this is where you buy Trainer supplies, as well as heal your Pokémon.

Professor Juniper is in front of it, in her pristine white lab coat and her clean green skirt and her shining orange earrings. I notice that she and Bianca have the same kind of colour scheme going on, but then I decide that now probably isn't the best time to mention that.

"Oh, good, the three of you are here!" she exclaims as soon as we approach. She leads us into the Pokémon Centre, and Bianca eagerly bounds ahead, already pulling out her pink Liepard-print wallet.

Cheren and I exchange looks, and then start to laugh. Trust Bianca to buy anything within sight she can afford, let alone whether she can use it or not. Professor Juniper gives us a stern look. "Is something amusing?" "No, Professor," Cheren says smoothly. I just try not to glower at her.

While the Professor explains how to heal Pokémon at the desk, Snivy makes a reappearance. She stretches out her long body, then twists her way up my arm like a thin green bracelet. "Vy?" she asks me, and I hand her an oran berry to keep her quiet.

"And this is the Poké Mart! You can buy potions, antidotes, Poké Balls, anything! You'll be able to buy more items once you beat more of the gyms. Well, I need to get back to the lab. See you around!" And with that, Juniper turns and goes off down the road again, towards Nuvema and her beloved lab. The last thing I see of her is her pure white sneakers disappearing down the road.

Trying out the Pokémon Centre, I leave Cheren to do. . . whatever Cheren does and walk up to the counter. "Hi," I say, slightly nervously. "Good afternoon!" says a lady with bright pink hair. "Welcome to the Pokémon Centre. We restore your tired Pokémon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?"

I exit the Pokémon Centre slightly stunned, but with my bag full of medicine and my Pokémon healthy and ready to go. Nurse Joy, the healer at the Pokémon Centre, had the whole talk memorized up to the, "We hope to see you again!"

Cheren follows me out shortly after, wearing the same shell-shocked expression. "Pretty intense. Huh?" I say, laughing a bit at his wide eyes behind his glasses. "I knew they all said the same thing, but. . . wow. . ."

Bianca comes bouncing out again, her bag suspiciously fuller and her wallet notably thinner. She's grinning from ear to ear. "Brace yourself for an earful," I whisper to Cheren. True to her nature, Bianca starts babbling on loudly about, "the wonderful lady who told her about nicknames!"

Then her jade-green gaze falls on me. Uh oh. "Touko!" Oh dear. "You should nickname your Pokémon!" Oh. Ok. I reach into my bag, fumbling with the different pockets, and finally find the one with my Pokémon.

Kissing the front of the capsule, I toss it up into the air, and with a flash of light, my Pidove emerges. "Pi?" she cooes, and I stroke her soft grey back. "Hey, sweetie," I say softly. "Sniii!" Snivy says indignantly, pushing her leafy body onto my lap.

"Hey, guys," I smile. Bianca gives me a look that obviously says, really, Touko? "Girls," I amend quickly before Bianca can reach over Cheren to hit me. "Bianca says I'm supposed to give you nicknames. You girls okay with that?"

My Pidove bobs her head up and down, spreading her wings, and Snivy nods once, which I take as a yes. Pidove, how does Swift sound to you?" She cooes excitedly and flaps her wings, buffeting back my hair from my face. "I guess that's good, then," I smile, and Bianca giggles. "See? It brings you closer together!"

And I guess, in a way, it does. Instead of having a Pokémon that just carries the name of its species, now I have a unique individual, a person, or Pokémon, of my own.

"Okay, Snivy, what about. . . Jade?" Snivy responds by smacking me across the face with her leafy tail, leaving an astonished red mark. "Sni VY!" "I guess not, then," I mutter, rubbing my stinging cheek. Bianca looks taken aback for a moment, and then she springs into action.

"Snivy, you are NOT to hit your own Trainer! Or any other Trainer, for that matter. " "Vyy. . ." Snivy gives me an apologetic look, and I scoop her into my arms again. "No more hitting, alright? Even if my nicknames suck." "Snivy," she agrees, twining around my neck.

The rest of the day goes pretty much like this; Cheren, Bianca and I hanging out with our Pokémon, Snivy rejecting every nickname I throw out there. So far Kohana, Fern, Elle, Bonsai, and Glade are out.

"Okay, that's it," I finally say, sitting down across from the grass snake. "From now on, you're Sakura." And she likes it. The most unimaginative name I can come up with, and she likes it. Go figure. "Sakura," she says proudly, picking a little pink flower and sticking it behind her ear.

By now, it's early evening, and after exploring one route today, we decide that it's not worth it to set out again now. We're sitting on a bench, enjoying the sunset and some ice cream (mostly the ice cream) with our Pokémon when the robe people finally arrive.

