Olivine City was nothing like Touko had imagined. She had thought it would be this huge, magnificent city with many large towering skyscrapers, but instead, it was a rather quant little port unlike anything she was used to. Sailors and their machops were tying their boats to the docks, others were building or repairing theirs. She even saw some farmers walk by with miltanks and trainers with Pokemon she had never heard of before. Then there was the lighthouse. She had never seen one in person before, she only saw them in old storybooks. It was a magnificent structure, Touko gaped at it in astonishment.

"So what do you think?" Looker asked, "Different from Unova, eh?"

"Very," Touko nodded, "I like it though, the cities of Unova can be a bit too hectic at times."

"I agree," he said, "But cities do tend to have the best cases!"

He winked and looked at her as if expecting an energetic agreement. She just stared at him with one eyebrow raised. After about 3 seconds of silent awkwardness he finally continued.

"Okay, my friend-who-shall-remain-nameless spotted "N" somewhere near Goldenrod City. I will be covering that area. South-east to Goldenrod City is Ilex Forest which leads you into Azalea Town. You should search there."

"Wouldn't it be better for us to both search Goldenrod City if that was where he was seen?"

Looker sighed, "Well, he was seen between Azalea and Goldenrod, he was just closer to Goldenrod."

"Oh."

"I'll tell you what, you go on ahead and you can search Goldenrod some if you want. I'll catch up. I have some business to take care of here…" he rubbed his hands together and looked towards the lighthouse. Touko rolled her eyes.

"Alright, you said Goldenrod was South-east of here?"

"Yes! Oh and Touko,"

"Whaaat?"

"You can use your super rod to catch some interesting water pokemon here!"

Touko slowly turned and glared at him, "Thanks, I'll keep that in mind," she said cheerfully, yet not hiding her annoyance. He took no notice and waved cheerfully.

"Good luck!" He cried before running off.

Touko sighed as he left. She liked the guy, she honestly did, but spending a long boat ride with him to another region was far more than she could handle. He had spent the entire ride dramatically describing all his ridiculous stories. She heard about all his "great adventures", the women who swooned over him, and even his birth at one point. It was painful. She had once believed Cheren to be the most egotistical person she knew, but she had had no idea. Cheren was subtle and humble in comparison. All in all, she was relieved to finally have a break from Looker, and especially that she didn't have to go through the entire journey with him.

She started for the path ahead of her when her Xtransceiver began to ring. It was Bianca.

"Bianca!" she cried as she picked it up. She already missed her hyperactive friend.

"Touko how are you? I heard you made it to Johto safely. Getting homesick yet?"

"Actually yes, a little," Touko replied, "But at the same time I am super excited!"

"That's great! So have you guys found N yet?"

Touko sighed. "No, Looker wanted to do God only knows what in Olivine city. I decided to go on by myself. But I haven't seen a thing yet. Honestly I just began."

Bianca raised her eyebrow, "You mean you aren't going to be exploring at all?"

"No, I'll be exploring! On the way I mean. I've got a ways to go before I get to the area he's supposedly at."

"Wow you are really determined to find him." Suddenly her eyes widened, "Touko!"

"What?"

"Do you have a think for N or something? Ooh you do, don't you! A crush! A scandal! A-"

"Bianca!" Touko cried. Her cheeks burned a hot red. "What are you talking about? I've spent a year fighting him!"

"Well I remember a while back, in some town, I met this old couple, and the lady said she met her husband by always beating him in Pokemon battles when they were kids, and-"

"Bianca really," Touko said, "I barely know him."

"But you want to know him."

Touko`s cheeks burned hotter, "Its just because he's…an enigma. And I feel that its my duty to finish all this Team Plasma mess. To know what exactly had happened."

Bianca gave her a suspicious and amused smile. "Suuuuuuure…"

Touko glowered at her, "Did you just call to create imaginary drama or something? Speaking of which," a gleam came to her eyes, "have you called Cheren yet?"

Now it was Bianca's turn to blush.

