Chapter 2. This is where the 'adventure' part of the romance/adventure begins.

Chapter 2: Picnic- Siblings

Professor Oak was done. After three months of hard work, he had finally finished the trio of silver Pokédexes. Using Nil's, he had created two more, each with the same capabilities as the original. He didn't know who would receive them, but it resolved the issue of only having one Pokédex in the 'silver Pokédex group.'

"Hmm… now to find two others who can use these," he muttered to himself.

A light, girly voice whispered in his ear. "You know, talking to yourself is the first sign of insanity."

The professor jumped back, tripping over a pack on the ground. "Wha wha?"

The girl who had spoken had dark hair and violet eyes. "It's not a very good idea to get into that habit; it might lead to a slippery slope that you could have easily avoided."

Oak didn't like this girl's superior tone. "Who are you, why are you here, and how did you get in?"

The girl shrugged and skipped in a little circle. "Name's Vic, I'm here to take a couple of Pokédexes, and you left your front door unlocked. Seriously? I mean, according to a few records, three Pokédexes have already been stolen already. Why is it that everyone leaves their doors unlocked?" The girl seemed completely perplexed.

Professor Oak was completely perplexed. "You're here to take a Pokédex?"

A boy in a meticulously neat uniform walked around Vic. "Yeah. You going to defend them? Do I need to attack him, Vic?"

Vic shook her head. "Nah. He may have been champion at one point, but now he's just an old geezer. He's not worth the time it would take to subdue him. We just need to take these to get that guy's attention."

The boy nodded. "Alright, Vic. Have it your way."

Nil sighed. He was very uncomfortable with this.

After Blue's birthday, Gold, Crys, and Silver had all returned to Johto and Nil had left, not wanting to be around Yellow any longer than necessary. He had gone back to Viridian Gym, and Iris had left for whatever place she had been staying at. Nil had finished a good book, and gone to sleep.

He woke up the next morning with Iris' face in front of his. "Hiya, sweetie!"

Nil bolted upright. Huh…? In his sleepy state, all he could think of was purple.

Iris was humming softly and wandering around the room, heading towards a basket that was just lying there on the floor.

Nil looked at the room. What the Furret?

The entire Gym had done a complete redecoration while he had slept. Everything was swept, the windows had flowery purple curtains, and throw rugs were everywhere. Giovanni's bust, much to Nil's amazement, had a flower necklace, make-up, and a small purple bowler hat on. It was too much for Nil to handle. Nil burst out laughing.

Iris turned and gave him a look. "What?"

Nil panted for breath. "Iris, you are aware that this place isn't mine, right? It's Green's. Gosh, he's probably going to have a heart attack…"

Iris pulled a cake out of the basket. Completely ignoring Nil's statement, she set it down in between them. "I brought cake! Cake is awesome. Here, try a piece!"

She fed it to him.

Nil wasn't prepared for that whatsoever. He was completely unromantic and didn't understand what had just occurred, so he just sat there with cake in his mouth for a few seconds.

He chewed and swallowed. "What was… never mind." He chalked it up to one of Iris' idiosyncrasies.

Iris didn't seem to notice his confusion. "I have more! Cake!"

The door opened and Green strode in, wearing his usual clothes. "Hey, Nil. I need the floor open and what the heck is this?"

Nil turned towards Green and absorbed the mood on his face. Yep. He's mad.

Green stumbled around, taking in the draperies, the rugs, and the bust's decorations. "My… Gym…"

Nil cycled through the list of abilities he had obtained from the other Pokédex holders, but none except his own seemed to help with human relationships. "Uh… Green… I'm sorry, Iris has interesting… tastes."

Green was livid. "Get out!"

Nil shook his head. "Green, I'm sure we can work something out…"

Green whipped out his Charizard, who roared. "Get out!"

Nil didn't want to go. The Gym had been his home for three months, and no one else would take him in. "Green, I'm sorry…"

Charizard shot flame out of his nostrils.

"If you don't let me stay here, I'll tell the others about your interesting times with Blue when you two were kiddies."

Green cringed so badly that he fell on his back. "What?"

Nil grinned. That had gotten Green's attention. "I'll undo the decorations, but I don't have anywhere else to go. So, you're going to have to put up with me until I can find a new place. Otherwise…" He left the threat unspoken.

Blue had convinced them all to have a picnic. Nil still didn't know how she had succeeded on getting him to come. Check that, she had threatened him with Yellow, whom he was avoiding glancing at right now. All it took was one vision of the blonde to send him a migraine.

