The audience was silent and no one budged an inch. The only noise emitted was from the shuffling from the Dex owners as they took their designated seats. Redmond sat next to Greenard, who seemed to be lost in thought, near the centre of a long table. Two women sat beside the two men.

One had thick dark auburn hair that practically reached her ankles, with low bangs, and had sky blue eyes. She sat beside Greenard, the other woman sat beside Redmond. She was noticeably the shortest out of the group by at least a foot. Her hair was a pale yellow with white streaks of white; it was pulled into a short loose ponytail, barely touched her shoulders and has a few bangs shading her forehead. Her eyes were a darkened yellow; almost an orange- brown.

Beside the auburn haired woman was a man with choppy yellow hair hovering past his neck. His eyes were an olive green with some sort of gem on applied on his forehead with the same color. Next to him sat another woman but with black hair that touched her back and crisp yellow eyes, with a sense of authority hidden beneath them. A younger woman with large green eyes and curly blonde hair sat beside her.

A man with short, choppy red hair with long bangs that could hide his platinum eyes sat quietly with his arms crossed at the end of the left side of the table. On the other side were five others. Another man with choppy orange-yellow hair with matching darker eyes was seated next to a woman with light brown hair and cerulean blue eyes. She had a tomboy hairy style; low bangs, barely passing ears and a little messy on top. Next to her was a younger man with wild brown hair and dark eyes, he sat quietly with his hands intertwined.

At the corner and end were two males. One was an ample man with short dark blue hair and serene cobalt eyes. He sat quietly, scratching an itch on his arm. The last sat on the opposite end of the redhead; he had sharp amber eyes, and messy black hair. A large strand of hair covered his forehead and had a small bit tied into a short ponytail.

Everyone was seated, casting shallow glances at Greenard. He sat quiet for a few moments, collecting his thoughts. He knew exactly what the calling of the convention was for. But what that girl... Ava he believed her name was... said irked something inside him. He felt an urge to correct her.

The brunette took the microphone and brought it close for he can speak. He cast his emerald eyes at the girl for a moment. She instantly tensed up catching his intense gaze, it made her feel like she's done something wrong and should be castigated. She knows she didn't but that didn't help her from feeling that way. She casts her eyes towards the stage floor, unable to keep eye contact. S-scary...

Greenard shifted his eyes back towards the awaiting audience a while after eye contact was broken. He realized what it was that bothered him and so he opened his mouth and began to speak.

"You say it's an honor to be with us. I say it's not. Honor isn't the correct term to use. Honor represents a high esteem, honesty, and respect. You should not be honored to stand by our side, and to do what is right. If anything you should feel scared. Petrified. Worried.

"UnVeRsE is not some cult where you... feel free. It isn't some sanctuary for those who remember. UnVeRsE is a rebellion. It is an apostasy to the rest of the world. Many of you joined for a change, many of you joined because you remember, and many of you will leave when you're dead. For when there are consequences, there are casualties.

"So I'm telling you not to come in and even come close to thinking that this is some sort of game; like we're a high class clan or something better than the world that we live in today. We. Are. Not. Lives are at stake and most will be lost."

"Which is why we'd like to say that it is an honor to us to have you," Redmond spoke in a much more grateful tone that matched the smile on his face. "None of this wouldn't be possible if it weren't for you."

"You put your lives on the line to help us help everyone," The woman with black hair, and honey yellow eyes spoke, being the next to obtain the microphone. "And it's because of the work all of you put your heart and soul into that there are approximately over fifty-thousand people standing in our ranks."

During the last six last words being stated, the audience began to applause. Clapping, whistles, and cheers filled the dome. The Dex Holders allowed them to carry on before Green took back the mic.

"It comes to our attention," the cheers were still loud but was slowly dying down. Once everyone was settled- minus the few mutterings between a few people- Green repeated himself again. "It comes to our attention that because of this increase of members, we'll start marking rendezvous points within Capital boundaries."

The mutters and whispers ceased, and an eerie silence breezed throughout the dome. Finally grasping the attention span he was looking for, Green continued. "As big as Capital is, multiple absents of citizens will cause prying eye attention we don't want or need. That said, there will be rendezvous points within the city's dome."

The large flat-screen above them illuminated a soft white at the moment. A map appeared on screen showing an outline of a large wide circle with multiple smaller stars inside it. Green continued his speech, pointing out to each star.

"There will be ten rendezvous points in all, each point will be within a klick from the domes' barrier in a decagon formation. The points are not yet to be established. Those who wish to help are to see me, Platinum, or Emeraldo."

