A/N: oh yeah~ I'm back! Okay, so, here I am, back with Pokemon apocalypse. I am sooooo sorry that this is so slow... I have a ton of stuff happening in my life right now... But... Anywho, lets get down to it~ :D


Dusk leapt into my arms, hugging me tightly. We were safe. She was obviously nervous about what had just happened. I glared at Iva for a second before inviting her into the hug, alongside Umbra who I dragged in against his will. Cario stood beside me, arms crossed, and his gaze resting uneasily on the blonde boy. Before talking, I looked at the boy for a second, taking in his entire appearance.

He was probably shorter than I was, standing most likely a head shorter. His hair was messy from running and dodging what appeared to be a collapse in the tunnel. He wore a short golden jacket and a black tee shirt that hungover his plain yellow jeans. A thick belt was wrapped around his waist, but nothing was on it. His tennis shoes were worn, and also matched the bright yellow-gold of his hair, eyes, and jacket. In his hand there was a thin yellow whistle of sorts, like one that would call a Houndoom when hunting. The whistle was attached to a small leather string that had a quick-snap hook on it like the kind kids would have on removable necklaces. It was designed to be taken off easily. Beside him was a Raichu, and the orange mouse pokemon was returning Cario's glare easily. Something about this kid made him seem dangerous, yet he seemed so... Simple.

The boy tucked his whistle away and then proceeded to stare at me. I shifted uncertainly under his gaze.

"Uhm..." I muttered as Dusk stood.

"Oh! Sorry... I... Didn't mean to stare..." The boy stuttered. "It- it's just... uhm..."

"What is it?" I asked.

"That..." He pointed at the red and white orbs at my belt.

"Oh, the pokeballs?" I asked. "What's so strange about a trainer carrying pokeballs?" He was seriously confusing me at this point. He must have just befriended the Raichu, but that wouldn't explain the fact that the Raichu looked at the boy like he was the mouse's trainer.

"Trainer?" The boy asked cautiously. "Trainers don't exist anymore..."


It had been four hours since he said that. His name was Caleb, and the Raichu was Rei. They'd taken me through tunnel after tunnel for the last four hours, refusing to tell me more until I met a guy named 'Nebula'. I noticed his eyes flicking back and forth nervously, and I decided it was best to remain quiet. Umbra and Iva had been returned (Caleb had been amazed by this act), and now Cario guarded the back of the group and Dusk walked by my side.

We walked down another corridor and Caleb finally stopped. This tunnel didn't look any different than the rest of the sewer-like tunnels before. I was about to mention this when Caleb spoke.

"You can NOT tell anyone other than those inside about this place. Got that?" The blonde said.

"Sure." I said, "Promise."

Caleb seemed content, and shortly decided to turn to the tunnel wall. He reached forward and knocked a pattern of one-three-two on the brick. I was beginning to think he was crazy when a brick two down from where we stood moved and was pulled into the wall. Caleb glanced into the wall, muttering something to what seemed to be a person on the other side. He reached or something on his belt, but I didn't see what it was. Flashing it at the other person, Caleb glanced cautiously back at me.

"...see Nebula." I caught him say. "After that..." His whisper trailed off as he turned away again.

After about a minute of waiting, the brick replaced itself. At first, I really did think he was crazy, but shortly there was a low rumble. The brick wall moved, sliding to the side to reveal a dark corridor. A short and thin brown haired kid poked his head around the corner, his bright green eyes locking onto me then to Caleb. One eye seemed duller than the other, and the sight of a thin scar across his face sent shivers down my spine. He couldn't have been more than seven.

"We'com' back." The kid said. He tossed something to Caleb who caught it carefully. "I stays on guard till noon ish. Torch'll get ya there. Neb's just comin' back from whatever you guys were doin', so I'd not interrupt 'im yet. Reportin' ta tha group, ya know?"

Caleb responded easily to the kid's slurred and broken speech. "Thanks, Mouse." He said. Caleb out the object to his lips, and I realized it was another whistle thing, red this time. He blew a lower, warbling note as Mouse slid the brick wall back into place. A thin strip of lights ran along the tunnel, giving only a slight glow to see by. A sound echoed through the hall. Footsteps?

