After much time wasted staring at the official screenshot for the Subway Master episode of the anime -and wishing time would speed up- the next chapter is finally done. Not that the vast majority of Pokemon fans read the first chapter, I'm just happy to get two reviews : D That said, let's get rolling!

10. Snow

Nobori didn't know why so many people got excited about snow; it was too cold, blocked doorways when it piled up too high and was so much of a bother to shovel away- his less than favorable opinion on the phenomena could have come from the fact that he was born in a snowy little town in the southeast part of his Fatherland, and the cold climate had proven to be too harsh for his mother's weak constitution.

Unfortunately for him, it had started snowing the night before he was going out to Driftveil to shop for Kudari and himself, and it was still going. As usual Kudari had come with him to pick out what food he wanted (his younger brother never made lists when Nobori asked him to, it was very irritating) the difference being that this time White had come along with them. Kudari and White had been chasing each other through the snow the entire walk to the next town, laughing and giggling while they threw snow at each other. For White this behavior was completely acceptable, Kudari on the other hand was a grown man and ten years too old to be playing in the snow.

Nobori was just about to set foot into Driftveil's market when he felt something cold and yet his back, two somethings actually. He frozen in place and looked over his shoulder to his two companions, eyebrow twitching ever-so slightly.

"It vas her."

"It was him." Kudari and White chorused, hearing the other's accusations the two turned their heads towards each other.

"Now, now, Vhite, do you seriously think I vould throw snow at Nobori vhen his back vas turned?"

"I think that's exactly what you would do."

"I'm hurt you vould think zhat! I vould never-" Kudari's defense was cut off when a handful of snow hit his face, sliding off and falling to the ground, White grinning from ear to ear. "...You re'lize zhis means var." Kudari stated simply, with a false air of seriousness about him.

"Then so I be it! I, Whitlea DaSilva, declare a snow war on you, Kudari... um... whatever your last name is!" And with that White dashed away, Kudari quickly giving chase, while Nobori just walked into the market like he hadn't seen anything, his brother's echoed cry of "it's 'Abendroth' by zuh vay!" reaching his ears as he crossed the threshold.

When those two got sick he would have to be the one to care for at least one of them. Wonderful.

11. Hands

By the time Nobori had finished his shopping, nearly half an hour had passed, fortunately for him it didn't take long to find his companions -he just had to listen for the sounds of laughter- although the position he found them in was more than a little questionable . Nobori had found the two of them, their faces flushed from the cold, on top of a small bank of snow, (it was only as high as his waist, at the most) Kudari practically straddling White's hips as he held a handful of snow threateningly over her face in his cupped hands.

"Do you surrender?" He asked, humor lacing his voice as he grinned down at his trapped friend.

"This isn't fair! I can't get up when you're on me!" White argued in between breaths of air, wiggling underneath the larger man's weight and kicking her legs in a feeble attempt to get free.

"In der Liebe und im Krieg ist alles erlaubt~" Kudari sing-songed before dropping the snow, letting it fall on White's face with a light 'pampf' sound.

"Kudari," Nobori began once he was within earshot of the two, the younger of the twins looking over his shoulder and smiling at his brother, waving cheerfully.

"Hallo, Bruder~! You finish your shopping?"

"Yes I did. Now please get off Miss. Vhite." Kudari chuckled lightly before clinging off the snow bank to stand by his brotherm casually propping an elbow on the other's shoulder- if it wasn't Kudari, Nobori never would have thought someone could smile as widely as his brother was at that moment.

"Eifersüchtig~?"

"Nein." With that sharp response Nobori pushed his grocery bag into his brother's arms -thankfully he didn't drop them- and walked over to where White was laying, still trying to catch her breath. "Miss. Vhite,"

"Yeah?" The aforementioned Trainer pushed herself onto her elbows to look at the Subway Master, face flushed with some bits of snow clinging to her cheeks, her hair -which had been let out of its trademark ponytail for the day- and hung over her shoulders in waves of chocolate brown, her chest heaving as she breathed -Nobori tried to ignore that detail and focus on her face.

"Ve're leaving." He said, holding a hand out for her to take,

"That was quick." White mumbled, scooting over to the edge of the bank and grabbed Nobori's hand. Her hand was cold, even through the wool of her gloves, but it just fit so perfectly in his own... he shook those thoughts away as the girl joined him at his side and smiled at him, he had to turn his face away. At least he could pass off the blush he could feel burning on his face as the cold weather.

12. Dark and Light

They were half-way across the drawbridge, and White still hadn't let go of Nobori's hand. Needless to say it was causing the poor man to go through a small crisis. He had been trying to ignore his budding feelings for White ever since she left, and for a while it seemed to work, but then she came back,and along with her came Nobori's partially buried feelings for her. He didn't understand it; he had ignored all the comments from his peers about his accent when he was in school, gotten past the accusations that he was in an incestuous relationship with Kudari through his teen years, and never minded the jealous sneers from his co-workers when he and his brother were made the Subway Masters when they were barely over twenty-two; and yet he couldn't ignore White.