"N-no! I really don't know what to say to him…"

"Come on Bianca, you are the most talkative person I know."

Bianca took off her hat and began to play with it nervously.

"Well okay, I will call him soon I suppose. But I should probably be going now. Your mother told me to tell you 'Hi' and that she loves you."

"Thank you, tell her I said I love her too."

"Okeydokey!"

"See ya B!"

"Bye!"

Touko put the Xtransceiver back in her pocket. Why do I want to find him so badly? She shook her head. There was no time to wonder now, she was on a mission. She pulled out a poke ball and called for Bartleby, her Samurot.

"Samur!" It cried and raised its head proudly.

"Are you ready for a new adventure Bartleby?"

"Samurot!" He roared.

"Perfect!"

Then they together, like they had a year ago, began their very next journey.

Touko had never seen the stars so bright in a city before. Usually the city lights dulled the stars, but here they still shone nicely, maybe not as much as they would had she been in the woods, but they were still unusually bright for a city. Like Olivine, Goldenrod City was also much smaller than she imagined. People weren't swarming in the streets like they did in Castelia City and the buildings didn't tower over everything like they did in Black City. Overall she found the city to be quite pleasant. So far Johto was leaving a very good taste in her mouth, everyone was friendly, the Pokemon were interesting, even the air was nice. But Touko was tired, flat-out tired. She had spent the entire day traveling to Goldenrod and battling many trainers on the way. Her pokemon were exhausted and she had to retire all of them to their pokeballs. Seeing the city's Pokecenter was a relief after the long day. They could finally rest.

Like back at home, the Pokecenter had a warm feel to it. Touko approached the front desk wearily.

"Hello, how may I help you?" asked the pink-haired nurse happily.

"I would like to rest my pokemon please," Touko replied.

"Okay," the nurse took the pokeballs from Touko, "May I have your name?"

"Its Touko."

"Alright Touko, we will call you when your pokemon are ready."

Touko nodded and left to take a seat in the waiting room. A girl with choppy auburn hair was sitting nearby petting an umbreon in her lap. With each stroke the girl made, the umbreon`s blue markings glowed delightfully. Touko stared at it a bit.

"I thought umbreons had gold markings."

The umbreaon`s trainer looked up to see who was speaking. She grinned, seemingly happy that someone decided to talk to her.

"They do usually," the girl explained, "but Nimbus here is a special umbreon. He's what you'd call a shiny pokemon."

"I thought shiny pokemon were just fairy tales! That's really cool."

Touko looked a t the umbreon with amazement.

"You can pet him if you like," the girl giggled. Touko reached over and scratched behind his ear.

"So why did you name him Nimbus?"

"I found him when he was just a little eevee," The girl explained, "Or rather, he found me. Anyways, shine eevees have a white coat, and Nimbus's was as white as a nimbus cloud!" The girl smiled at Nimbus, he looked up and returned the smile. It was evident that the two cared deeply for one another. She glanced back up at Touko and held out her hand.

"I'm Rhea by the way."

Touko returned the gesture, "I'm Touko," she smiled. Then she remembered why she was here in Goldenrod. "Oh, I was curious, have you lived here for a while?"

Rhea snorted, "Psh, no. I'm here to challenge the gym."

"Umbre!" Nimbus cried excitedly.

"Oh."

"Yeah, I left home a few months ago. I'm a late starter though, I'm 13."

"Wow, I started about a year ago, when I was 15. I'm not from Johto though, so I guess its different."

"I though you sounded foreign! So are you here to challenge the gym too?"

Touko shook her head, "No, I'm actually here looking for someone. Tell me, have you seen a strange boy around 16 or 17 years old? He has long green hair, grey-green eyes, and he probably had a big black dragon pokemon with him."

Rhea scratched her head, "Hmm…no I didn't see any dragon…Oh! But I think I did see a green haired guy. Weird fellow right? I don't remember his eye color though…"

"Touko, your pokemon are healed!" the Nurse said over the intercom suddenly. Touko turned back to Rhea.