The most important person by far seems to be a middle-aged man wearing a gold and purple quilted gown with big open eyes embroidered on the front. Creepy. His chest and throat are adorned with a crown-like collar, set with blue stones the colour of the ocean outside Nuvema.

What unsettles me the most, though, is the fact that one of his eyes is covered with an angry red eye patch, while the eye with vision is glaring straight at me with obvious malice. Never mind that he has green hair; his eyes definitely scare me the most.

The robed man is surrounded by a group of people in uniform, evidently of a lower rank that robe dude is. I stifle a laugh with my fist, and I hear Bianca do the same. They are all in matching outfits or grey-blue, and they all look like knights out of a children's fairy tale book. They also all have red hair.

"Gingers have no souls," Bianca informs me from my right, her blond hair tickling my cheek as she whispers in my ear. "Thanks, Bee," I mutter sarcastically. "I really needed that at the moment, what with all the extra creepiness going around." She giggles lightly. I sigh.

"Why are we friends again?" I ask mockingly, and she looks at me with huge green eyes. "Because you love me?" I laugh. "Yeah, that's about it," I say. I almost say, "Cheren certainly does," but he'd kill me. For sure.

We turn back to the presentation happening in the town square, and a small crowd is gathering around us. Whispers fill the dusky air, whispers of, "What is this?" and, "Who are these people?" I'd rather like to know that myself.

My eyes catch a glimpse of tea green off to the side, and I see a boy, not much older than I am. Eighteen, nineteen years old, maximum. He's fiddling with what looks like a Rubik's cube, but the centre blocks are missing. A Menger Sponge, I remember from one of Cheren's rants.

I can't see his face, because he's wearing a black and white baseball cap, but he has long, green hair, almost as long as my own, tied up in a messy ponytail. He looks lonely, and I consider going over and talking to him.

"Hey, Bee," I whisper, nudging her in the side. She yelps slightly, and nearly drops Rayne, who squeaks in protest. "What's up, Touko?" "See that cute guy over there?" I say, pointing in the general direction of where I saw the strange boy.

"What cute guy? Wait, YOU saw a cute guy?!" "THAT one, the only one he- what the hell?" He's gone. And I swear, if I'm going crazy on the first day of my journey. . . "Never mind," I say defeatedly. "It must've been a trick of the light."

It IS getting darker out here, and the Woobat are all out, so it might have been easy for me to imagine a guy. . . No. I couldn't have imagined bright green hair like that, could I? Must be the early start I had.

I smother a large yawn with my hand as I glance up at the steadily darkening sky. Even though there are no clouds, the sun has already gone down, and the town is bathed in a purple-orange glow.

"Excuse me, all!" calls the robed guy (I have GOT to find out his name). He's now standing on the hill in the middle of the town square, flanked by his little minions, and surrounded on two sides by banners. A strange P emblem is emblazoned on a black and white background, and a blue lightning bolt is shooting through it. Weird.

"My name is Ghetsis," he starts, and right away, I notice his voice. Even though he's not speaking too loudly, his voice carries this sense of icy control and command. It scares me even more then the eye patch that I want to listen to what he has to say.

"Today, ladies and gentlemen," he says, when Cheren smirks beside me. "What?" I say, trying to shush him by putting my probably disgusting hand over his mouth. He smacks it away quickly, spitting.

"Which one are you again?" he grins, and I smack the back of his head with the flat of my hand. "We've been over this, Cherry," I say. "I'm a tomgirl. So." Just because I'm not Bianca. . . Cheren grimaces at the nickname and turns back to the grassy podium.

"I would like to speak to you about Pokémon liberation." Outraged murmurs burst out over the increasing crowd, and I can tell that not many people like this idea. Liberate Pokémon? Why?

Swift twitters nervously and hides her beak under her wing, preening herself and staring at the strange man- Ghetsis. He continues to speak, ignoring the hushed whispers echoing around him.

"I'm sure most of you believe that we humans and Pokémon are partners that have come to live together because we want and need each other. However. . . is that really the truth?" What other way is there to live? A life without Pokémon? That's absurd.

I decide there and then that I despise Ghetsis, and from Cheren's stony glare and Bianca's balled fists, I can tell that they feel the same. Sakura hisses angrily and spits an oran berry see in Ghetsis's general direction.

"Have you ever considered that we, as humans. . . only assume this is the truth?" How can he presume to talk about humans as though he isn't one of us? I can't believe that our Pokémon would feel any other way about us. Wouldn't they do something. . ?

"Pokémon are subject to the selfish commands of Trainers. . . They get pushed around when they are our "partners" at work. . . Can anyone saw with confidence that there is no truth in what I'm saying?"