"The first points will be established in communities where most members reside," the man with golden hair and green eyes, Emeraldo, spoke. "The points will be in the public and will have a covers such as recreation centers, museums, and etcetera. In other terms, we will be hiding in public."

"This is the next step to accomplishing our objectives," The woman from before, Platinum, spoke earnestly. "Thank you for coming to this announcement."

"Inform those who were unable to come for they'll be aware." Greenard said crisply. "This convention is over."

Not bothering to turn off the mic, or even acknowledging the audience's response, Greenard abruptly stood up, knocking over his chair in the process, and walked out of the spotlight and out of sight. The people were stunned at his departure, the Dex holders showing a little surprise as well, but said nothing. Redmond stood up, grasping the mic as the others stood to leave.

"There are errands on the bulletin outside you can apply for if you have the time and patience to do so. Thank you again for coming-" he caught Ava standing out of the corner of his eyes. "-oh. If someone will, please give... Ava right?-" she jumped a little at her name, but squealed out a yes. "Right, Ava here a tour of the Foundation and inform her of our protocols and regulations. It'd be very much appreciated, thank you."

Being the last of the Dex owners on stage, Redmond turn off the microphone and retreated as well, being sure to pick up Greenard's seat.

.::x-\_/UnVeRsE\_/-x::.

TWO: BEEN THERE DONE THAT

.::x-\_/\_/-x::.

"That was a nice speech," was the first thing coming out Wally's mouth when Green came walking in the lounge room. The lime haired man had his hands stuffed in his cargo pants. "You must have stroke home with that one."

Green shot a hard stare at the lime haired man. He had a soft smile that shared no hint of sarcasm. Behind him was a counter that separated the lounge area from the kitchen. There was a plate of bagels, a large bowl of berries, glass cups, and an aluminum pitcher of coffee waiting there. Green waltzed over to pour himself a glass of coffee. "Shut it, Wallace."

Wally shrugged, smile not altering one bit. It was then at that moment the other Dex holders enters the room.

"Yo Green, what was all that about?" the amber eyed man, Gold, spoke loudly barging over to grab a bagel. Jerking it into his mouth, his flopped back onto the couch with his arms sprawled out. "You mad or something?"

"..." Green didn't reply, and scooped himself two heaping teaspoons of sugar. Pearl and Sapphire shot one another a questioning look. Black flopped on the opposite couch facing Gold along with Bel. Silver sat on its arm with crossed arms casting glances between Green, Blue, and Red closing the door behind him but stayed silent.

"You alright, Green?" Red asked, concern coating his words, as he approached the brunette.

Green turned to lean on the counter a bit, sipping his coffee. He and Red stared at each other, but he didn't say a word yet.

"It's about that girl," Silver spoken, gaining the rooms attention, minus Green's. He glanced between Red and Green. "I, personally, agree with him on this one."

"Ava?" Blue said, recalling the girl on stage.

Red began scratching his shallow beard perplexed. "What about her?"

"Her character," Green said, with a controlled tone. He was staring at his drink, watching it's' ripples. "I don't like it… any of it."

Dia frowned a little, not sure what was to be the issue. "What's wrong with her character? She seems to be a nice."

"It's exactly that," Green said, looking at Dia now. "She's compassionate and gentle, not fighting material. She signed up without even knowing what she's going to be doing thinking that she can help. It's people with that sense of logic like that get killed."

"You can't say that," Sapphire relented, taking a step forward with a shake of her head. "You don't know her so stop talking as if you can predict her outcome. For all we know she could be vicious fighter, even if she is peppy."

"Yeah! So she's a little preppy, so what?" Gold joined in with a wave of his hand, jabbing his bagel towards the blonde sitting across from him. "I remember klutz-girl over there being the same back then, and now look how she turned out."

Bel was a little offended, but nodded firmly in agreement. "If I became what I am today, how can't she?"

"Exactly." Gold snapped his fingers, taking a large bite of his bagel, giving the group a triumphant gesture. Silver rolled his eyes, smirking a little.

Green shook his head, finishing his glass. He sat it on the counter and stood straight. "I may be right, I may be wrong; only time will tell. All I am saying is that we... UnVeRsE... will have to act eventually."

Green gestured towards them as if asking them to counter his words. The group had nothing to say; they all already knew the truth. When nothing was said, Green started making his way to another door. "I have to get back to work now… Wally."

The man quirked at the call of his name. "Yes?"

"I want you to find the recruiter of that girl," Green stated, opening the door. "Find out why he recruited her."

"I was going to perform a check-up on the servers," said Wally. "Their performance has been pretty slow for the past week."

