I don't know if other members have this problem, but when I transfer over a google doc onto this site's Doc Manager as a Story format, sometimes a couple of words are missing, sometimes things that are supposed to be in italics aren't anymore, and other stuff happens. I'm re-learning to reread/fix my work, but if anyone suspects that I missed a grammatical error, then please feel free to PM me about the issue. Also, I'm sorry this didn't come out two days earlier. My computer got a virus and I got sick at the same time so we've both been working as best as we can to update this chapter (and I'm really glad I finally finished). Please don't mind us though and review as always.

Chapter 3: A date for a date

Helena wanted it. She wanted him, wanted to feel his lips on hers. There was nothing else that mattered in that moment but the two of them and her heart pounded so hard that she had went from feeling frozen from the icy night winds just a few minutes ago, to having sweat form on her neck. Her first kiss. She was confident, and she was ready. She knew right then that she wanted to give her first kiss to Curtis, that he was "the one". So why…

"Why? Why are you calling me now of all times, Zack?!" Helena screamed into her phone. "For what reason could you possibly be calling me for this late?"

There was no one else besides Curtis, so why on earth was she feeling like a kid at a store who got caught stealing candy? This wasn't the way her evening was supposed to down! It must have taken Curtis a lot of guts to make a move like that on her, and the mood was perfect too. Now she would have to wait for who knew how much longer for their next chance! Whatever the reason Zack was calling her for, she would make sure that he'd pay for this very, very dearly.

"Uhh, well, the thing is, see… You know what? I'll just text Alice, she can take care of it."

"Don't you dare hang up on me!" Helena shouted. She heard him squeak. "I was in the middle of something very important so either you tell me right now what it is you needed, or I will drop everything right now, come over to your house, and personally make your night a living hell!"

"IneedtheoutlineforourHistoryprojectbecauseIforgotmineinclasstodayI'msorry!"

"..."

"... Uhh, Helena?"

"Shut up."

"Yes, ma'am!"

Helena closed her eyes and held her head. Zack was always like this, always so aloof and careless. She wondered why she was still friends with him, and this wasn't the first time the thought crossed her mind. Still, she couldn't bring herself to hate or dislike him. Despite him being, well… just Zack in general, she always overlooked his faults and just enjoyed hanging out with him. It was definitely one mystery that she would never solve.

Helena sighed. "Hold on, I'll head home now and email you the assignment."

Zack sounded relieved. "Thanks, Helena! I knew I could count on you. You're the best!"

The call disconnected, so she put her phone away.

When neither she or Curtis said anything, a long silence began to pass inside the car. The air felt heavy enough to crush a brick. She was too tired to tell him what just happened, but with him being the shy type, she knew that they would be sitting here for quite some time until she herself said something. This was their third date and she felt that they both knew how the evening was intended to end if it had gone on uninterrupted. They had fun, and the perfect mood had been set for their perfect first kiss. The whole thing just mentally exhausted her now. Finally, she opened her mouth and was about to say that she needed to go home, until he spoke up.

"I'm sorry," he said, "This night is kind of ruined now, huh? I know that you were expecting, you know… our… that, but it's not the end of the world. We have all the time in the world for it, right? And please don't blame your friend for this. He made a mistake, we all do. It was my fault for being too slow and shy today." He smiled at her. "I'm sure you're pretty tired now, so I'll take you home. I'll try to do better next time, promise."

+x+

Helena shrieked and rolled around on her bed like a tween who had just got to touch her dream guy. She was squeezing her pillow with her arms and legs too because she just really needed something to hold onto right now. Fleeting images of a "hopeful future" invaded her thoughts, but she chased them away because she was too young to be thinking such things. Still, it was nice to dream!

"You should've seen him, Alice!" Helena cried. "The date ended in disaster but he made such an amazing recovery, I couldn't even look at his face!"

"You're acting like a crazy fangirl who got the first autograph at a signing," Alice said. "What did he even do?" She didn't sound like it, but Helena knew that she was very interested. She was just trying to hide it was all.