Iris was still feeding him, but he had gotten used to it by now. It didn't matter all that much anyways, so long as she was content. When she wasn't content, she was scary. "Open wide…"

Green was sitting next to Blue and grumbling. "Hey, Green, whatcha mumbling about? You seem to be off in your own little world."

Green snapped out of his stupor and glared at Blue. She was the cause of this whole mess. If they hadn't thought that they were siblings… "Annoying woman."

Blue waggled her finger. "Uh, uh, uh! Didn't I tell you not to call me that? Or would you like for Red and Yellow to know about the treehouse?"

Yellow was currently occupied with Red and not paying attention.

Green was fuming. "First Nil and now you…"

Blue smirked. "What? What did Nil do now?"

Hearing his name, Nil turned his head towards Blue. "If you want to see what happened, come to the Viridian Gym sometime today. I'm keeping it all up until tomorrow."

Red and Yellow were sighing contentedly. They were lying down faced towards each other, eating a few cupcakes that Iris had brought.

Their Pikachus, Pika and Chuchu, were sitting at their masters' feet, talking about this and that.

Pika motioned his head towards the Kanto couple. "It's good that they finally got together, eh? It's been great spending time with you."

Chuchu was coy. "Aw, stop it, Pika! You're right, though. Red finally got a clue."

Pika tilted his head. "Oh come on, you can't say that some of the hold-up wasn't Yellow's fault, too. She never really had that much courage in that direction."

Chuchu frowned. "Yeah, that might have been part of it. The sudden reversal was slightly surprising."

Pika looked at her. "Sudden… reversal?"

Chuchu nodded. "Yeah. Yellow went from infatuated to… having a child."

Pika thought about it. "I believe humans call it pregnant. I don't know how they do it without eggs, though. Maybe we can watch…?"

Chuchu looked at him incredulously. "Really. No human has seen an egg come into existence, so why do you think we'll see a human be born?"

"Ah, well. But I sort of see what you were getting at. I don't think that it was all too surprising when Yellow and Red came together. After all, we were perfect for each other, and we didn't wait to have Pichu."

"I'm not sure, but with humans, I think it's different. Remember Red's mother? She acted all funny and was loud after being told about the… pregnancy."

"Hey, Chuchu, what are you guys talking about?" Yellow had sat up. "Anything special?"

Pika tottered towards her. "Hey, Yellow! I have a question about…"

Chuchu shocked her mate slightly. Birth was private for Pokémon, so wasn't it the same for people?

Yellow was slightly confused. "Chuchu? What'd you do that for?"

Chuchu blushed and Yellow put her hand above Chuchu's head, reading her thoughts. "Oh. You wanted to know about…" Yellow cut off, blushing deeply.

Red stared at her. "What is it, Yellow?"

All conversation at the picnic was suddenly cut short by a high-pitched whistle.

Nil frowned. "Heh?"

Two people holding silver Pokédexes were walking down a small hill towards the picnickers.

Nil jolted. "Ah!"

Iris looked at him. "Do you know these people?"

The rest of the Pokédex holders looked at the Pokédexes in the duo's hands. The violet-eyed girl tossed one to Nil. "Here's yours!"

Nil looked dumbfounded. "What… what are you guys here for? Oh, my."

He stood up quickly and pulled out his Pokéball. The girl looked delighted. "Oh, you kept the ball I made for you! How's that working for you?"

Nil grimaced. "Fairly well, actually."

Iris was suspicious. What was this girl's relationship to Nil? "Uh, Nil…"

Nil snapped. "Not now, Iris!"

The dexholders looked at him. For all of Nil's faults, he wouldn't yell at Iris for no reason. These two with Pokédexes must be important somehow. Red spoke up. "Okay, how'd you get those Pokédexes?"

The well-dressed boy smiled. "We clubbed an old guy on the head."

The girl laughed. "It was funnier than it sounds."

Green bit his tongue. These two had attacked his grandfather? They were going to get a piece of him.

Nil was shaking his head. "I know what you want, but I want no part in it. I can't say that I agree with your plans, and it just might be that I'll stop you when you've overreached yourselves."

The girl seemed sad. "Is that any way to talk to your sis?"

As one, the picnickers turned to Nil. He'd never mentioned any family.

Nil seemed uncomfortable with the looks he was being given. "Victoria, Rob, as much as it pleases me to see you again, it makes me unhappy that you only came to try and use me. It's not like you can force me to come with you… aaaaaaaaaaaagh!"

Nil suddenly fell to the ground, twitching with his eyes wide open. Iris was panicking. "Nil! Nil! What's wrong with him?"

Nil's eyes shifted red, blue, green, brown, silver, blue-green, gold, dark red, dark blue, dark green, and back to red. Then all the colors manifested themselves at once and merged. His pupils and irises turned stark white.