"That's me! Please don't go anywhere yet, I'll be right back!"

"Okay."

Touko ran up to the front. Its him! Its him! I know its him! Its gotta be him! She thought excitedly. She just had to retrieve her pokemon and find out where he was seen, then she could be on her way!

The nurse wore an embarrassed smile. Touko noticed her Victini, Loki, sitting on the counter anxiously.

"I'm sorry! It wouldn't let me put him back in his pokeball," the nurse said.

"Oh its fine," Touko giggled, "Loki can be funny like that. But I could use its help anyways tonight."

"You don't plan on going out tonight do you?" the nurse gave her a worried look.

"Most likely. Its something urgent. Why?"

"You shouldn't go out tonight, there is to be a big storm from what I hear."

Touko gave her a quizzical look.

"But it was perfectly clear outside when I got here. I'm sure I will be fine either way though, I'm a tough trainer."

She picked up her pokeballs and left with Loki on her shoulder. The nurse stared at her open mouthed in shock. They returned to Rhea who was sitting very patiently next to Nimbus. Loki hopped down and sniffed at Nimbus.

"Ta ta ta tini!" It chattered happily.

"Breon!" Nimbus replied in a friendly manner.

"Nimbus seems to have made a new friend," Rhea laughed, "Cool pokemon by the way. Never seen one like it before."

"Thanks, he's a Victini," Touko said, then returned to her mission. "So tell me more about this green haired boy you saw?"

"All right," She began, "He was a little strange. He asked to speak to Nimbus, I haven't the slightest clue what he meant exactly, but I let him. He seemed pleased with whatever he heard but at the same time he got kind of sad. He then said thank you and left, like he had just remembered something important."

"That's him! That's him!" Touko cried. She couldn't believe it, but there was no one else it could've been. "Tell me, where did you see him?"

"In Ilex forest. On my way here actually. Its by the day care just south of here."

"Did you see where he left to?"

Rhea tapped her lip, "Well that's the other weird thing. He just disappeared into the woods. Very strange. I assumed he was just an adamant bug catcher."

"So he's probably still in there, or near there at least?"

"Maybe. It was just yesterday morning."

Touko grinned joyfully, she about hugged the girl in sheer gratitude.

"Thank you so much Rhea! This helps so much, good luck on your gym battle! Come on Loki."

Without wasting any time, Touko ran out the door and into the night.

Ilex Forest really wasn't far from Goldenrod at all. It only took Touko about 15 minutes by bike to get there.

It was a fascinating forest, there was no paved path running through it like in the forest back home. There were no people in it either, Touko could understand this, it would be natural for people to prefer to avoid this path and go another way rather than risk getting lost inside its maze. Perhaps N thought it would be a good hiding place…

She shuddered. Now she was questioning her decision to look for N at this time. It was late, the sun had gone down about an hour ago, and the forest was very dark and quiet. Luckily the moonlight was tricking between the thick trees providing a little bit of source for the traveler. Loki sat on her shoulder, its big eyes darting around nervously at any sound. Touko reached up and patted its head to comfort the frightened pokemon and herself.

"Its okay Loki, most wild pokemon are probably resting now," Touko said, but she still worried deep down. The nocturnal pokemon were sometimes the more violent. They walked a little farther when Loki`s ears perked straight up.

"Victini!" it cried.

Suddenly an enormous flock of hoothoots flew at them. Touko lifted her arms to protect her face, she had no time to shout any orders to Loki. Luckily the victini didn't need to be told what to do, it held onto its trainer's shoulder and shot fire at hoothoots that came close to hurting Touko. But then, just as fast as it had started, it was all over, and the flock was flying off into the distance behind them.

"What was that about?" Touko wondered as Loki shook its fur. "It was as if, as if they were fleeing from something."

It soon began to grow darker and much harder to see, much more than it had been before. A breeze began to whip her ponytail around and the thick smell of rain hung heavily in the air. She looked up to see that the moon was completely covered by dark clouds now. Thunder rumbled throughout the forest.