"I can cover for you," Sapphire said. "I have the day off."

"You sure?" Wally persisted, he didn't like setting burdens on others; especially his friends. "It could take the day up with how their running."

"Sure, and besides," she wrapped an arm around Pearl's neck, bringing the tall blonde down to her level who stumbled a little. She flashed her trademark toothy grin. "Pearl here can help me out."

"Why do I even..." Pearl muttered nonchalantly to himself. Platinum glanced at the two for a second.

"Well, if you say so," Wally seemed to be less reluctant now. Pearl was a specialist with technical hardware, while Sapphire was an expert with software. The two together could find the solution to the problem. Wally headed towards the door where Green stood, grasping his dark foliage coated vest. "Thanks guys."

"I didn't sign up for this you know," Pearl reminder went on unnoticed.

Sapphire nodded. "We'll get on it now actually."

Pearl peered at the woman. "We will?"

"Yes, we will." Pearl realized that in his current position he is susceptible for her to put him in a choke-hold. The gleam in her eyes weren't too comforting as well. He sighed, shooting back a small grin of his own, challenging her. Green has already left and Wally was soon to step out as well. Without a second to lose, Sapphire slipped him into the choke-hold, and dragged him out the lounge leaving the rest to sweat drop at the scene.

"Don't kill him just yet!" Gold ran towards the door shouting after the duo, "He still has to fix my PokéFinder!

.::x-\_/\_/-x::.

"What in the hell were you doing!" Aidan practically screeched. Ava winced and shielded her ears from the proximity of his voice. The two was walking down corridor three; Terra was walking along with them wanting to witness his rant. So far she wished she had bought herself a drink.

"Ow," Ava muttered and pushed aside a strand of hair that was blurring her eyesight. "I was why only introducing myself..."

"You- I- what-..." Aidan clawed through his hair and over his face in. He looked like he was going to pop. "WHY?"

Ava wiggled her nose. "I was told to; part of the regulations or something."

"Someone told you to walk on stage… in front of thousands of people. And introduce yourself." Aidan said in disbelief. Ava nodded, albeit a little confused. She wasn't supposed to? Aidan gawked at the teen and brought a hand to his forehead once more. "Who in the right mind..."

"-totally fell for it."

"Okay, I'll give you tops for that, nice!"

"I know brah, I'm just that good."

Aidan's eyes narrowed and turned around just in time to see a smirking Marshall giving Marcus a high-five with Ampharos and Braviary by their sides. Terra turned and rose an eyebrow. Seeing as the other two stopped, Ava turned back. Marshall and Marcus grinned, before noticing the three and Aidan's death glare. Marcus blinked.

"Ah shit, we've been found out. Ain't that a-."

"Hold up dawg," Marshall interrupted stepping back from the beanie-wearer. "You've been caught. I'm a clean coin."

"Why would you embarrass her like that?" Aidan demanded, grasping the teen by the collar. Marshall stepped on the other side of the group, next to Ava (who he winked to), where it was safe. Aidan shook the younger teen to get him riled up.

"Cracka I ain't gotta say nuh'in'!" Marcus retorted bravely.

"...What?" Aidan peered at the teen confused.

"He said to suck his soft dick," Marshall translated.

"Marshall, you lying son of a-"

"Look," Aidan interrupted "You owe Ava an apology."

"Uh, it's okay, Aidan." Ava tapped his shoulder, grabbing his attention. "There was no harm done so-"

"Yah, I ain't did nada so I ain't gotta say nada." Marcus spat. Aidan narrowed his eyes and felt a urge to hit the boy. "Whatcha gonna do about it, sucka? Ya like hittin' lil' boys?"

"That's at least thirty days' time worth of prison." Terra added. When Aidan cast her a look she simply shrugged.

"Ohhh snap!" Marshall yowled, slapping his knee. "Just got burned man."

"You two..." Aidan shook his head, releasing Marcus. "One of these days you're gonna say the wrong thing to the wrong person and things will go will only go south from there. Way down south."

"Cracka I ain't gay!" Marcus flopped his hoodie to strike a pose, turn on his heels, and start walking in the opposite direction with his Braviary close in tow. "Marcus is out, suckas!"

"I swear..." Aidan was rubbing his temples, after that ordeal he found himself with a headache. Ava gave him a small smile.

"Well I'll be going now," Terra spoke up, stepping away from the group. "As fun as that was, I have to check up on Tai."

"Yeah, right." Aidan nodded in understanding. "Do what you gotta do."