"How many here this time, Mouse?" Caleb asked casually, ignoring the sound altogether.

"A'most all 'em." The warp-faced Mouse said. I nearly jumped from my skin when I saw that Mouse's dimmer eye was glowing slightly. "Tha tourney comin' up an' all."

"Thought that'd be the case." Caleb said. He glanced down the tunnel. "Ah, Torch's here."

I glanced down the tunnel for this 'Torch' only to see a faint red glow appearing down the tunnel. The figure that was cloaked in the flames grew closer until I could see what is was. 'Torch' was a Quilava.

"Hey, Torch buddy!" Caleb exclaimed as the Quilava neared. Torch leapt up into Caleb's arms, seeming to laugh happily. "Can you bring us in?" Torch leapt to the ground and dashed off down the hall, stopping just before turning a corner.

I hesitated as Caleb ran after him. "What do you think, Dusk?" I asked.

"Ya can tru' 'im miss." I heard Mouse's scratchy voice behind me. He slightly glowing eye frightened me again, but quickly it turned into a gentle, calming glow. "Cal'b's eh nice kid, alway' 'elpin me. Neb's nice too... Ju' don' get 'im mad, 'kay?"

Caleb was beckoning from the corner, and not really knowing what was happening, I went to join him. Cario gripped my hand in his large paw, its warmth made me feel more. Comfortable in this darkness. Glancing at the Lucario's face, I saw he was seeing through aura. I felt even better about that.

The system of tunnels were like a maze, and I had to sprint to keep up with Caleb and Torch. I would catch glimpses of them as they waited at corners for us to see them, but those were few and far away. Dusk and I were relying on Cario's aura sense as we dashed around the seemingly endless tangle of tunnels.

Finally, we caught up Caleb and Torch stood by a large steel door. The blonde boy was rubbing the pokemon's head while offering a poffin. Torch smiled happily and then vanished in a small burst of light. (I caught a glimpse of him running down a spare hallway. How he got there was a mystery though.)

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Let me show you." Caleb said. He reached up to the door and placed his golden hunting whistle in a key hole. There was a mechanical click and the door swung inward. Caleb naturally walked forward, not at all upset about the cavern we were going into.

It was an underground world.

We were on a large industrial balcony overlooking the area underneath. Water made up a majority of the area immediately around us, and channels of metal walkway crisscross end the water, forming a large pattern of mazes on the lake top. Ramshackle huts littered the walkways, lining the edges. What seemed to be Christmas lights hung from rooftop to rooftop, and were the only source of light other than half working street lamps that were attached to the walkway railings. Several sewer pipes that spilt the mucky water into the lake from under wooden walkways lined the walls from each direction, and people walked casually in and out of them. Towards the center of the lake was a large chain roof, circular building which seemed to be the main part of the makeshift town. People wearing grubby clothes swarmed in clusters, traveling in groups of five or six at a time, leaving gaps between each cluster at times and meeting up and merging at others. Around the chain-link roofed building were several open air shops, with merchants selling anything from clothes to shoes to food and back again. To my surprise, there was not a Pokemon in sight.

Caleb turned to the right and started down the balcony stairs, and I followed somewhat dazed. We passed a leaving group who wore heavy green jackets and mismatched visored helmets on our way down the stairs. Caleb nodded to them when the group of three nearly fell snapping to attention. The motion left me wondering just what part in this city the blonde played.

One of the three leaving was a short boy, no older than twelve. He looked at me through his dusty visor with wide eyes planted in his dirty face. Meeting his gaze, I couldn't help but feel... Something. I don't know what. Maybe it was guilt? Pity? I don't know. The boy stared until another who stood behind him pushed him forward, but the older boy gave Cario a look of disbelief before moving on.

The results we the same anywhere we went, people in dark green would salute to Caleb then stare at Cario and Dusk until it seemed their eyes would pop out of their sockets. Caleb would then wave them off and chuckle before leading onward. Those who didn't wear the dark green coats just merely stared in either disbelief or hatred. It was hard to tell which.

Caleb led us through the walkways with ease, and he chatted a bit about something, I don't remember what. Something about sushi and ramen. Meh. Don't care.