"Oh no…"

She grabbed Loki and began sprinting through the possible 'path' in front of her. Rain soon began to pelt them. Loki let out a cry of anguish, it hated the rain. Touko fumbled for its pokeball and called Loki back into it. The wind then rammed Touko against a tree as she put the pokeball back in her bag. She yelped and started running again, now more than unsure of where she was going. The storm was making everything crazy, trees were parting and falling, small branches and pine cones slapped against her face and body, cutting her skin and clothes. The wind continued to push her body around in every random direction and her wet hair stung her as it slapped around her face and shoulders. Her hat flew off and disappeared into the trees, Touko barely noticed though as she ran frantically.

"HELP!" she screamed as loud as she could, but it was swallowed by the sounds of the roaring storm. Still she continued to run and clutched her bag tightly to her chest. She was growing weary as the wind picked up, flinging more and larger stuff around her. The last thing she saw was an especially thick branch flying towards her before she blacked out completely.

Pidgeys were chirping as the sun rose. N was already up. He loved mornings. The air was always so crisp in the mornings and everything was just beginning to wake. He loved seeing the light of the sunrise seeping through the trees and hearing the flying pokemon sing. This morning however was a little different from other mornings. He had woken up a few hours ago to see the aftermath of the previous night's storm. It had seemed a violently brutal storm from what he heard while he was closed up in that horrid cabin. Now he could see for himself what it really did. The woods were in near ruins, yet everything seemed peaceful. Wild pokemon played as they normally did in the mornings, none seemed to be affected negatively by it. He smiled and looked up to the sky through the trees. It seemed much clearer and it was bluer than he had ever seen the sky. 'Funny how something so terrible and scary can leave a place so peaceful and nice,' he thought pleasantly.

Suddenly a small stab of pain ran through his right leg. He stopped for a minute and rubbed it. Then he lifted his leg and kick it slightly, making sure he hadn't overworked it. It seemed fine, it was healing nicely. He tried to work his leg as much as he could to promote its recovery. He had hurt it a month ago helping a young furret. But somehow, by chance (or by purpose he feared) he had been found by Concordia and Anthea, the goddesses of Team Plasma. He couldn't fathom how they had found him or why they were here in Johto. Their answer to that was 'fate', but he was still unsure, he was unsure of a lot of things now. He went with them though, he had no idea how to heal a human leg and he was still to afraid of man to allow one in one of the nearby towns work on it. Growing up, it had always been the goddesses who were his nurses, he had never required a doctor of any kind. But N hated the idea of being locked up in a house again, even if it were temporary, so he went outside as much as he could for physical therapy. He was off the crutch now and only had a slight limp. Soon he could leave and continue his journey again.

The sun sparkled through the tress as he entered a thicker part of the forest. He didn't feel like going to the main path again today, he sometimes ran into trainers there, and today he felt like being alone. He had come upon a young girl the other morning who, like many other trainers he had met on his journey, had pokemon who enjoyed living with them. It was so strange, growing up he thought that all domestic pokemon were miserable from their trainers, but then he met her…Touko…

He stopped. Why did his thoughts always return to her somehow? Shouldn't he be pondering his place in the world? Shouldn't he be trying to figure out who or what he is? But his ponders always seemed to revert back to her. It was true, since their last encounter N hadn't gone a day without thinking of her at least once. Perhaps it was because she was the first person to have made him question his ideals. Perhaps it was because she was the one who freed him from the façade he was living. She was the other hero…

N clutched his stomach. Sometimes thinking about her made his stomach twist. Part of him really regretted leaving her, he would have very much liked to have stayed and gotten to know her better. Touko was a fascinating human being, far more fascinating than any he had met thus far. But N knew that he was incapable of friendship with another human. He had no human heart. Besides she had her own friends. Why would she want to waste her time with a defective creature like him when she had two perfectly human friends who would do anything for her. Then she had her pokemon. He would have liked to talk to them more as well. It amazed him just how happy they were with Touko. Yes, he would have loved to have stayed for a bit. But he knew he had to escape for a while, and he couldn't allow for anything to keep him back. His crippled heart couldn't handle it.