"You're disgusting." The darker part of his mind whispered coldly in his ear, "Being in love with a child. For all you know it might not even be love," The voice chuckled darkly before continuing. "It could be lust~ You might just want her cute, pure, innocent little body; and she hasn't been touched by a man yet. Doesn't that excite you?"

"Nobori?" The Subway Master was snapped out his trance by none other than White's voice -how fitting- he blinked and looked down at his companion, who tightened her grip on his hand ever-so- slightly. "Something wrong?"

"Nein. Vhy do you ask?" Nobori focused his attention on his brother, who was currently a few paces a head of the two, happily walking across the bridge at his own pace (he had claimed that Nobori and White were going way too slow before making a very unneeded comment about romantic tension between the two).

"Just now you were trembling." White held up their hands to accentuate her point, "and no way in hell you're cold with how much you're bundled up, so what's bugging you?"

"Nozhing you need to concern yourself vith, Miss. Vhite." Nobori took his hand away as he said that -it was surprisingly easy to slide his hand away from hers- and took a few paces a head of her before she came up next to him and re-claimed his hand. Nobori looked down at her to protest, but found the words dying in his throat when she looked back at him with almost amazingly sincere cobalt blue eyes.

She was worried about him, even if it was a little bit- not that she would ever show it blatantly. Wordlessly she looked forward again, her hand tightening around his slightly. Nobori didn't try to move away.

13. Touch

White was a very tactile girl; and she always had been. For as long as Nobori knew her she had always had this urge to touch and feel everything she could: the scratchy material of the subway seats, the texture of her hair, porcelain warmed by hot chocolate, wool gloves on her hands just to name a few things. It was another thing that made her similar to Kudari- the Subway Master had even made a list of their similarities in his mind- something that was kind of endearing but also a distraction since White was always feeling something when she was talking. No matter what whenever she spoke her hands would be doing something, her fingers running over something. Not that Nobori could really talk about odd habits, he had a few of them of his own (not that he would admit them to anyone but Kudari).

One of White's favorite things to feel, Nobori learned, were his uniform gloves. She loved feeling the cool, silky material against her bare skin -personally he thought it was an odd thing to be so attached to. but this was White, the girl who would rather spend her time in a subway rather than do... whatever it was teenage girls did when they weren't out Pokemon training.

Now normally Nobori would just give White one of his gloves to play with whenever she asked- so long as he got it back clean he didn't have a problem with it- but that day White seemed to want to go a different way. The two were sitting in the front car of the Single Line waiting for challengers as usual, Nobori's newest novel held open in one of his hands while the other rested on his thigh. He had noticed White scoot closer an closer to him over time -she wasn't as subtle as she would like to think when it came to sneaking- but he didn't really make a note of it. It wasn't until he felt her hand grasp his that he took action.

"Vhat are you doing?" He asked, watching with mild interest as White inspecting his palm, running her fingers over it.

"Feeling your hand," White responded casually, swirling her middle finger in the middle of his palm.

"Vhy?"

"Just cause." Honestly Nobori should have been used to White spontaneous bouts of touching and feeling anything within arm distance by this point.

"You could have asked for my glove if zhat's vhat you vanted." Nobori said, putting his book down on the cushion next to him and moving his free hand to grip the sleeve of his glove.

"I wanted to feel your hand in the glove for once. I mean, have you felt these gloves against your bare skin when they're warmed by another person? It's heavenly." White claimed, not once looking up from the imaginary designs she was tracing in his palm. It wasn't like white was doing any harm, -just accelerating his heart rate- and he didn't hate what she was doing so he would leave her be for the time being.

For a good ten minutes it was just them, nothing but the sounds of the train wheels clacking against the tracks and the soft tune White had started humming a while ago to keep them company -only White could find enjoyment in feeling a gloved hand for ten minutes. Nobori felt some warmth flood to his face when he felt White slip her finger in between his but he didn't make this apparent; the brunette was probably much too absorbed in how the warm material of his glove felt against her hand to really notice anyway.

"Excuse me, am I interrupting something?" A new voice spoke up, a cool, calm female voice that held a tone of maturity and experience. Nobori and White turned their heads towards the new voice, a tall woman with long golden blonde hair with her bangs brushed off to cover one of her eyes. Dressed in a long black coat with a fur collar and matching slacks, she stood with perfect posture, although her one visible eye sparkled with amusement at the position White and Nobori were in: sitting so close to each other that their legs were brushing against each other, their fingers loosely intertwined, and a faint blush painting their cheeks.