Letting my mouth take over and forgetting my brain again, I immediately shout out, "I can!" There is a dead silence, and my voice echoes throughout the shocked crowd. Out of the corner of my eye, I see a blur of green, and I look to the side.

A head has snapped up quickly to look at me, and I feel myself blush faint pink. There is the forgotten puzzle on his lap, and no dark shadow covering his face this time.

The boy I noticed earlier is there, and through the dreary gloom covering the town, I can see his eyes. They are a unique greeny-grey, like lichen, and they are drilling into my own aqua eyes, burning with questions and intelligence. Deep and conflicted, like a stormy sea.

Good. I'm not going crazy and seeing things. Though, now that I think about it, that guy IS kind of cute, and for me to be thinking that is crazy in itself. I haven't let any guy near me since my dad left.

Turning my attention back up front, I break eye contact with the intriguing boy and find an icy glare fixed on me. Ghetsis is staring me down with his one good eye, and his gaze makes me shiver, even though it isn't that cold outside.

He holds my gaze for a moment, and then turns back to the assembled audience, as though nothing had ever happened. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, Pokémon are different from humans."

"Really?" says Bianca sarcastically. "I thought we were exactly the same." This is why we're best friends. "Liepard has claws," I smirk, and she gives me an exasperated look that I'm sure I know way too well.

Ghetsis plows on, determinedly ignoring our whispered conversation in the back, which has people turning towards us curiously. "They are living beings that contain potential. They are living beings from whom we have much to learn."

"Dovvv," Swift trills happily, causing Ghetsis to shoot me another loaded look. I'm so close to saying, "Well, I'm sorry my Pokémon are happy," but he looks like someone who could get me in a lot trouble, so once again, I keep my mouth shut.

"Tell me, what is our responsibility to these wonderful beings called Pokémon?" he says calmly, smiling benignly at the crowd, pausing to glare when his good eye sweeps over me. Another cold shiver runs through me, but I refuse to let this preachy old man intimidate me.

Mutters break out again, and I hear snippets of conversations across the group surrounding us. "Liberation," a quick, confident voice rings out, and I see that guy quickly shut his mouth again.

"Liberation?" Bianca, Cheren and I exchange dubious looks, and Cheren touches me lightly on the shoulder. "Wanna leave?" he asks.

I consider it. I really do. But for some reason, I want to stay and see how this whole thing plays out. "I'll hang around," I say, and he looks surprised. Bianca rolls her eye dramatically and sighs. "I'm not putting up with this nonsense any longer. I'll meet you two at the Pokémon Centre later."

And with that, Bianca walks off with some of the rest of the crowd. "Creepy guy," Cheren mutters, adjusting his glasses. Ghetsis or the boy I saw? Because creepy is different from, well, different. "No kidding," I agree, as Ghetsis starts talking again.

"That's right! We must liberate the Pokémon! Then, and only then, will humans and Pokémon truly become equals." Again with the liberate the Pokémon stuff. Sakura twines possessively around my neck, and Swift's sharp claws are biting into my shoulder. I don't think my Pokémon want to be liberated.

"Everyone, I end my words here today by imploring you to consider the relationship between people and Pokémon, and the correct way to proceed. Team Plasma sincerely appreciates your attention." Thank goodness that's over with.

And then I remember something from World Studies that makes me pause as I'm leaving the square. Didn't faraway Sinnoh and Johto have trouble with teams? Team Galactic? Team Rocket? Cheren breaks me out of my thoughts by nudging me.

"Well, that was certainly. . . different," he says dryly, watching "Team Plasma" pack up and leave in an overly militaristic fashion. "No kidding," I fire back. "That guy must've been on Shroomish powder or something."

Cheren snorts derisively. "Just a bit. Hey, Touko, I'm going to drop by the infamous musician's house down the road. I'll catch up with you later, okay?" "Sure," I say, already thinking about teams again.

"I'll meet you at the Pokémon Centre, yeah?" "Sure thing," I say absentmindedly, letting my Pokémon down so that they can walk with me. I see Cheren's retreating back moving up the stairs in front of me, and then I start wandering about, determined to see all of little Accumula Town before nightfall.

The next thing I know, I'm lying flat on the ground, and my head throbs like a Timburr hit it with its plank. A hazy figure stands over me, and as my vision clears, I suck in a sharp breath. It's the boy I saw earlier, the one with the long, tea-green hair. He extends a hand to me, and I stare at it cautiously.

"I apologize for not watching where I was going," he says, and I can't help but notice how nicely his voice flows, soft and melodic, almost rhythmic. His deep grey-green eyes bore into mine, and for the first time ever, I think, I'm left totally speechless. He quickly solves the problem by introducing himself.

"My name is N."


Oooh. N. :D Reviews are greatly appreciated!