Helena stopped rolling and sat up in her bed. "Okay, so after Zack hangs up, we're there, just sitting, not saying anything, right? We're sitting there so long that I start to think that we'll be there forever. I tried to be understanding about it since he doesn't have a lot of experience in dating so I was about to start talking until he starts to talk first! He said that it was okay that we couldn't kiss right now and that we had plenty of time for it. He tried to make what Zack did just a simple mistake, and took the blame for how today ended for being, and I quote, "too slow and shy"! He noticed that I was tired and promised that he'd do better next time! Oooh my god, Alice! He's so genuine, it's making me hurt in a good way! It's like I never knew how dirty I was until I met him, and he's the angel that's come to clean my soul!"

Her cheeks hurt but she couldn't stop herself from grinning ear to ear. There was so much more that she wanted to say in her head, but she just didn't know how. She was so giddy with joy that she felt like she could explode!

Alice gave her a strange look. "Ehh? Are you sure you don't need that paper bag? You look flushed. Maybe a glass of water?" She seemed off-put but Helena knew that she was happy too and even a bit jealous.

Helena smiled. "I'm telling you, Alice. For a moment, he was like a modern-day Prince Charming or something. He was so nice and sincere, you'd have to be there to really get what I mean. God, he's like one of those kinds of guys that you don't meet everyday, y'know? I feel so lucky, maybe I used up all my luck and will never win at casinos? Ahahaha."

Alice smiled back. "Get over yourself. There are plenty of nice guys out there. Every one of them has learned that nice guys are the new bad boys, and they're all going for it. These days, it's not about finding a nice guy, it's about finding a real nice guy, not an act."

Helena smirked. "Oh, is someone jealous of my thriving love life?"

"Keep dreaming," Alice shot back with a roll of her eyes.

"What're you going to do about this, Alice? Are you gonna go out and hunt for a man better than mine? Or maybe you'll see Curtis when my back is turned and try to leave little hints here and there, eventually making yourself look like "the most important person" in his eyes? Is that what you'll do, my dear sister? Tell me honestly now."

"A-Are you so deep in love that your brain's turned to mush? What are you even saying? Listen to yourself! H-Hey, no, don't you dare! Stop it, Helena! Get those wriggling sausages you call fingers away from me! S-Stop it! No, don't! Stop!"

Helena's eyes filled with malice, and she wore the devil's smile. ""Don't stop"? Alright, if you say so~" she taunted.

Alice had been backed into a corner of Helena's room. She had grabbed Helena's chair in desperation and was now pointing it at her as a makeshift shield, but her hands were shaking. "Don't take my words out of context! How immature can you be?"

Helena's hungry fingers began passing the legs of the chair. "If we're talking about maturity, I believe physical appearance also plays an important role in determining the bigger sister, don't you think? And right now I am looking much, much bigger than you, dear sister."

Alice looked like she was on the verge of a mental breakdown. Her eyes started to water. "No… no… You can't do this! I'm older than you! This isn't possible! What is happening right now?!"

+x+

As a private maid for the household, Dalia instinctively headed to the source of the screaming, which she deduced came from Ms. Helena's bedroom. However, the maniacal laughter that soon arose told her that all was well, so she held back her colleagues, Elaine and Samantha, telling them that it was not in their place to interfere. That night, the three maids prayed the same prayer for a certain Glaceon girl.

We hope for your safe return, Ms. Alice!

+x+

It took a couple of tries at first, but Helena eventually got the pen to stick on top of her nose. She saw that it began to wiggle, so she tilted her head to balance out the weight on both sides. Unfortunately, it was at that moment that her nose started to tingle. She tried tightening the center of her face, hoping that would help, but it was a losing battle and in the end she sneezed. She groaned and bent down to grab her pen, then twirled it in her hand while resting her chin on the other. Coming to terms that her work wouldn't finish itself, her eyes tiredly returned to the sheet in front of her.

The First Decade of Earth 2

From befriending Pokemon to training them to become the very best, humans had learned much from their Pokemon partners, just as Pokemon had learned much from humans. However, neither species were without imperfections. Illegal trafficking, hunting, and bloodshed from both sides, existed to balance the light of this symbiotic relationship, with the dark. Despite this, humans and Pokemon continued to trust and live together, and their bond strengthened as time went on. Unfortunately, that bond developed in a way that neither group were ready for.