A bush rustled behind him. N stopped and watched curiously. What new pokemon friend might he meet today? He crouched down slowly (careful not to hurt his leg) and rested his arms on his knees, staring intently at the bush. Several seconds had passed when suddenly a small, black, fox-like pokemon sprang out.

"Zorua!" it yipped.

"You again?" N cried, falling back a little. He regained his balance. "I told you, you don't have to follow me. Go back to Zoruark, I freed you all."

The zorua brought his chin to his paws and looked up at N, his butt lifted up and his tail wagging playfully.

"Zor!" he barked.

"Huh? You found something?"

The zorua yipped again and ran around in a circle excitedly.

"Well what is it?" N asked.

The zorua barked and then ran back into the bush. N hesitated, but soon followed after it. He was curious now, for the excited pokemon never told him what exactly he had found, he had only said, "Follow me."

Zorua led him on a path that he was familiar with. Still things were very different since the storm. Trees were uprooted and toppled over, some had even snapped in the middle and hung from a hinge of bark. The floor was cluttered with branches and leaves. The zorua in front of him still continued to walk in front of him, and would stop every so often to make sure N was following him. N could only wonder at what the pokemon was so intent on showing him.

Finally the zorua stopped near a fallen tree that had gotten lodged into the split of another tree, lifting it up slightly off the ground. The zorua poked its nose at a tangled brown mess beneath it, then looked at N pitifully.

"Zorua…" it whined, which N knew clearly meant, "She's hurt."

N kneeled down to get to the hurt creature. "It must be a pokemon," he thought, "that got trapped in the storm." He carefully pulled the body mass out from beneath the tree and wiped off the brambles and leaves covering its soaked body. His hands soon felt a thick black cloth beneath the leaves and then lower down, he felt denim.

"Wait a minute…" he murmured. This thing could not be a pokemon. This thing looked…human. He held his hands by his face like he didn't know what to do with them, his fingers curled slightly in. He suddenly was over washed in fear, he didn't know what to do any more. He was too scared.

"Zorua!"

N turned his head to the anxious pokemon, then turned back to the girl. He gently rolled her over and removed the stands of hair covering her face. He gasped and froze again, trembling. This could not be happening, there is no way this could be real. Of all people why, why her? His stomach twisted violently as he studied her unconscious body to make sure he wasn't just imagining this. Maybe this is a dream…He pinched himself. No, she was still there.

Just like she always returned to his thoughts, Touko had now returned to his life.

But how had she found him? Was she looking for him or was it just coincidental fate? He didn't know, but he did know that she was hurt, and hurt badly. He placed his hand on her upper chest to feel for a heart beat. He shuddered at her cold skin. "Please don't let her be dead!" he thought miserably. But he was soon able to feel the weak beating of her heart. He sighed in relief. She was still alive. Weak but alive. He had to get her to shelter and warmth if she were to continue living however. Fear encased him, but he couldn't let her die. His slid his hands beneath her and scooped her up in his arms. She was so cold and wet against his warmth. He pulled her in closer hoping to warm her a little with his own body heat. To his shock she shivered and coughed. N froze with nervousness as Touko nuzzled against him unconsciously for more heat. He felt some of his heat rise to his face.

The zorua stared at N in amusement while the boy composed himself. Finally, he looked down at the zorua.

"Friend, please lead the way to the cabin."

The zorua barked happily and bounded off into the woods. N followed, limping slightly, and carefully cradling the weak girl in his arms, afraid yet pleasantly happy.

Author`s notes:

Yay, finally the "N"troduction! Wowee I hadn't realized just how long these chapters were! Don't worry, things will be moving much faster from here on out. Cus now we got N and Touko together (muwahahah!)

Oh and that OC Rhea? She will be having her own spin-off series after this (I hope!) I just need to find time to write it.

Next chapter brings shippy goodness and that other OC I warned you about ;D I`m uber excited! Almost done writing it now X3.