8-30-12: School is going to be terrible, so updates will no longer be frequent. Well, it never was, seeing as this story was finally updated after a month, but honestly, I have stories I haven't touched in nearly two years, so a month is nothing :D

Thanks for reading up to this point, and I hope you enjoy!


Terrible Nicknames

Ignoring it was futile; the noise would not stop. The green-haired king could still hear it even with his hands pressed over his ears, and despite his efforts the sound would amplify itself. Dismayed by the fact that the noise would refuse to cease, he gave up on trying to block it out, and instead settled on shoving his hands into his pockets so that he wasn't as tempted to punch something. Fiddling with the Menger sponge clipped to the side of his belt, he could almost feel his fingers itch to clamp over the mouth of his new companion's and never let go.

Said companion was none other than Black, rattling incessantly about his achievements thus far in the Pokemon League. And there could only be one thing to speak of when it came to the League: battling. The act of pitting poor pokémon against each other for the amusement of their trainers. It was a particularly sensitive topic to N. Nevertheless, N chose to try his hardest in tuning out Black; he would attempt to be the responsible one in this unlikely duo.

And still, the younger teen gave in excruciating (Excruciating solely to N) detail on how his pokémon came out as a victor in each of his battles. N noted that the brunet had made no mention of his losses. The green-haired teen knew Black was simply avoiding embarrassment from having been annihilated by his rival (Sharon, was it?) and his sister quite a few times.

The main reason N decided it was best to act as calm as he possibly could was because the two boys were trailed behind by Black's dewott, Scallop Ninja (A terrible nickname, and not just because N was against the whole idea of humans giving pokémon a new alias without consent, but also because...well…it was a completely stupid and embarrassing name to be honest.) N always put a pokémon's well-being before his own, so N opted to just try and become immune to Black's blabber rather than lash out and potentially frighten the water pokémon.

"Man it was awesome! Scallop pulled off this awesome hydro pump at that emolga: the thing literally crashed into the wall!" Black exclaimed, giving Scallop Ninja a slap on the back. A large grin stretched itself upon Scallop Ninja's round face. At that moment he held an almost uncanny resemblance to his trainer.

N pursed his lips, trying to prevent himself from cringing, "Yes, that's wonderful and all, but weren't you worried about the well-being of that poor emolga?" N gave Black a cold glare that the younger teen failed to notice as he replied.

"Course I worried. But that emolga was pretty tough. If Scallop here didn't do what he did, we wouldn't have gotten our badge!" Scallop Ninja and his trainer gave each other a high-five.

"I should have known. Getting a badge must be so much more important than the injuries you and your opponent's poor pokémon had to withstand, hm? Of course, that's the life of a trainer: enslaving free pokémon for their own personal gain. You sicken me." N narrowed his eyes at the brunet walking alongside him.

Black gave N a blank stare for a moment. N relished in this, since it seemed to have shut Black up after what seemed like hours and hours of constant talking. However, the silence did not linger any longer than a few seconds.

The younger teen draped an arm around N's neck, bringing him down to his level, which was about a foot shorter and not a particularly comfortable position to be hunched into for the king.

"N, N, N." Black sang.

"….what?" N asked, ducking under Black's arm to escape his choke-hold. After which he straightened up and shoved his hands back into his pockets.

"You," Black pointed at him, "need to loosen up."

N folded his arms across his chest in a dignified manner. "And why should I listen to an incompetent fool like you?"

"Well I am kind of your mentor in reaching out to the stone heart of my violent sister that you for some reason like." Black grinned.

"I don't care, and neither does she." N seethed. Another reason N had put up with Black's constant talking was to avoid discussing the event the happened the day before. It wasn't very pleasant to be reminded of the icy stare White gave him before leaving him behind with more doubts and confusion than ever before.

Black's grin faded into a look of concern, something very rare for the teen. "N, come on, you can't just give up."

Tuning out Black's undoubtedly pointless lecture about capturing the heart of a female, N's mind drifted to White. Where did she go after their exchange? Why was she so mad? Why was she so stubborn?

Will she ever speak to him again?

Not one to dwell on trivial matters like human emotions, he muttered the elements of the periodic table to himself, determined to push the girl out of his head. "Hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium-"

"Yo, you're whispering those weird magic spell thingies to yourself again." Black interrupted N. This had not been the first time during their walk to Mistralton City where N recited the elements to calm himself down.

"Quiet. I'm busy trying to erase your sister from my mind. It's taking a toll on my sanity."