In the year 20XX, Pokemon disappeared from the face of the earth, seemingly overnight, but they continued to live on in humans not just of mind but of body as well. All around the world, each and every human had inherited a Pokemon's traits-one physical, one special-and although it was known by many names, that day was most commonly dubbed as "the Event". The unification of the two species stripped the remaining species of its name, its identity, and even its humanity. At first, the appearance of the new species brought global chaos. Resources were striped, neighbor turned on neighbor, and governments crumbled down to nothing from the inside-out. For five years, the earth truly lived under the law "every man for himself" and seemed as if it would return to the Dark Ages, but even with their new bodies, humans had managed to hold onto their ability of unity.

The first, real, post-Event civilization was known as Havenport and was founded by its current leader, Chancellor Noah. With his first broadcast, people had already grown too afraid to trust Chancellor Noah's message of food and shelter. Almost six months passed before Havenport welcomed its first, new civilians. The arrival of the new faces brought with it the acceleration of Havenport's growth as a community and within a year, it had grown into a large town-a year later, a small city. The rapid development of Havenport inspired others to rebuild as Chancellor Noah had done and in less than three years, new cities had sprung up around Havenport.

Helena sighed. Her assignment, the one that Zack had so graciously interrupted her date for, was one from history class. Basically, they were supposed to write a summative essay, at least three pages long, on anything that happened after the Event. Unfortunately, she was stuck and was finding it harder by the second to think of how to continue. She spun around in her chair for a few minutes while staring at the ceiling, but it was no use. Nothing came to her.

Deciding that she would get nowhere by herself, Helena sat up, but sat back down to alleviate her dizziness. After she shook it off, she grabbed her pen and used it to poke the crumpled heap of flesh in the corner of her room.

"Alice," she said monotonously, "help me."

No response.

She poked the ribs this time. "Hey, wake up."

Alice's body flinched. She groaned.

"Alice, get off my floor and help me," Helena said. "I'm stuck on my essay and I don't know how to continue."

Alice stirred to life, and she sat up tiredly. "Helena?" she mumbled. "That was too far, sis."

Helena raised a wriggling, right hand. "Well then help me out so that I don't have to go for round 2," she said with a shrug.

Alice stood up and inspected herself in a mirror. "My hair's a mess and I've been on the floor. I'll have to take another shower!"

"You can do it after. Hurry up and help me!"

"Oughh, so mean…"

Helena cheered, "Yaaay!"

Helena moved aside so that Alice could take her chair and read over her work so far. In the meantime, she brought over Alice's chair from her room so that she could sit behind her to brush her hair. While Helena's own hair was a bit wavy and reached to her shoulder blades, Alice's hair was straight and the length she kept it in reached down to her waist. Also, unlike Helena, Alice didn't have bangs. Alice once told her that she was originally a blonde, so sometimes Helena tried to picture her as one. However, the light-blue of her current hair contrasted so much with Helena's imagination of a blonde Alice, it was like trying to imagine red salad.

Helena glanced down at her own hair. Mom told her that it was originally light brown like hers, but she was sixteen now so the only pictures of her with light brown hair were when she was one. To her, the baby in the picture may have shared a similar face with her, but it was not her. Her hair was pink for as long as she could remember, and that was how it was supposed to be naturally, for her. Imagining it as something like "light brown" seemed so bold, she could already hear the whispers behind her back that she would receive at school if she'd dyed it that way. Curtis's hair was black; apparently, it was a "normal" color back in the days. What did he think of her hair? Did he like it? Hate it? Did it look too girly for him?

"Okay, I'm done," Alice said.

Helena asked, "Well…?"

Alice crossed her arms. "Well… how do I say this?"

"Just tell me!"

"I don't want to sound mean, but… it's boring."

"Boring?"

"Yeah, like, you include a broad view on the tragedies that followed the Event as well as the effort made to recover from it, but it feels like you're holding back."

"What should I do?"