"Same to you," she replied, walking away now. "Seishiro and Michka should be coming back sometime today, so be sure to tell the about the convention."

"Sure thing sweetness," Marshall replied, saluting with a flirtatious wink. Of course, he plans on doing the exact opposite. Aidan rolled his eyes and winced from the headache.

"So," Ava spoke up, gaining both males attention. "What do we do now?"

Aidan sighed, checking the time on his watch. "My break's just about over so I have to get going. Marshall-"

"I know, you can entrust her to me." He wrapped an arm around her waist, making her squeak in surprise before pulling away. Aidan tugged his nose in disgust.

"I couldn't trust you as far as I could throw you." he raised a hand before Marshal could relent. "Just, show her around; a tour if you can, okay?"

"A date it is."

Aidan sighed, before Ava gave him a hug. "Stop being such a worry-wart. I can handle myself."

"Yeah, right." he knows that for sure, but Marshall has a way of mortifying things. He began making his way from the group. "See you later on, Ava."

"Bye!" She exclaimed, with a wave. Thus it was only her and Marshall left.

"So did it hurt?"

"What?" She turned towards the boy with a questioning look. "Did what hurt?"

"When you fell down from heaven. Duh," Marshall said with a sultry grin.

"O-oh, I see..." Ava gave him a forced smile.

.::x-\_/\_/-x::.

Tai Ishihara laid in a hospital bed flipping through the channels on the small television mounted on the crevasse between the ceiling and wall. The room he's residing in is pretty mediocre; a small cabinet where his clothes and accessories rest, a door that where a small bathroom resided, a few wooden chairs, and a circular window that gives a blurry view of the underwater world.

Right now Tai was pretty bored and was looking for entertainment; being cooped up in a bland room isn't exactly exciting you know. The laid back teen was wrapped up with bandages; his black hair (messy from not being combed) shaded the bandaged wrapped around his forehead. His right arm was encased in a yellow cast and had a brace on his left leg.

It's been well over two months since he was registered to this room and he was more than ready to get out. His broken arm was nearly fully recuperated and is due any time now to have the cast removed. Same goes for his skull, the fracture in the cranium was recovered, but the doctor wanted to keep it bandaged for safety precautions.

10... 9... 8... 7... 6... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1...

Trainers... In space!

Tai sighed, settling down on watching a children's show called Poké Trainers. It's a show that's been airing since the existence of television, basically about a group of regular people becoming great Pokémon Trainers in order to save the city, world, universe, or future. Over the years there's been different series of Poké Trainers and a new story begins. Tai would guess from the lyrics that in this season the new cast of Poké Trainers will be adventuring in space.

Fly away from planet Earth,

Now soaring farther than ever before,

Trainers... (In space!)

On screen they showed the cast riding in a space shuttle following a black and green Deoxys in space. A blonde dude, known as Barry, had a Psyduck. He had his arms crossed grinning as the camera zoomed in on his face; no doubt he was the Yellow Trainer. The scene transitioned to a redhead with geen clothes talking with his Breloom titled Kenny as the Green Trainer.

(Go!) Poké Trainers!

(Fight!) Poké Trainers!

(Win!) Poké Trainers!

Don't you ever give up! (Yeah!)

(Go!) Poké Trainers... (In space!)

After a whole bunch of explosions and neat fighting scenes between Pokémon and humans it was transitioned to show the remaining three Poke Trainers; A ditzy blunette called Dawn with her Piplup twirling around with a smile as the Blue Trainer, a serious looking violet haired lad known as Paul, with an Elekid both glaring at the screen as the Special Trainer.

Lastly they showed the best for last, the Red Trainer, known as the leader of the group. The dude has blazing orange and red sticking up in an odd matter- Tai could have sworn that his hair was alive from how saturated it was- and had vivid ruby eyes. He was playing pat-a-cake with a Chimchar before facing the camera with a soft smile. His name was Eon Flannuger.

To Tai's surprise he recognized the character as Gae J. Hooker; a music artist known throughout the region. He was in his late teens but had an amazing voice. He could change his voice to any pitch of tone. Long story short; he could vocally impersonate anyone and anything if he wanted to. Despite his incredible vocal gift he's also famous of having his Pokémon as band partners. He makes the lyrics, and they come up with the beat. It changed the world of music.

Trust your instincts,

Follow Deoxys,

Trust your Pokémon,

As long as you're with them,

Trainers... (In space!)

(Go!) Poké Trainers!

(Fight!) Poké Trainers!

(Win!) Poké Trainers!

Go! Go! Go! Fly!

(Go!)You can do it! (Yeah!)

