A/N: …Hey, guys…! Soooo I'm still alive. Heh heh, sorry. Well, I'm not going to give you all excuses of why I have neglected to update because I doubt any of you give a—ahem, excuse my French—rat's ass.

However, I would like to clarify a few things. First, I am still accepting OCS via PMs only so look at chapter one for the form. Second, the anime did not clarify if rufflet can fly or not. As a result, I took the liberty of saying they can. In other words, in the games, rufflet can learn the HM fly; therefore, they can fly.

I hope you guys have fun this summer!

Frozen Belief

~Two~

Of Celebrity Helpfulness and Plasma Mishaps

I wasn't surprised when upon arriving to the lookout spot in Aspertia City, where most of the city's resident teenagers go to hang out, I had encountered Aspertia's gym leader, Cheren. I also wasn't surprised to see him with Bianca, Professor Juniper's field assistant, and when Bianca had asked for my help in delivering a parcel to former Unova Champion Alder. My initial reaction had been to say no, but after think more thoroughly; I had concluded that not only would I benefit from meeting Alder but also I could train Aleron for my upcoming gym battle against Cheren.

That's how I ended up traveling to Floccesy Town on foot with a hyper, mischievous rufflet flying above.

The walk to Floccesy Town, from previous treks with Mom, always took about two and a half hours if the amounts of breaks taken are reduced to a bare minimum. Too bad this time it's unfortunately different… Even though I have always considered myself an athletic person, with five years of soccer and two years of weight lifting under my belt, several breaks, ranging from bathroom breaks to fending off wild pokémon, slows my progress to Floccesy. That and Aleron is an overly curious little guy when it comes anything worthy of his interest, which is basically everything. I silently thank almighty Acreus for Route 19 being a fairly straightforward trail, with many emerald green treetops providing much-needed shade from the searing sun. Moreover, it takes almost three hours and fifteen minutes (yes, I counted.).

Route 19 is quiet and empty of trainers. Most of my friends are staying near home where they can train for their gym battle. That would have been me too if I didn't have to deliver a parcel to Alder. The rest of the walk is uneventful. It isn't until I'm about half an hour away that I'm blessed with the presence of a trainer, the first on this dreadfully lonely route. Our battle is anything but special, given that I had battled before, with pokémon provided by the institution. I emerge victorious, much to the other trainer's dismay.

The tranquil, homey town of Floccessy is the polar opposite of noisy, bustling Aspertia City. While Aspertia's skyline is coated in a layer of smog, Floccessy's horizon is visible and fresh due to not being heavily industrialized. Floccessy is an agrarian society, relaying on mareep wool and crops from an array of ranches in the outskirts as its primary means for support and substance. In addition, the citizens of Floccessy are friendly and helpful as oppose to the always busy and rushed, rude majority of Aspertia's citizens, which can be blamed on the stress and pollution induced by the city's atmosphere.

I book a room in the local Pokémon Center and allow Nurse Joy to perform a check up on Aleron. With that done, I set off in the direction of Alders house, having an okay idea of how to get there. Fifteen minutes later, with the help of my Xtransceiver, I successfully arrive to my destination to find the former champion giving a speech to the town's local children and passing trainers.

My curiosity persuades me to join the crowd, eager to hear some inspirational, wise words. He seems to be giving a speech regarding the significance of showing Pokémon love, care, and respect. I give a sigh, having heard this before. I wait patiently through the remainder of his speech.

Just as it ends, a joyous cry of my name sounds, before an arm rounds around my neck. Towering above me by two inches is, Deno, blue-grey eyes sparkling with amusement. I glower up at him in greeting, silently asking him to withdraw his arm. He complies, stepping back to really look at me.

"Sup, Rob. Surprise to see me here," he asks, grinning lopsidedly.

I shake my head and permit myself to smile. "Sure are. Are you here by yourself," I question.

"Nah, I came with Shadow and," He pauses shortly to gesture to his riolu, who is eyeing me with suspicion, and to look around, "Cosette… Crap!" Worried, his wide eyes scan the ever-growing crowd and I follow in suit. There is no sign of her.