"It's a bit creepy that you think about my sister so often, not gonna lie." Black cringed. Scallop Ninja stuck his tongue out to imitate the disgust on his trainer's face.

N quickened his pace to brush past the shorter teen.

"Heeey, stop trying to ditch meee." Black whined as he and Scallop Ninja prolonged their strides in an effort to keep up. Like his sister, Black was quite short so it would have taken little exertion to completely abandon him if N chose to run. N had his reasons not to however.

"Leaving an ignorant trainer like you in the middle of this forest may be tempting, but if I were to go through with that, there is no doubt in my mind you would resort to the evil deed in enslaving another one of my friends."

"Whaaa?" Black cocked his head to the side.

N rolled his eyes melodramatically before deciding to reiterate his words in a simpler manner in hopes of getting through Black's thick skull. Before allowing him to speak however, Black had bolted ahead, Scallop Ninja following close behind.

"DUDE, SAWSBUCKS!" He exclaimed gleefully. The tall blades of grass rustled as the group of sawsbuck and their deerling offspring lifted their heads to catch a glimpse of the hyperactive trainer. Their bodies and antlers were decorated with wilted leaves and icicles that hung on them as a reminder that autumn was almost at an end and winter was nearing.

"Black, we should leave them alone. They're busy preparing themselves for winter, so stop being a complete idiot and let's move on." N shook his head at Black's ignorance.

"Nah, man. I've wanted a sawsbuck since I was a kid. I mean, look at them, they're pretty badass. IT'S CAPTURE TIIME~" Black literally sang, "Scallops, let's do this!" Scallop Ninja grinned, scalchops readied in his paws.

"What did I just say about this." N said through his gritted teeth.

"I dunno man. I wasn't really listening when you were talking about evil deeds and stuff. Explain it to me after I have a new member on my team." Black equipped himself with a pokéball.

"I don't want to wait for you to attack an innocent creature!" N made a grab for the pokéball but Black merely sidestepped him.

"Sorry N. A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. Scallops, use hydro pump on that sawsbuck over there!" Black gestured towards an unsuspecting sawsbuck that stood far away from the others and out in the open.

Scallop Ninja nodded, his sharp teeth bared into a grin as he unleashed a great force of water at the lone sawsbuck.

That poor sawsbuck. Standing far away from the others, not doing a single thing to deserve perpetual enslavement…

N would not stand letting him be taken from his home.

"NOOOO!" N leaped in front of Scallop Ninja in an effort to block the torrent before reaching the season pokémon.

It could have been considered a success on his part if he hadn't crashed into the sawsbuck anyway and blacked out right after.


N could hear voices. Muffled and incomprehensible, but audible. He lay motionless, trying to interpret what exactly was going on. After a while he gave up on trying to evaluate the situation on audio alone, and opted to crack open his eyes to try to remember where he was and what he was doing on the ground.

Slowly he opened his eyes and was met with a blurred canvas. He could make out one figure with something red upon a mass of brown and blue. The other silhouette carried the same shade of brown, but what sat atop the head of brown stood something pink and white instead, and underneath that two blue orbs shone brightly as opposed to the dark brown ones the other figure had.

The voices kept going. One loud and tinged with anxiousness, and the other calm and quiet. After a while, N was able to decipher the words coming out of the two silhouettes.

"How could this happen?! Arceus, I hope he's alive." One of the shadows wailed.

"Calm down, I'm sure he's fine." the other voice reassured.

"I can't believe-I should've never-GAH!" A mental breakdown from one of the figures did not seem too far off.

"WOULD YOU RELAX?"

Ignoring the other voice's plea, "To think that this nut would actually jump in front of a fully-charged hydro pump!" the voice yelled.

N shot straight up. "I'm not a nut, you're the idiot that wanted to attack a poor defenseless creature!" He glared at Black. The verdant-haired teen turned his head a little and stared at none other than White whose eyes appeared a bit more widened than they usually were.

"Uh-ummm…" N froze. He whipped his head in the other direction to avoid directly looking at her, but the suddenness of his movement caused his head to spin and ache.

White took notice of this. She reached into her bag and took out a pokéball. Pressing the button, a massive samurott was released from its pokéball.

"What? How could Shellmurai evolve before Scallops?" Black pouted.

(N took note of the fact that bad nicknaming must have run in the family. It actually made sense since the siblings were both named after colors.)

"Maybe if you stopped messing around and flirting with nurses all the time you'd get some training done." White replied. Shellmurai stood proud in his place before his trainer, awaiting orders.