(Go!) Pokémon Trainers... Save Space!

And thus after a series of even more flashes of battles, explosions and forced smiles of other cameo appearances the opening ended with big bold words "POKE TRAINERS IN SPACE!" before fading to black. Tai felt silly just from watching the opening, but he had to admit that the tune was catchy. He wouldn't be surprised if Gae J. made it himself.

The episode began in the space shuttle following the odd colored Deoxys to its dying home planet. Eon was chatting with Kenny with over-exaggerated acting.

"So I told Dawn; 'With a voice like that you'll become Exploud!'"

"What in Mew's name are you watching?"

"Oh fudge!" Tai spluttered, sitting up in surprise. Terra watched with crossed arms and raised eyebrows at the teen. He fumbled with the remote trying to change the channel- instead he increased the volume.

"Eon, I think you nee-" Click!

Tai stayed still as he turned the television off, knowing the damaged has already been done. He sat aside the remote, scratching his messy hair. "How long were you there?"

Terra almost smiled. "Long enough… just came by to see how you were doing. I didn't know you were into Poké Trainers."

"I... was just browsing through the channels." he said lamely, hanging his head in defeat. Even he didn't believe that one.

Terra took pulled out a chair and sat beside the bedded teen. She propped her elbows on her thighs and eyed him over. "When are you're supposed to be released?"

Tai perked up at that, grateful for the change of subject. "Sometime this week, Michaels said I may need some physical therapy- you know, for not using them for a while."

Terra nodded in understanding, by them he meant his arm and leg; injured from Dusk no doubt. Terra came across Tai when she was returning from a mission she had been issued to. It was at night and was drizzling a little. She was walking down an empty pavement when she saw the injured teen lying across the ground; his upper torso in the street.

She immediately went to the boy, going over his injuries. His leg was twisted in a sick position that shouldn't be possible, arm was practically snapped in half, only leaving muscle and skin to keep it connected to the rest of this body and blood was leaking out from his chest and head. The injuries were serious and she wasn't a Healer- even if she was she wouldn't be able to heal the bone damage.

She lifted the teen's head, telling him she was taking him to the hospital for treatment. He lashed out weakly at the woman, muttering faint words she could barely hear. However, she did catch the words 'danger', 'don't' and 'Dusk' more than she could count for and her eyes instantly narrowed in understanding. The teen knew the truth about Dusk somehow, she didn't how or why but he did, and these injuries were the prices he had to pay.

A faint light flashed when Terra tossed out a Poké ball. A Gardevoir stood silently in the rain, she had a scar ran across her cheek and cheekbone, and two silver dog tags. The Gardevoir shifted her eyes at her master before spotting the injured teen. Terra nodded urgently.

"I know it's risky, but take us where the red sun sets east." Automatically, Terra looked around to ensure she wasn't being watched. The streets were dark and empty. She looked back at the Gardevoir. "He's hurt by them."

"Voir..." Warpstrike, the Gardevoir's given name, replied softly. Standing next to the two humans, she places her hands across her chest muttering sweet distant nothings. The three faded into thin air, like switching off the television, they were gone. Left the empty streets of the Capital and appeared in the infirmary of UnVeRsE where he was treated and stayed to this day.

"That's good to hear," Terra said coming back from memory lane, pulling herself up. "By then you can finally start earning your keep around here."

Tai wasn't too sure if she was joking or being serious. Most likely the latter. "Thanks...?"

She gave him a small smile before pulling out an encased CD. "Here's a recording of the convention today. Be sure to de-"

"To destroy it after watching video," Tai finished, taking the disk. She gave the teen a look. "What? You tell me the same thing every time you give me something!"

"Can't hurt to remind you, with that head of yours." She place a hand on her hip as Tai ruffled his hair in aggravation. When it comes to thinking she always goes to his head injury. She was stoic at times, but she was a nice woman once you really get to know her. Fortunate for him, she visits him every day when not on errands. Over time the two developed a brotherly-sister kind of relationship.

Though Terra never expressed it, she did enjoy her time with him.

.::x-\_/\_/-x::.

"Here in the Foundation we have six corridors with a purpose of their own." Marshall explained briefly. The teen stood in front of a holographic map of the Foundation with a long pool stick in hand. His Ampharos stood by his side nodding in agreement. "You all need to pay attention to each and every detail of what I'm saying and write it down!"

"R-right...!" Ava spluttered with a faulty salute, opening her notebook to an empty page. Her Espeon, named Dawn, sweat-dropped at the command. Marshall was to give her a tour of the Foundation; what better way to do that then to point out the details via hologram? He had her release all her Pokémon to attend the lesson too; as protocol calls, every member of the team needs to know about their second home.