Finally, we reached a building in relatively good shape. It was a short three story building that sat beside the chain roof. Two of the Greencoats, as I'd started calling them, stood outside the entrance. They saluted as Caleb approached, letting him in... And... Blocking me. Figures.

"She's with me." Caleb said.

"But sir!" The left Greencoat protested, "Outsiders are-"

"NebulaBlack wants to see her. I am escorting. Let her through." Caleb said blandly.

The Greencoats paused for a second, hesitating, then stepped back cautiously. However, they didn't fail to stare at Cario as everyone else had and glanced cautiously at Dusk before they moved. I glanced at Cario and Dusk, gaining their consent before I had them return to their Pokeballs. I passed by cautiously, once again wondering about this 'NebulaBlack' that everyone seemed to know.

Caleb led me into the three story building, quite quietly too. He glanced around before leading me into a room, almost as if he'd lied to get me here.

We passed several groups of Greencoats, and they all gave me 'the stare'. All but one, I mean. But he wasn't a Greencoat, so he doesn't count. A tall teen, around my age, with midnight black hair was being escorted by several Greenoats. Caleb carefully stepped aside for the procession, pulling me against with him. The midnight haired guy met Caleb's glare evenly, almost uncaring. Caleb nodded slightly, a remote move that no one but the midnight hair would see, except me of course. To my surprise, the poison glare of the midnight hair broke to nod back, even slighter than Caleb's gesture.

Though this event startled me, I had no time to think as Caleb dragged me towards the door that the midnight hair had come from. I couldn't help but ask the question that was gnawing at me.

"Who was that, and where are we going?"

Caleb froze at the question. Staring at me incredulously he spoke cautiously. "That was... Markus... A fellow General of... The..." He paused, brows furrowing.

"General? Like of an army?" I exclaimed.

"You know... I don't rightly know wether or not we have a name." Caleb muttered. He only just realized what I had asked. "An army? I guess you could say that. We prefer 'Community' though." He shrugged and continued to move through the hallway, forcing me to follow. "But that doesn't matter much, does it?" He sighed. "Markus is technically my superior officer, in rank, seniority, AND age. Even though I'm only a half year younger..."

Caleb continued to growl about the fact that his age made Markus better than him, but we quickly arrived at what seemed to be our destination.

"We're here." Caleb said. "You are going to meet NebulaBlack, our leader. You can call him Nebula. Let me do the talking though... He may not be very agreeable right now... Not after what happened."

"What happened?" I had to ask. Had to. I do regret sounding so kid-like when I asked though.

"I'm not sure I can tell you." Caleb said. "Nebula might though." He pushed the large double doors open.

Instantly, yelling voices bombarded us. There were two people yelling at one another; a woman with red hair who seemed to be in her early twenties, and a tall man with what seemed to be purple hair and was about thirty or so.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU WERE DOING? DO YOU KNOW WHAT WOULD HAVE HAPPENED IF YOU GOT CAPTURED?" The man exclaimed, much louder than needed.

"SHUT UP! YOU KNOW I HAD THAT UNDER CONTROL!" The girl yelled in a rage.

"THEN WHY DID YOU SEND OUT A DISTRESS SIGNAL? HUH? WHY DON'T YOU TRY TO ANSWER-" the man's gaze fell on Caleb and I, and he quickly silenced himself. The girl noticed his sudden pause and whirled around herself.

"CALEB!" She exclaimed, her face turning beat red. "What are...?"

"Came to see Neb." Caleb explained, rubbing his neck awkwardly. "Didn't mean to intrude on you, Hitori."

"You did a bloody good job of announcing yourself!" The girl- Hitori- growled.

"Watch your language, Hitori." The man, I presumed that he was this 'NebulaBlack' everyone was talking about, said quietly.

"Shut up." Hitori muttered. "I'm out of this dump." She stalked out the door, glaring poisonously at me as she went. I followed her with my gaze as she walked out the door and was picked up by her own escort of Greencoats.

"She a General too?" I asked Caleb under my breath.

"Hitori Ayame." He confirmed. "Believe it or not, her element is ice."

"Wha...?" I stuttered. That simply could NOT be true. Could. Not. That fire-y girl could NOT be an ice user.