"Hmm…" Alice remained silent for half a minute. "It… may be risky, but… maybe talk about that in your essay?"

Helena flinched and looked at Alice.

Alice raised her hands defensively. "I won't force you to do it, but if you can manage to pull it off alright, the teacher's sure to give you an A. just make it sound intelligent and don't go too far into the topic itself. Focus more on the consequences that arose because of that happening."

Helena looked at her paper. "I don't know…"

Alice put a hand on her back. "Tell you what, why don't you write a draft and give it to me afterwards? I already turned mine in and got an A+."

"Did you mention it?"

"I did. I barely scratched the topic, but I used the leading issues from it to build up the rest of my essay, which turned out to be six pages in the end."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Trust me, you'll be surprised with how much more content you'll be able to work with once you start delving into the taboo."

"And you'll really help me?"

"Yep."

Helena hugged Alice and shook them. "Thanks, sis!"

"H-Hey, knock it off! You'll get dirty too! Let go!"

Helena could tell Alice was enjoying herself despite her words, so she stood up and began to spin them around, eventually tossing them both onto her bed. She laughed. "My big sis is the best."

Alice looked like she was about to object, but she sighed instead. "Just make sure you do your part, okay? I can't do everything you know," she said with a smile.

Soon afterwards, Alice left to take her second shower for the night since her white nightgown was now wet with sweat from her attempts to defend herself from Helena's earlier onslaught. Alone, Helena had no choice but to return to her assignment. Before she could though, her phone jingled and distracted her for the moment. She'd gotten a text. From Zack.

im sory i didnt no u wer busy :(

Helena read the message again. And then a third time. She sighed. She really, really wanted to feel angry about this, but…

let me make it up t u. cake shack tomorow? :)

No. As tempting as it was, Helena had standards. Her third date and first kiss were supposed to fall into place tonight in a magical setting overlooking the city, and it was ruined! She would not be bought off by a simple offer of cake that she could easily get at any ti-

"ok"

Crap! Her fingers reacted faster than her brain did! Did she really just send that?

sweet! ^^ brng alice too. well make it a date! c u at 2 at 2 :D

"Nooo! Send it back! Delete! Erase! Backspace!" Helena cried into her phone.

Her door swung open. "Ms. Helena, is everything alright?!" one of her maids worriedly asked. The oldest one, Elaine.

Somehow, Helena assured her that everything was fine (despite her teary face) and managed to get Elaine to close her door. She was already mid-jump to her bed, deciding to just give up for the night, when she remembered her history assignment. After today, she really just wanted to collapse on her soft bed and pillows and cocoon herself within her blankets, but the thought of Alice offering to help with her essay guilted her into returning to her desk, where she picked up her pen to try again. Finally, after forty minutes, she'd decided that she had done enough for the night, and went to the shower to get ready for bed.

to rebuild as Chancellor Noah had done and in less than three years, new cities had sprung up around Havenport.

It was within these three years that an evil, born in the shadows of human hearts, was finally brought to light: cannibalism. The Event had left the planet with only the new humans as its occupants, a species that was deeply accustomed to consuming other living beings. When the Event began, raw meat was the first to go. Then, jerky, canned fish, and other non-perishable meats were also consumed. When exactly the first act of cannibalism occurred remains unclear, but it was during the construction of Havenport's first neighboring city, when cannibalism had tainted its unfinished walls for the first time.

With the officially recognized "crime" came three absolute laws:

1. No act of cannibalism, no matter the degree or form, will be tolerated.

2. No planning for, discussion of, or any other activities related to cannibalism, will be tolerated, unless government approved.

3. Punishments that follow the illegal conduct of cannibalism and cannibalism related activities can range unrestricted, and will be carried out, so long as they are deemed appropriate and just.

These laws were created and enforced in Havenport by Chancellor Noah, who then asked the chancellors of Haveport's neighboring cities to inherit them into their own cities. The group complied unanimously, and soon afterwards it became a written requirement for any city to accept these three laws, if they wished to be built anywhere within one-thousand kilometers, from border to border, of a city that had already accepted the three laws.