I shoot him a look of disapproval. "Boy, are you going to get it," I snicker, eyeing the worrywart before me. I'm about to bash him some more, but two skinny arms encircle my torso.

"Cosette," Big, brown eyes twinkle from beneath wispy, stylish black bangs, lighting up her face as I wrap her petite form in a tight hug. "I wasn't aware that you and Deno would be here."

Cosette giggles, looking up at me from under her eyelashes as she steps back. "Deno wanted to see Alder in person. I take it you just got here half an hour ago, no?"

I nod, eyes discreetly raking her form. No shocker to see Cosette clad in a flashy dress, tights, and small shoes. The dark-haired girl in question spots Deno, and marches up to him, hands on hips. It's entertaining to see such a little thing reprimand Deno.

I allow them to argue, as my eyes search for Alder's red orange hairdo. I find him flirting shamelessly with the local officer Jenny, who does not see happy as she has threatened to incarnate him. She rips her hand out of his, before storming; pass me, mumbling about desperate guys and what not. Alder's flirtatious behavior fails to render me speechless, given that I use to watch interviews of the guy flirt unabashedly with Sinnoh champion Cynthia, other female league gym leaders, and female elite four members.

"Aw! Call me, love," Alder shouts after her. His eyes flicker in my direction.

"Sir, I have a parcel for you from Bianca," I say, taking out the brown package.

Confident, warm purple eyes study me, as he takes the package, a broad smile growing. "Hmm… Blanca you say…" He takes the package and gives it a shake. "Thank you…"

"It's Bianca, sir, Professor Juniper's field assistant," I correct him. "And my name's Robert Henderson." I tip my head in respect.

His booming laugh startles me. "Roberto, being formal with me is unnecessary." I cringe at the mispronunciation of my name. "Ah, is that a pokéball I see?"

"Yeah, I just officially became a trainer today," I announce proudly.

His eyes brighten considerably, and a wistful, forlorn look invades his face. "Reminds me of when I first started…" he muses.

I stand there awkwardly, watching him. As I murmur a "good bye", he recovers and stops me. "Wait! How about treating these youngsters to a pokémon battle," he proposes.

"Err… sure…? With whom," I ask. "I certainly hope not you, sir. I wish to avoid humiliation, at least for now."

"Hmmm..." Alder hums in thought, scanning the crowd, who I have, just notice is watching us intently, including Cosette and Deno. "That tall boy, with the riolu!" He points at a bewildered Deno.

Deno shoots me a perplex look, and I smirk in return. Hmm, perhaps it's payback time. Why let such a convenient opportunity to outdo one of my rivals go to waste.

Cosette drags a still confused Deno over to the battle arena in front of Alder's home. Realization dawns, and he eagerly takes his place on the right while I take the left. By this point, everyone has concluded that a battle will be taking place, and enthusiastically crowd both sides.

Sine this isn't an official Pokémon League battle, no one bothers to referee it. With Aleron's pokéball in hand, I wordlessly enlarge it. As Deno's riolu runs onto the field at his master's command, Aleron emerges from the flash of a white, brilliant light. The chatter around us dies as the atmosphere sizzles between us.

We both nod once, wordlessly agreeing to a one-on-one battle and simultaneously shout out orders.

"Shadow, Quick Attack!"

"Aleron, Peck!"

With a flap of his wings, Ron takes to the sky, beak growing long and sharp. Shadow dashes forward, and then uses his speed to his advantage to jump. Just as Shadow is about to tackle Ron, he swerves to the right quickly, at my command, before diving down sharply, wings tucked. Jabbing his head forward, multiple, effective pecks hit against Shadow's flank. He cries out in pain, and falls flat on his face. Ron opens his wings and pushes up at the last second to avoid a head on collision with the ground, kicking up dust in the process.

A slightly battered riolu scrambles to his feet, irritated ruby eyes trained on Ron's flying form. At the command of his trainer, Shadow proceeds onward with speedy steps, and bounds high into the air. Just as he reaches Ron's height, he smashes a precise punch coated in a metallic quality against Ron's stun face. Shadow then thrusts his palm downward, a green light blasting Ron's head, which promptly causes Ron to smash into the ground hard.