"Shellmurai, let N lay his head down on you. It's not exactly comfortable on the ground."

As Shellmurai bent down into a kneel, N lifted his head from the ground to do as White had suggested. Normally he would have refused the offer in favor of his pride, but he had a feeling that White would not take no for an answer. And it wasn't all bad. N liked being near pokémon.

However, he couldn't help but imagine his head in White's lap instead.

"Ohohoho. I wonder what N is thinking about with that grin on his face." Black winked.

N realized that he had the exact same grin Black had on his face all the time.

"Sh-Shut up…" N said, his voice smaller than he had intended.

"Awwww, how cute. Acting all nervous around your crushy-wushy." Black teased.

White directed a cold glare at her brother. "Go sit over there." She pointed at a faraway tree.

"What, why?" Black continued, "I mean, I know I kinda injured him, but it wasn't my fault! Plus he's not dead, so it's all good-"

"Right now." White answered in a scathing tone. With a yelp, Black did as he was told. It was almost comical the way Black immediately sprinted to his designated spot under the tree.

"Why did you do that?" N asked. What he really wanted to ask was 'How were you able to get him to shut up so fast?' but he decided that the question did not pertain to the current situation. He'd find time to ask White that later.

That is, if she allowed him to talk to her.

"No reason." White deadpanned. She stretched out one of her hands to stroke Shellmurai's helmeted head. It was then that N noticed that one of her arms was wrapped around the rufflet that had been present at their last conversation. He was immediately reminded of the disastrous turn their discussion from yesterday had gone.

They sat in complete silence. N sifted through his thoughts, trying to determine the best course of action to take: point out her wrongdoings or apologize when he clearly did nothing wrong yesterday. Although the former sounded much more favorable, he couldn't bring himself to widen the already huge gap between them.

To his surprise it was White who broke the silence first. "Feeling better?"

"Wh-what?" Stripped away from his thoughts, N was abruptly pulled back into reality.

"Your head. It's better, right?" The entire time White had not looked at N, continuing to run her hands across Shellmurai's back.

N lifted his head a bit before wincing from the sharp pain. "Not necessarily."

White nodded. "A hydro pump in the face probably felt like a bag of bricks being flung at you. You're lucky I happened to be passing by. Black probably would've been wasting his time running around in circles and panicking. At least, that's what I saw when I came."

N stared at her in disbelief at the fact that she was actually kind enough to drop by and help.

"It's seems very unlike you to willingly assist others when the problem doesn't involve you." N briefly remembered the time where she sighed in exasperation from being forced to help Fennel with her research.

"I guess I've accustomed myself to solving other people's problems since the fiasco in the Cold Storage." She muttered before sighing, "Besides, this has everything to do with me." (Cold Storage?)

N was put off by the statement for a bit before coming to a realization, "Oh, of course. Because of your brother."

"And because I need to tell you something." Finally White turned to face N.

Startled by the sudden movement she made to look at him, N hesitated a bit before asking, "What is it you need to tell me?"

White tilted her head to look up at the sky. Her eyes flickered to her helmeted partner before dropping her head to look at the rufflet in her arms. The rufflet let out a small chirp from White's intense stare.

"I've been thinking about what you said yesterday. About pokémon being used as tools for a trainer's entertainment."

N's grey eyes widened and he let a huge smile take its place upon his features. "You mean, you agree with me?" In his glee, he had sprung up into a sitting position, ignoring the throbbing in his head, "You agree that humans are cruel for putting pokémon in dangerous situations and abducting them from their homes?"

Nothing made him happier than knowing that White was on his side. Maybe…he had a chance.

"Hey, calm down," White gently pushed N back to his previous position before continuing, "When you put it that way, yes. Humans are cruel."

She agrees. She has finally seen the light, the truth. White agrees with me. N's smile had not subsided.

"But, as I've been telling you ever since we first met, not all humans are like that." At White's words N's smile faltered. His eyes narrowed.

"Why must you always use the same argument? Claiming that not all humans abuse pokémon. Why don't you just admit that I'm right?" It took all of N's control to not launch himself into a tantrum. An esteemed future king such as he should never stoop down so low.

White set the rufflet down on the ground. "I just recently realized how pointless it would be for me to try to prove something without concrete evidence. So I took what you said to heart. I thought back to the first time we met back in Accumula and I decided that I would ask pokémon to join me instead of attacking without warning." White dug into her pink bag, clutching three pokéballs and unleashing the pokémon that resided within them.