Rob frowned. "Sorry, big brother. You might as well know about this now."

Nil's eyes slowly cleared and changed back to the shiny clearness that they normally were. "What… was that… Rob?"

Rob smiled. "My ability, Nil. Did you think you were the only one blessed with powers?"

Nil chuckled humorlessly. "I would be surprised if I was."

Iris sent out her Haxorus. "You stay away from Nil!"

Vic put her hands together next to her shoulder. "Aw… how cute! Nil, she's awfully nice. It's a little sad that you're unable to do your little trick on her."

Nil glanced at her face. "If Rob and I have abilities, you must too, Vic. What's yours?"

Victoria smiled. "Haven't you noticed? All the plans you have seen are from Rob."

Nil swung his eyes in her direction and found nothing on her face. His powers weren't working. Then he looked at Rob and found nothing there, either. "What? I just read Rob's face… what're you doing, Vic?"

Victoria skipped down the hill. "I think you can recognize this for what it is…"

"Haxorus, Dragon Tail!"

The Haxorus swung its tail back, but then stopped. Iris was concerned. "Haxorus, what's wrong?"

Vic came to a stop in front of Nil. "You're the logical one, you tell me what's going on."

Nil's eyes were very wide. "I… I…"

Victoria waved her hand dismissively. "It matters not if you know. I just wanted to see if big brother could figure it out. Come along, Nil. Your family needs you."

Nil was a little pissed off now. "No, Vic! I saw those flashes. I know what you're going to do. And if you think that simply making it so I somehow can't read your thoughts is going to change my mind and force me to come along, you're very much mistaken!"

Iris stopped. "Read… thoughts?"

Nil ignored her. "Go, Dialga!"

The Temporal Pokémon came out roaring.

Vic bounced back up the hill. "Look at that, Rob! He thinks to ward us off with one of the Creation Trio!"

Rob smiled. "You know what's scarier?"

Victoria grinned. "Two of the Creation Trio!"

They threw out Pokéballs that looked like Nil's.

Out came Palkia and Giratina.

Palkia screamed and slashed the air with the power to distort space.

Giratina cried and shifted the air, filling it with cold nothingness.

Unlike Nil's first attacks on the dexholders, Rob and Vic's was in the middle of an open field as opposed to a cramped lab, so all of the dexholders sent out their starters: Saur, Charizard, Blasty, Pika, and Chuchu. Vic seemed unconcerned. "Nil, bro, I think that these friends of yours are making hasty decisions like you did. If we asked nicely, I bet they'd join us!"

Nil shook his head and sighed. "They have morals similar to mine own."

Rob shrugged. "Oh, well. They aren't necessary. Only you are."

Nil grinned as he looked at Palkia and Giratina. "You think to defeat me with these Pokémon? Have you ever wondered why I chose to find the Adamant Orb and spoke with Dialga, and not these two instead?"

Rob and Victoria looked intrigued.

Nil continued. "Palkia is only the Pokémon of space. He can only manipulate the first three dimensions: length, width, and depth. Dialga is the Pokémon of time. He can manipulate the fourth dimension: that of time itself. Width is length squared, depth is width and length squared, mathematically. Time, then, is length, width, and depth squared. Time is infinitely superior to space."

Rob gnashed his teeth. Palkia, he felt, had been the best because without space, time lost all meaning. Nil just had to point out how much more powerful time was compared to space…

Nil turned towards Giratina. "And Giratina! The Renegade Pokémon. Ruler and only denizen of the Distortion World! Do you think to defeat time with the absence of either time or space? Seriously, Vic, to compare powers, time is infinitely superior to antimatter, just as it is with space. How do you attack the fourth dimension with no dimensions? There's a reason that the Distortion World only has one thing living in it!"

Vic wrung her hands. She had felt that the power of antimatter, that of sheer negativity, was much stronger than anything time or space could produce. After all, time and space could only create or change. Antimatter could destroy. Hearing Nil denounce Giratina as nothing made her angry.

Nil smiled. "And together, with the powers of lesser dimensions and no dimensions… You think you can defeat me with that? Even if you block my ability, you can't stop me. Dialga, it's up to you!"

Dialga nodded and turned to his siblings: the brother who fought with him on the Spear Pillar, and the sister who hid in her own world, bringing ruin whenever she left. He didn't want to fight them, but he trusted that Nil knew what he was doing. Nil pretty much just said to go all out and attack without command.

"Palkia, Spacial Rend!"

"Giratina, Shadow Force!"

Palkia's claws and gems glowed, and then it hurled the essence of space at Dialga.