Ron picks himself up gingerly, wincing as he ruffles out his feathers indignantly. Attacks and retaliation from both parties continue in a similar fashion for quite a while, both sides acquiring equal damage.

Ron pants and wobbles unsteadily, too tried to fly, glaring in challenge to an equally tired Shadow. I suddenly realize that he has barely any energy left and Ron barrels onward, wings glowing brilliantly. Shadow intercepts his attack by blocking with Bullet Punch.

Thwack! Wings clash loudly against metal-coated fists as both pokemon struggle to gain the upper hand, like sumo wrestlers. Deno shouts out encouragingly and I echo him. Ron squawks crossly, acting on his own account by pecking Shadows face. The emanation pokémon cries out in pain and protest, retracting an arm to block the super effective strikes. Each peck sends him back a step. The assault ends when Shadow falls in heap, Ron towering triumphantly.

The grin forming on my face disappears when I see Shadow stagger to his feet, determination matching that of his trainer. Aforementioned trainer whoops and praises him, shooting a cocky smirk in my direction. I begrudgingly permit myself to recognize Shadow as a formidable future opponent for Ron.

Ron stares at his foe in utter shock, but his stare quickly shifts to a firm glare. A stare down ensures, and the whispering crowd grows quiet.

I warily eye a confident Deno, trying my best to keep my neutral face on. Suddenly, a collective moan sounds from Ron and Shadow, who both collapse, too tried to proceed. A deafening roar fills the air along with rounds of applause from the crowd. Cosette smiles warmly and claps, while Alder nods his approval. I sigh, a frown forming as Aleron is returned in his pokeball.

"Nice job, bud. Sorry it wasn't the victory you wanted," I remark, clipping the minimized capsule on my belt. "Maybe next time…"

"That was a great battle, Rob," Deno chirps, beaming at me. "However, don't think that next time will have the same outcome. I will defeat you!"

I nod reluctantly in agreement, locking eyes with him. Things will end on a different note next time we battle. That's a promise.

Once excitement dies down, the crowd disperses, chattering animatedly amongst each other about the highlight points of the battle.

"Whoa, such a great battle! Reminds me of why I still enjoy battling on the occasion," Alder reflects on. "Come this way, boys, I will heal your pokemon for you."

"I couldn't agree more, Alder," Cosette chirps, beaming individually at us.

~.~.~

Spending a week and a half in tranquil Floccessy town proved to be relaxing and fulfilling, with the advice Alder had to offer and the battles against passing through trainers. Deno and Cosette had not left and had convinced me to travel with them for the meanwhile.

Although I was anxious to leave on the same day upon arriving, I knew doing so would not be possible, given that I was short on money and supplies. Therefore, I had spent that week and a half doing usual tasks around town that required using Ron as well as battling local and passing through trainers. Cosette, however, had gotten a job at one of the ranches just outside of town, helping grow crops with the assistance of her cottonee Bijou, while Deno had been tasked with chasing off wild pokemon from the ranch, so he would walk Cosette back and forth to the center.

On the fourth day of the second week, restlessness had kicked in. With little to no persuasion, Cosette and Deno had agreed to leave the next day.

"Does everyone have everything," Cosette asks for the umpteenth time since waking up.

"Yes," Deno and I deadpan in unison.

She giggles and prances pass us, with her clingy cottonee on her heels. Deno shrugs when I shoot him an annoyed look (this being that I'm still little sour with having to wake up earlier than usual and Ron's rather creative way of waking me up), and we both trek after the happy-go-lucky ebony-haired girl.

We only take a couple steps into route nineteen when a cry of dismay echoes behind us; being our sole warning as someone roughly, pushes Deno. The rude gesture causing a domino effect that thus knocks Cosette and then me. This induces all our respective starters to growl after the one responsible.

"Ow," Deno groans, "what just happen?"

"We got knocked over, Einstein," I snap, my sour mood growing to a tenfold.

"Thank you, Captain Obvious, but that was a rhetorical question," Deno rebuttals.