After a red flash of light from each of the pokéballs, three pokémon were shaped. A scrafty stood with his chest puffed out, throwing random punches into the air to show off his skill. Next, a stubby legged darumaka danced circles around him, a crescent of bright white teeth stretched across her face. Steel claws poised into a battle stance, a hefty excadrill slashed at the air, also making an attempt to impress anyone around to marvel at his precise attacks.

"And by asking pokémon to join my team, I gained three new friends: Loofah, Thugga, and Applesausages." White let a small smile grace her lips as she gestured towards her rufflet, scrafty, and darumaka. (N was briefly distracted by the horrible nicknames)

"Of course, I'm not saying that Shellmurai and Excawilbur don't enjoy being part of the team." The samurott smiled and the excadrill gave a curt nod, which was more approval from the stout pokémon than had ever been given by him.

N didn't even need to understand what the pokémon were saying to know how content they were being a part of White's team.

He should have been used to it by now. Feeling completely and utterly at a loss for words whenever White went ahead and proved him wrong. But he was supposed to be king, he was always right. That's what Ghetsis told him.

"…You confuse me." N said, a vacant look reflected in his eyes.

White cocked her head to the side, befuddled by his change in attitude.

"…Why aren't you a mean trainer? Why don't you look like the evil people that abuse pokémon in the books I read? Why do your pokémon trust you," he paused, "And why are...dummies like Black also good people?" The words projected out of his mouth as fast as bullets. His voice seemed to have altered: his words were even speedier and laced with the newfound perplexity from the equation he could not solve. Why was he, the king, now constantly in doubt of the truths that he had held since he was a young boy?

He shook his head at the thought. No, he didn't doubt himself. As king, it's only natural for him to explore all opinions of his future commoners. Of course he hadn't lost sight of his dream. There was no way.

He couldn't help but slip in one more question, "And why is it so hard to hate you?"

"Well..." White began, "I'm not sure why I'm not a mean trainer. I just want what's best for my pokémon and so do plenty of other people. Umm...I guess people are different, so of course I don't look like the humans you read about. My pokémon trust me because I treat them with kindness and respect, just like many other trainers. And Black may be stupid, but he's naturally kind-hearted and loves his pokémon very much," The girl pursed her lips, "And I didn't get your last question."

"Instead of hating you like I'm supposed to, I've begun to regard you as some sort of…something. You interest me." N felt his cheeks grow warm.

"Y-you're…interested…" White's stature tensed up and she could not stop her cheeks from glowing red too.

The uncharacteristic glow upon White's usually pale complexion alarmed N. She also seemed to have taken an increased interest in the ground beneath them as she raked her hands through the dirt and averted her eyes away from the king.

"White, you seemed to have contracted some sort of disease." N said worriedly, grey eyes enlarged with concern.

"What?" White looked up and lifted her hand from the ground.

"You're all red." N stated casually.

White lost control. Her shoulders shook, and she could not hide the laughter that threatened to burst out of her lips any longer. N was more than shocked from seeing a smile identical to her brother's appear on her face as she burst into giggles.

He didn't understand, but he seemed to have contracted her infectious disease. The usually stoic king began to laugh.

"Hey are you guys okay?" the sound of Black's voice halted their laughing session.

White straightened herself up and reverted back to her usual undeterred disposition. "Yeah, and stay under that tree for a few more minutes." She replied. Although her voice was soft and couldn't have been able to reach her brother, Black got the message and stayed glued to his spot under the tree.

"Anyway," White directed herself to N, "You're probably wondering why I was laughing so hard." N nodded in response.

Smirking White explained, "It's because what you said is possibly the most cliché thing an oblivious person can ever say. I mean, a sickness, really? Those kinds of things are only said in teen romance dramas by unrealistically clueless girls." She rolled her eyes.

"I'm not oblivious!" N frowned, "And how was I being cliché? You were getting all red, so I got worried. Is worrying over an acquaintance's well-being no longer the social norm?"

One of White's eyebrows arched. "Acquaintance?"

N nodded. "Of course. I only have pokémon for friends. You should feel honored being acknowledged as a distant companion of mine, considering your human status." Before he could stop himself, the king felt as if he had said something very, very wrong.

Another bout of silence hung over them. It felt much more ominous than any other silence that had blanketed them before. N could simply feel the tension that had arisen.