The move bounced off. Dialga roared in glory. When Nil had explained how time was the best, Dialga had changed his perception of time. In doing so, space became nothing.

Giratina vanished. Dialga looked around, but didn't see her, so he ignored the move. She would show up sooner or later. He shot a few Draco Meteors at Palkia as a test, but the Spatial Pokémon simply shifted the rocks' location in space to a few hundred feet away.

Giratina reappeared and attacked with brute force. Dialga shrugged her off with ease. Just as Nil said, antimatter couldn't compare with something that actually existed in a true dimension.

Dialga had fought both of his siblings many months before: once, when Cyrus had forced Dialga and Palkia to fight, and once when Giratina had pulled her siblings into the Distortion World. However, the training and friendship with Nil had changed Dialga. He would never be a mere equal with his siblings ever again. He was the eldest and most powerful of the Creation Trio, the first three children of Arceus, just as Nil was the eldest and most powerful of his remaining family.

Dialga roared his Roar of Time. Palkia's space folded under the possibilities of time, leaving him sprawled on the ground. Giratina's emptiness, her negativity, couldn't stand up to the order that time flowed in. However, for some reason, she was still standing… or floating, rather.

Nil frowned. This was odd. "Hey Vic! What does that Giratina have? A Focus Band? Does it only have a little fight left?"

Victoria was now skipping happily. "Brother, Giratina is the master of a dimension that you know not."

Nil tilted his head. "Oh?"

Vic smiled. "It's true that Giratina is master of antimatter, but she is master of one other thing as well… the fifth dimension."

Nil laughed. "You just made that up. There's no such thing."

Vic's smile grew. "The fifth dimension is that of probability. The things that might have been. The things that almost were… as well as the possibilities of what might occur compared to what might not."

Nil shook his head. "You're joking. You're saying that Giratina can control the outcomes of the future? You're saying Giratina can bring into existence what might've been, as opposed to what truly is?"

Vic twiddled her thumbs. "It's weak, and she has yet to perfect it, but Giratina will get it right eventually. Giratina, Probability Phase!"

Giratina brought her head back and jerked it forwards, screaming.

The ground cracked and plants withered. Clouds turned orange and the picnic blanket turned into a giant flat mushroom. Two children, a girl and boy, fell out of nowhere, landing on the grassy ground... which was becoming thorny instead.

However, the brunt of the Phase was directed at Dialga.

Dialga's orderly flow of time split apart at the power of chaos, that of multiple times trying to jockey for position as the true reality.

Dialga fell down, knocked out by the power of the fifth dimension.

Blue and Green scrambled to get the two kids out of the thorns, and attacks were yelled out.

"Blast Burn!"

"Hydro Cannon!"

"Frenzy Plant!"

"Volt Tackle!"

The four Ultimate Moves swirled around Giratina, ultimately causing nothing to happen.

Vic did a pirouette. "Fire is created through Oxygen, heat, and ignition, which are essentially matter. Water is a compound- matter again. Plants are solid inanimate life-forms, which are obviously matter. Electricity is made out of electrons, which are a form of matter. Because Giratina is the antimatter Pokémon, none of these attacks have all that much of an effect."

Iris sent out Druddigon. "Druddigon, Night Slash!"

The Cave Pokémon jumped in the air, did a few flips, and landed a blow on Giratina.

Giratina cried out in pain. Vic seemed impressed. "It's easy to stop non-physical moves that contain matter, but difficult to do the same for physical moves. However, I can simply respond in my own manner. Giratina, Dragon Claw!"

The dragon-type move was super-effective and knocked Druddigon out instantly.

Nil returned Dialga to his ball, and was backing away slowly.

"Not so fast!" Rob shouted. Nil fell to the ground in convulsions again. Vic ran to him and tossed him over her shoulder. "Sorry bro, we need you."

Rob turned to Palkia. "You okay, there? We need to go back to base."

Palkia did another Spacial Rend, and Rob, Nil, Victoria, Palkia, and Giratina all vanished.

Blue and Green stood there, holding the two children that came out of Giratina's Probability Phase. Red and Yellow were holding onto each other tightly. Iris was kneeling on the ground next to her Druddigon, crying softly. "Nil…"

Yellow walked up to the girl and put her arm around her shoulders. "It's going to be okay. We're going to get him back."

Iris nodded dumbly and stood up, returning her Pokémon to their Pokéballs. Then she walked towards Green's Gym. The dexholders turned and followed her.

Red scratched his nose. "First thing we need to do? We need to get all of the Pokédex holders here."

I introduced two new characters that were mentioned in my previous story, The Perceptionist: Rob and Victoria.

This was an interesting chapter to write because I included Pokémon talking to each other.