"You're welcome, Sergeant Sarcasm," I shoot back.

"Oh, quit arguing like children," Cosette demands in an exasperated tone.

Deno opens his mouth, but then shuts it quickly when he receives a warning glower. Just as we clamber to our feet, the pounding of rapid footsteps reaches our ears

"W-wait! Get… back… here," a disheveled girl gasps, collapsing near us followed closely by her herdier. "No…!"

A concern Cosette wastes no time in going to the poor girl's aid. After consoling her, she goes into a rush explanation of how her pokemon was stolen while exploring Floccessy Ranch. Determined to get it back, she had borrowed her dad's herdier and thus had chased the thief all the way here.

"Don't worry. We will help you get your pokemon back. Right, guys," Cosette says, turning to see our reaction.

"Really," the girl asks hopefully, shyly tucking a platinum blonde loose curl behind an ear.

"Of course we will," Deno confirms.

"Yeah," I mutter unenthusiastically, therefore being elbowed in the ribs by Deno.

"Ignore him, he's usually not this rude," Cosette says meaningfully, shooting me a look of disapproval. "I'm Cosette Dubois."

"Hiya, Deno Kane's the name," Deno says, then jabs a thumb in my direction, "And that grump is Robert Henderson."

"It's fine. I'm Lucy Darrow. I really appreciate what you guys are doing." She smiles.

~.~.~

"Clear! No thief hiding in this area," an energetic Deno shouts down at us from his perch on the high branch of a hickory tree, a few feet ahead.

"Hey, Deno, you better not fall off that tree or so help me," Cosette hollers threateningly. Ever the mother hen.

"Ro," Shadow shouts the same from behind a bush. So far the thief has yet to be found, even with the help of Lucy's herdier's useful sense of smell and Ron's keen eyesight.

The rufflet in question squawks when he lands on my head, getting a firm grip of my tousled auburn hair. It seems to be the little devil's favorite place to perch on when out of his poké ball.

"Any sign, Ron," I ask the rufflet for the third time.

Adjusting his hold on my hair, he squawks negative. Wincing from the slight stab of his talons, I sigh and walk briskly after Deno, who is now six trees in front.

"Y'know, it would be helpful and a lot easier if we had a more thorough description of the thief besides just shady," I comment, mentally kicking myself for not asking for the aforementioned information earlier.

Lucy blushes a deep red while Cosette glares.

"S-sorry. He was a-about your h-height with a weird bl-black getup. And h-has a deep voice," Lucy replies timidly.

I nod and alert the rest we will be splitting into two groups for a more effective search.

~.~.~

Ten minutes or so later, I'm trekking through another path, with Cosette on my heels. My foul mood has not improved much thanks to this unnecessary delay and Cosette's constant complains about her feet hurting. I will never fully comprehend why Cosette, who use to be the president of the fashion club, had decided to become a trainer. I mean, the girl did have promise in the trainer world, but she was never much of an outdoor girl.

"Rooobbieee," she whines pleadingly for the umpteenth time.

"Ugh, come on then," I groan, giving in. "Why you chose to wear those specific shoes for travelling I will never know!"

"Happy now," I ask curtly.

"Oui. Thanks, Robbie," she chirps with a giggle, hugging my neck tighter. I sigh, getting a more firm grip on her feet as I walk onward, albeit at a slightly slower pace.

"Ruff-let," Ron snickers, flying above us.

"Oh, shush you. Make yourself useful before you become purrloin food," I threaten, promptly earning a slap upside the head from Cosette. "Ow, I'm kidding!" A giggle sounds against my neck.

As we step over a fallen log and push through bushes, I say, "Don't hit the person that carries you. Wouldn't want that pretty little head of yours to get hurt." To add more emphasis I pretend to loosen my grip, which causes her to yelp.

"Ah! Secousse," she cries out, clinging tighter to my back, an act that brings a smile to my face.

"In English please. No French mumbo jumbo," I tease, receiving another slap. "Ow! So abusive!"

"You're just jealous I speak another language," she sneers playfully.

"As if," I snort.