Ava had a full team of six Pokémon, an Espeon, Luxray, Aggron, Charizard, Walrein, and Garchomp. She introduced him to them but he didn't really pay them much attention. He only remembers important things; such as to gloat daily to remind people of their places. After being sure they were well seated on the Corridor floor he continued, pointing out to the hologram.

"The Foundation is made of eight sections; six corridors- like the one we're in now-, the convention dome, and the command center. As you can see its structure looks like a Spinarak; the abdomen being the dome, the corridors as its legs, and the command center as the brain... no-brainer, right?"

"I-"

"No talking in class!" Marshall barked, and pointed at each leg of the "Spinarak". "Every corridor has a purpose. The first one here, Corridor #1, is where Pokémon can treat themselves to expertise massages and just relax after missions. Corridor #2 is where you can eat, drink, lounge around and chill out. Think of it as a mall without the shops."

Ava nodded, writing down notes furiously. Her Pokémon stared at the hologram, automatically memorizing its locations.

"Corridor #3 over here is where you came from. It's just an empty passage way from the transportation bay to the dome."

Ava raised a hand, "Transportation bay?"

"The only entry and exit point to the Foundation." Marshall answered, crossing his arms impatiently. "It's how you and jerk-face came in, the only way inside the Foundation is via teleportation. You will be sent to that spot for whatever reason. You can ask Seishiro about that... being the nerd he is..."

"Seshi-who?" she asked, curious.

"No one as important as me." Marshall stated so with such confidence that Ava found herself almost believing his words. Almost. "Enough screwing around the hairy bush and back to your lesson! The remaining three corridors are training takes place for the three different classes; Trainer, Healer, and Ranger.

"Each and every member of UnVeRsE has to take on under one of these classes. Trainer administrations reside in Corridor #4, there you can learn how to boost your Pokémon's physical and special attacks."

Ava rose a hand again, confused. "Boost your Pokémon's... attack?"

Marshall swatted her question aside like it was nothing. "Yeah, you learn how to become a true Trainer- like me."

Ava glanced at each of her Pokémon in wonder. "I... don't understand..."

"Well that's all you're getting from me!" Marshal barked, already becoming aggravated. He seriously did not want to spend his precious time teaching some newbie when he could be powning some instead.

"Healers have their sessions in Corridor #5; there they learn how to heal and boost Pokémon defense and yada yada yada. Lastly, Rangers-" he coughed suddenly, muttering 'the memo-fags', between his hacks. "-are in Corridor #6; they're pretty much spies and all that shizz. They can increase boost Pokémon health and speed."

"How is that even possible?" Ava asked more bluntly. Marshall gave his stick to Ampharos who held it nobly. He fished something out his jacket sleeve and tossed it at her; evidently smacking it to her face. Her Aggron growled lowly at the teen and took a step forward. Ava stopped him before he could do anything unnecessary. She realized that it was a brochure that Marshal tossed her.

"Here take this," Marshall said turning his back on her. "It's a map of the place with more info- be sure to leave it here though. Don't want no prying eyes wandering around."

"Oh, right." she opened the brochure, and began reading. Her Pokémon leaned over her shoulders to get a glimpse of it as well.

Marshall extended his hand. "Matter of fact, let me see your notes."

"Wha- oh, okay." she handed him her notebook. Once in his grasps, he tossed it over his shoulder without a care in the world. Ava practically shrieked. "Hey!"

"Don't want no prying eyes remember?" he repeated and walked past her. His Ampharos caught the book and glowed a faint yellow right before he zapped the papers into ash. "If you have any more questions take it up to principle Seish.

"Amph..." the electric-type said brushing his paws together to rid of the soot. Ava was dumbfounded again.

"Wait!" she stood up, pausing for a moment to return her team, and chased the teen. "If you were going to do that then why have me write?"

Ava watched as Marshall paused for a moment for his Ampharos can stroll up to him. "Are you questioning my logic?"

"Egotistic perspective is more suitable to use than your "logic"."

Marshal froze at the voice and narrowed his eyes. There was only one person- apart from Marcus- that would dare question his authority. He turned around, brushing Ava aside (causing her to squeak out a small "Meep!") and strolled towards the emitter of that accursed voice. "Oh you've got some balls... big nasty sweaty balls at that."

A pale teenage girl around Marshall's age with wild pale blonde hair loosely tied into a messy pony tail stood with her hands on her hips and an Arcanine standing by her side. She wore a white tee with green musical notes printed all over it, a neat black scarf and dark skinny jeans with matching sneakers. She was noticeably shorter than the two. Her foamy sea-green eyes were glistening with challenge.