"Nope! Nothing!" White suddenly said, taking her hand away and standing, laughing nervously as she adjusted her hat. "You must be a challenger so I'll just get out of the way. Bye Nobori." With that hastened goodbye White walked towards the woman, who stepped aside to let her pass as she opened the door to the passenger car and stepped inside.

"Do you not like other people seeing your affections?" The woman asked Nobori, tilting her head to the side lightly, "that girl's face was bright red." The Subway Master marked the page he was on and set it aside, brushing off his coat as he stood and walked to the center of the aisle.

"Our relationship is not like zhat." He explained simply, but the woman just laughed lightly, one hand hovering in front of her mouth.

"What is it like then?"

"She's just an acquaintance."

"She was sitting pretty close to you for someone who is simply an 'acquaintance.'"

Nobori didn't say anything more, just stared sharply at the woman under the shadow from his caps' brim. The woman shook her head lightly and walked forward with long, even steps.

"I apologize, your relationship is none of my concern." She said sincerely, walking closer to Nobori and extending a hand out to him, "My name is Cynthia, and I have heard a lot about you, Mr. Subway Master." Nobori grabbed her hand and gave it a firm shake,

"It is a pleasure, Frau Cynthia."

14. "Don't be afraid."

It had been a long, tense battle, the most difficult Nobori had in a long, long time. This Cynthia wasn't just another challenger who thought she could sweep the challenge and earn bragging rights for defeating him -no- she had skill and experience. From the way she commanded her Pokemon Nobori had a hunch that she wasn't even giving it everything that she had; she was only using half of her team. Her Milotic had given him the most trouble most of all, but fortunately KlinkKlang had managed to come through with one last Giga Impact before it finally collapsed.

Cynthia knelt down her fallen Pokemon, lovingly petting its head and whispering kind words to it before she recalled it and stood gracefully to her full height.

"That was a very fun battle!"Cynthia smiled, "I'm glad to know that all the rumors about you were true, Mr. Subway Master."

The Subway Master called his fainted Pokemon back and giving a curt nod to the blonde, "and your Pokemon vhere spectacular." Cynthia laughed again before responding,

"I wouldn't say 'spectacular,' but thank you very much for the compliment, Mr..." she paused, obviously waiting for a much more formal title for the man who had defeated her. Fair enough, "Mr. Subway Master" was a bit juvenile.

"Nobori."

"Hmm," Cynthia put a finger to her mouth in thought, one hand cradling the elbow of her other arm, "Nobori..." she said his name slowly, feeling how the syllables felt on her tongue. "That's a traditional Kantonese name, isn't it? But your accent is clearly not from this region, let alone this country..."

"I am from Germany." Nobori confirmed crisply (he had lost count of how many times he had to say that just while working).

"I see. I hear that country's lovely." Cynthia mused, dropping her arms and looking over her shoulder, unsurprisingly White had her face in the small, rectangular window, probably had seen the entire battle, Cynthia gestured to her with a hand.

"You're really strong, lady." White said the instant she walked into the car, walking up to the taller woman and looking up at her with pure admiration in her eyes. "What was that Pokemon you used? Ghost-looking, purple one? I've never seen it before, ever!"

"I'm not surprised you haven't, Spiritomb is rare even in Sinnoh."

"No way... you're from Sinnoh?"

"I am."

"Can you tell me about it? Err, um, please?"

"Haha, of course."

Before long Cynthia was telling a very excited White everything she could about Sinnoh; the places, the land marks, the Pokemon; white hanging on her every word like she was a child being told a fairytale. Nobori could admit it was interesting to hear the woman talk about Sinnoh as someone who was actually from the far-away region; the most he had ever heard about it was from books he had read in school, but those descriptions were wooden and bland; nothing like the picture Cynthia painted.

When the subway reached at its final stop before heading back to Nimbasa City the blonde woman stood -as fluid as ever- and walked to the door, waiting for it to slide open. "I had a good time with you two," she addressed the two other occupants of the train. "If I could offer some advice: don't be afraid of your feelings." She gave them another smile before stepping out onto the Driftveil city depot's platform. It wasn't until the train lurched into movement that White spoke up, rubbing the back of her neck with a nervous laugh.

"What d'you think she meant by that? She didn't think that you and I are... did she?"

"You vhere sitting rather close to me." Nobori replied, re-opening his novel like he had never been interrupted from his reading.

"Whoop-dee-doo" White deadpanned, twirling a finger in the air. "I mean, you and me like that?" She dropped her hands into her lap, fingers fiddling with a loose thread on the front pocket of her sweatshirt, "That's just silly..." White trailed off, plucking the thread off and twirling it between her thumb and forefinger, her eyes focused on the action rather than the man sitting across from her.

"Ja," Nobori agreed, flipping to the next page of his book. "Silly."