Our playful banter continues for a while before two familiar cries reach our ears. Out of a bush flies Ron, followed closely by Bijou the cottonee, who wastes no time in hugging her trainer's head. This causes me to grumble about how it wouldn't kill Cosette to shave her starter's cotton fluff every once in a while.

"Rufflet," Ron caws, pecking my cheek to acquire my attention.

I yelp, shooing away the infuriating rufflet, who wordlessly flies from where he came from. With a huff, I pick up the pace and follow. I pick my way through the thick foliage, alternating between stepping over bushes and ducking tree branches.

"Shadow!" Beyond trees and bushes, we witness a familiar riolu soar into a tree trunk obstructing our vision from the scene before us.

Cosette slides off my back with a gasp.

"Come on," I bark, marching forward with purpose.

In a clearing, with tall trees towering over five figures, blocking out most of the sunlight, are Lucy and Deno facing a man clad in a dark grey getup with a stylized blue P on a black and white shield emblazoned on the chest—hmm, why does that symbol look so familiar? A black hood shadows his face, making it difficult to see anything but the mouth. Before the shifty man proudly crouches a lithe, strong liepard, flicking its backwards question mark-shaped purple tail with a predatory gleam in its piecing green eyes. The unnerving gleam is directed at an injured Shadow.

The riolu in question struggles to rise to his feet only to fall to a knee with a whimper.

"Liepard, finish it with Hyper Beam!" At its master's command, the Cruel pokemon opens its mouth and forms a white orb of energy with a pale pink center in front of it.

"No!" Deno suddenly throws himself between his starter and the attack.

"Cosette, follow my lead! Ron, use Fury Attack to distract that liepard," I shout.

"Bijou, use GrassWhistle on Liepard!"

In an instant, Ron is upon the liepard, beak glowing white, as he repeatedly jabs at the cat's head. The assault briefly stuns the yowling feline, while Ron pushes up and Bijou takes his place. Bijou puts one of her leaves into her mouth and blows into it, producing a sweet melody. Down goes the kitty cat, snoring loudly.

"Wh-what? H-how did you…" Scumbag (as I will know refer to him until a name is give.) trails off, flabbergasted.

"It doesn't take rocket science to figure it out, Scumbag," I spit snidely, cobalt eyes glaring hot red daggers. Out of the corner of my eye, Cosette helps Deno to his feet, while he clutches Shadow to his chest, Lucy hovering nearby.

"Well, I must say I'm impress," Scumbag replies, brushing off my insult and nonchalantly returning his liepard before producing another poké ball. "Too bad this ends here."

"That's where you're wrong, Team Plasma," shouts a booming, well-known voice. Out of nowhere, jumps out Alder, flanked by a massive, daunting bouffalant. "Hand over the pokemon or else."

"Team Plasma," we all shout in unison. Acreus, not those liberation fanatic freaks from two years ago! I thought they had disbanded indefinitely.

"What the fuck! Today is so not my day," the Plasma fanatic grouses. "But I'm certainly not stupid nor do I want a death wish, so… Bye!" Within a few seconds, a smoke bomb is thrown against the floor, billows of smoke filling the clearing.

Coughs erupt from everyone, including the pokemon. Thanks to Alder's quick thinking and his intimidating druddigon's powerful wings the smoke disperses, leaving the brown sack filled with stolen poké balls.

"That guy wasn't completely stupid after all. I guess he didn't want a pissed off former champion with an equally pissed pokémon, not to mention powerful, on his ass," Deno observes, still cradling Shadow to his chest.

"Deno, language," Cosette scolds.

"Yes, mother," Deno mutters sarcastically.

With the stolen pokémon in Alder's custody, we bid them a farewell. As we silently traversed through route 19, I could help but mull over the Plasma fiasco, knowing that if Alder hadn't interfered things would have ended on a different note.

Had I known that this harmless encounter was just a taste of the many more gruesome, repulsive ones to come, I would have quite training then and there and gone into dreary, safe law school like father dearest had wanted.

Deno Allen Kane belongs to Sasaui102

Cosette Dubois belongs to Whimsical Acumen

Thank you, you two, for allowing me to use your ocs.