Rayne walked up to the taller teen with a challenging sense of authority of her own. "Stop acting like you're better than everyone else, Marshall. It's not cool."

Marshall crossed his arms, his Ampharos walking next to his side greeting her Arcanine, who barked in acknowledgment. "Who says I'm acting? It's just what I was born to be- better than everyone else!"

Rayne shook her head in disagreement. "I'm walking back and here I see you making an ass of yourself..."

"That's not saying much, coming from a flat-chested midg- "

"Okay you two cut it out," the three turned around to see a group of two guys, one with a cape and the other with a fedora, and a light cocoa skinned young woman. They were carrying duffel bags over their shoulders. The man wearing the cape spoke to them. "We come back and this is the first thing we hear from a mile away."

"Tch," Marshall said nothing, facing the man with crossed arms. "Seishiro."

Said man paused to join the group in their debate. Seishiro was a man in his twenties, with messy black hair. He was wearing a dark cape and a shirt with a blue ribbon down his chest. The woman stood next to him, while the other man with a fedora walked past the group.

"I'll report in," the fedora wearer said, not even waiting a moment to hear their response. Seishiro nodded.

"Thanks, Devin."

"Hello, Rayne." the older woman greeted the teen with a smile. She looked to be in her twenties, but not quite yet. She had clear hazel eyes and dark brown her tied into a pony tail in the same fashion as Rayne's and goggles over her bangs like Marshall with his sunglasses. She wore a tight maroon tank top with dark beige short shorts with matching combat boots. Her hourglass shaped figured did not go unnoticed by Marshall. "How-"

"MICHKA!" Marshall and his Ampharos practically flung themselves at the woman with tears in their eyes.

"Amph! Ampharos!"

The two would have successfully glomped the brunette down if Seishiro hadn't stuck his arm out, stopping the two mid-air by the throat (incidentally enough). The two fell like rag dolls, clutching their sore throats.

"My beautiful throat!"

"Ros!" Ampharos cried in agreement.

Rayne almost laughed at the scene if it wasn't for Michka's glare.

"Oh come on, Seishiro. We have been gone for a few weeks." she said, placing her hands on her hips, which was impressive since she still had the duffel bag on her shoulder. She then noticed the redhead amongst the group. "And hello there, don't think I've seen you before."

Ava perked up and extended her hand. Michka shook at firmly. "I recently joined, name's Ava by the way."

"Michka," she replied then motioned a wave at the cape wearing lad. "And this guy over here is Seishiro, nice to meet you."

"Glad to have another member aboard." He told her. Ava shook his hand.

"Oh, you're Seishiro." Ava said, looking at the man. "Marshall said that you could explain the, uh... how we make our Pokémon stronger..?"

"Is that so," Seishiro thought for a moment. "Sure, some other time though. I'm pretty exhausted right now."

"Of course. Whenever is the best time for you?" She replied with a little bow of apologies.

"Oh yeah!" Michka dropped a fist into her palm as she remembered something. She knelt down to Marshall and ruffled his hair a little. The teen groaned in acknowledgment. "Hey, we can catch up tomorrow okay? I need to rest up first."

"Hn, right." he disapproved of her decision, but didn't comment on it. Not with Seishiro at the scene anyways; the dude was like the fuds on steroids when it came to respect. His Ampharos helped him up. "Oh yeah, there was a convention today. You guys missed out."

"Really?" Seishiro raised an eyebrow. Conventions weren't too common to happen and coming from a prankster like Marshall...

"He's not lying this time," Rayne stood up for the teen, as if reading Seishiro's thoughts. "You'll need to sign in to get your recording."

Michka nodded. "Well, I'll do that after I freshen up. Devin said he's reporting us in right?" Seishiro nodded. "Good, plenty of time. Alright, chao guys."

"Bye Michka..." Marshall waved sadly at the departing woman. He was going to miss her body- her dearly for the next few hours.

"Hey," said Seishiro to Rayne. She stared at him trenchantly. she didn't know the man all that well, only from what she's heard from Michka. "You know where Eden is."

"Eden?" she raised an eyebrow at the name. "Eden Meho? I heard he's out again."

By out she meant on another mission, Seishiro reckoned. Eden has a habit of leaving without others acknowledging his departure. The guy has a social problem, and not one anyone's familiar with.

"Yeah he's with that ugly chick, right?" Marshall perked in. "Messy something... I forgot."