Caleb turned away from my stunned face to bow slightly to the other man in the room. "I apologize for the intrusion, Nebula. I thought you'd want my report as soon as I arrived."

"I would. Lets hear it then." The man- Nebula- said gruffly. He sat stiffly back into his chair behind a long desk. The desk and the chair were the only furnishings in the dark room. The man rubbed his temples through medium length purple-black hair as Caleb started to speak.

"After Markus took over at the fight, we went down the tunnel, and ran into some... Servants of Cerberus." Caleb smiled awkwardly again as Nebula's head shot up, his dark violet eyes wide with horror.

"They had us surrounded?" Nebula gasped. "They shouldn't have known about that tunnel! How did they...?" Something more important seemed to intercept his thoughts, and this was obvious as he leapt up, hands slamming into the desktop with a 'BANG'. "We're they after-?"

"I think so, yes." Caleb clenched his fist. It was a minuscule movement, and I was sure I was the only one who caught it. "They tried to capture me as I ran. If I would've gone alone..." He looked down, and an air of worry and tension fell on the room. "If she hadn't been there..."

Nebula looked up at me in the tense silence. "This is the one we found?"

"Yeah." Caleb responded.

NebulaBlack stood and walked over to me. He stood at least a head and a half higher than I did, and looked, very literally, down on me. His pure presence, with the dark black coat that reached his knees and his tall military boots, unnerved me to no end.

"What is your name?" The words were a soft whisper, a polar opposite that of my first sight of the man.

"Maris." I muttered, not wanting to talk louder than a whisper.

"Maris..." He seemed to be weighing my name as he looked me over. I tried to stand taller, seem stronger, more confident. "I thank you... For saving Caleb."

I stammered for a second, hesitating and unsure of what to say. "It was... No problem?"

"You see, Maris, what you did was extremely important. Caleb happens to be carrying an important item with him at the moment, and if the Servants of Cerberus were to get their hands on it, we'd be in a lot of trouble." Nebula sighed. "From what Caleb has said, it seems you saved his life. That can't be simply 'no problem'." He seemed to be looking me up and down again. "Might I ask how you did it?"

"Well..." I started. Caleb interrupted.

He stepped forward and whispered something in Nebula's ear, something that made the leader's eyes widen slightly in wonder. Nebula looked back up at me, again with that calculating gaze. After a minute or so, Nebula was left staring at me as Caleb stepped away.

I felt really uncomfortable.

"Are you just gonna stare at me?" I asked quietly.

"You look like..." Nebula muttered as he realized something. His eyes went wide, and he spoke as if in a daze. "...could you be...?"

"Neb?" Caleb asked.

Nebula's strange moment was over, and he quickly talked, as if to cover for the last moment's hesitation. "Maris. We hold a tournament every month or so, to determine who should be a part of our ranks. If you get to the last few rounds, you are allowed to become a member of the protection force. If you defeat the General who awaits you, you can become a General yourself." He paused an looked me over again. "I would like to just hand you the title right now, however, you need to gain the people's trust first. Please, join the selection tournament. It would be an honor to have the participation of a Trainer such as yourself."

I thought it over for a second. That cosplayer who called herself Giratina had said Red was here, and not the Red I knew, but a younger him. If I were to blindly look for him with those 'Servants of Cerberus' around, then the results may not be pretty. But I felt like I could trust Caleb, though Nebula was a bit strange. However, could I truly just rush into this sorta thing without any idea as to what exactly the situation was? Could I truly assume that these were the people I could trust?

Then again... I didnt know anyone else, so this was my best change at actually learning something and finding Red in the first place. Having thought about that, I turned my attention back to Nebula.

"Alright." I said. "I'll take that challenge."

"Good." Nebula spoke like he knew my answer long before I'd said it. "The tournament is starting shortly. I'll let them know you are joining." He smiled a smile that made a shiver run down my spine. "I hope to see good things out of you."


A/N: Neb is awesome~ I love him so much~ XD

So, how many people actually read this? I can't really tell, because none of ya review or fave! So, please do~ thanks!

The next chapter may take a while, but I promise action... And plot. Plenty of plot development. (Gotta find a conflict... O.e") so, look forward to it!