White's pokémon seemed to have noticed as well. Without warning, Shellmurai lifted himself up from his spot, allowing gravity to do its wonders and bring N's head crashing back down upon the dirt floor. Loofah squawked and pecked at the fallen trainer while Thugga cracked his knuckles and the rest of White's team let cold glares emit from their narrowed eyes.

"Ah-Oww, w-what? Why are you-OW!" N yelped as Loofah continued the merciless pecking at his arms.

N couldn't fathom what was happening. The hateful glares from White's team…these pokémon actually wanted to injure him? There had never been a time where a pokémon lashed out at the king with the exception of the times he was brought an abused pokémon when he was younger…but then that abused pokémon would eventually learn to trust him.

But these pokémon-clearly not abused-were actually considering harming him? Why? Did they really respect their trainer that much?

After a few flashes of red, White's pokémon were recalled back into their pokéballs with the exception of Loofah who quickly leaped back into his trainer's arms.

"GUYS I'M BORED!" Black's voice boomed from about a quarter-mile away (quickly estimated in N's head.) The other two promptly ignored his call.

White stood up, brushing off the dirt that clung to her shorts. She towered over N, who was still on the ground.

"Would you believe me if I told you that I haven't used a pokéball on Loofah?" the girl inquired.

N blinked a few times, trying to get the new information to sink into his brain. "…You never captured that rufflet?"

White shook her head. "He hatched two days ago and hasn't left yet, so he can fly off whenever he likes. He's still here though."

Once again, a heavy silence weighted itself upon them. Both were trapped within the confines of their own thoughts.

At that point Black had had enough of doing nothing. With incredible speed, Black sprinted back to his sister and travelling companion. He was met with the sight of White's back turned to N, and the king staring blankly up at her. Having no clue of what had transpired between the two, Black was confused by the total silence.

"…Your head's better right?" White reluctantly asked.

N attempted to raise his head up from the floor. Noticing that the pain in his head had waned, he rose himself into a sitting position.

"So sis, where are you heading to now?" Black had decided to be the icebreaker in the overtly awkward situation.

The girl shrugged. "I'll probably have to backtrack to Driftveil. I'll need more supplies from using up all those potions." And without another word, White went on her way back to said city.

N's gaze lingered nowhere else as he watched White's figure shrink as distance continued to grow between them.

Once White was out of sight, N found the energy to finally stand up. "Potions? Why does she need more? Has she been attacking poor, innocent wild pokémon on the way here?"

"Hm?" Black looked up at N, "Oh yeah, she shoved a bunch of potions down your throat. I always thought they were for pokémon but she kinda looked desperate so I let her. Don't worry though, it's safe. We checked a reliable source."

"Desperate?" N couldn't imagine someone like White to act…desperate or worried over anything really.

N came to a realization at that moment.

"Wait, which one of you was the one that called me a 'nut'?" N inquired.

"That was her, but being the jerk you are, you thought that was me." Black rolled his eyes.

If White was indeed the one that dubbed him as a 'nut,' then that must have meant that she was the one N had heard panicking as he began coming back to his senses…

"So…was it you or White doing all the screaming?"

Black puffed out his cheeks in annoyance. "You honestly confused my voice with my sister's? Geez, N. But yeah, the one going all ballistic was none other than your crush. I tried to calm her down, but she wouldn't listen and just kept running around in circles until I told her that you were waking up."

N blinked. After a while of getting no response, Black continued.

"I've honestly never seen her so worried about something. Usually it'd be me doing all the yelling and screaming, but since she was doing a fine job at that I decided to be the responsible sibling." Black beamed proudly, "What a great big brother I am."

White…yelling and screaming?

As hard as he tried, N just could not picture a distressed White. "She…was worried?"

Black raised an eyebrow just as White would, "Um, yeah," he repeated.

N just could not register what he was hearing. White concerned about him? The only kindness she ever demonstrated was usually directed at her pokemon. The king couldn't help but smile at the thought of White being vexed by his well-being, even if he hadn't been awake for it.

"And you know," Black broke through N's train of thought, "I don't remember ever seeing her laugh like that before."

Black walked ahead, leaving N to stand completely still.

"Hey, let's get going to Mistralton, alright? Like hell I'm letting my sister or Cheren get the Jet Badge before me!" Black began to skip as N trekked behind ever so slowly.

There had been something on his mind, as per usual.

N couldn't remember any other time he laughed like that either.


Hopefully I can manage an update before the end of summer...wouldn't count on it to be honest :P

Thanks for reading this far :)