Mesi Hayes, Seishiro thought and nodded silently. Not too surprising. Eden never take errands alone, he always has someone tagged along with him. Occasionally it's Eden, Michka and himself whenever they got the time and usually get the job done faster than most. But usually he's with Hayes. Seishiro doesn't know much about her, but that she and Eden apparently make a good combo.

"You missed them a few days ago." Rayne informed him. "I don't know where they went though."

"It's alright, I can check the logs. Thanks for the update." shifting his bag to the other shoulder, Seishiro also walked away from the group. "And stay out of trouble you two."

Rayne was highly offended and crossed her arms. "It's not like I did anything wrong."

Marshall snorted in agreement, mimicking her posture. "Tell me about it."

There was a cough from behind the two turned to see Ava standing with a small smile. "So…"

Marshall peered at the "supposedly" older teen. "You're still here?"

.::x-\_/\_/-x::.

"Arceus, it's like a furnace in here." Sapphire complained swiping beads of sweat off her forehead. "I knew it was going to be humid but... damn."

From another side of the room she heard Pearl chuckle. "I know what you mean."

As they promised, the two were performing maintenance in the server room. They weren't prepared for the heat that was to come to the job though. The server room was large if not vast; filled with hundreds of servers containing massive amounts of critical data including member profiles, Dusk intel, camera surveillance, and the Foundation blueprints. The floor was buried under the coils of wires and the air was hot and from heat the machines exhausted.

"You tried looking at EN3100?" she called out. Pearl stood up; pushing a server he was just looking at back into its original position, and walked over to the said server and pulled it out its slot.

"No not yet… looking at it now." He said, sliding the metal lid off the machine

"Geez, Wally wasn't exaggerating when he said they were running slow. This is insane, definitely out of the ordinary." Sapphire said, looking up from the screen, rotating her head to loosen up her neck. "It's taking over a minute just open a single folder."

"It's not supposed to be this hot in here either," Peal agreed with the woman. "…The servers are over working themselves."

It fell silent in the room, minus the whirring and beeping from the computers, as the two continued their investigation. Sapphire continued looking through the data for any sort of corrupted piece of software, while Pearl checked the servers for any signs of hardware malfunction. It's safe for Pearl to say that she has it easier.

Pearl took the time to look up from the server and eye the brunette through open spaces of the server racks. Sapphire was on one of the central servers, hooking her laptop to the device, browsing through its system performance. She had on a lab coat and was wearing rimless silver framed eyeglasses. Her short hair was grazing her ear, which Pearl suspected she would scratch it soon.

As predicted, she did scratch her ear. She noticed his stared and looked at him. "What?"

Pearl shrugged, returning to the work at hand. "It's been a while since we were together like this… alone I mean."

Sapphire blinked at the man before returning to ther screen. "It has hasn't it..."

Her voice was much softer than before, making her sound much younger than she was. She brought a hand up to her hair, running a hand through her choppy hair. Sapphire decided to keep her hair cut low for untold reasons. Pearl thought she looked nicer this way; it revealed the emotion in her eyes more clearly.

Pearled observed the memory sticks; checking if they were fully inserted into their slots. "So how's Ruby?"

"...Eh." She didn't respond for a while and Pearl wondered if he asked something too personal. "Same as before."

"I see..." Pearl muttered. Finding nothing out of the ordinary in the server he began squeezing the lid back on. "That's good to hear."

"Please," Sapphire retorted with a snort. "It's like he's living in the past, he doesn't want any- oh my god..."

Pearl grunted, pushing the server back into its slot, sitting up. They're very heavy computers. He walked over to the woman, being sure not to trip over any bundle of wires. "What is it?"

"Pearl come look at this." she urged. The blonde stood over the woman and looked to what she was pointing out on screen.

He didn't see what she was pointing out at first, all there were was a loading window showing some files being transferred. But then he realized that was exactly what she was pointing out. Data from the UnVeRsE data base was being copied and transcribed onto an unknown server. The loading bar was nearly halfway completed, over ten thousand terabytes of data having already being copied. Pearl didn't say anything for a while and Sapphire gawked at him.

"I think we've found our lagging problem." He told the brunette.

Second chapter is out and MAN isn't this long? I couldn't proofread it though since Word is being a flower so I'm sure there's bound to be grammar mistakes~ (as always.) Thanks to all of those who reviewed the first chapter! It's what made me finish this chapter today (because I honestly thought I would not make it in time ^^"). Bear with me for the first few chapters, I know they're boring but I'm just revealing the theme and setting. Plot will arise soon.

Chapter III:

NOT A GAME

[8/10/2012]