It was the following morning of when the team had entered Twin Needle Village. All three of them stood in a medium sized hut within the village. The walls on the inside were much darker than they appeared on the outside, and looking up, the roof was very dry.

Standing in front of Hibiki and Aiden was Wendy, but beside her was a man the two of them didn't recognize. There was one thing that did poke out between the two of them. This man looked incredibly similar to Wendy. They had the same coloured eyes, their hair seemed to grow out the same way, their skin tone was almost identical, and their facial structure was practically the same.

Wendy excitedly pointed to her uncle. "Aiden, Hibiki, I'd like you guys to meet my Uncle Steven!"

Hibiki scratched the back of her head. "Mr. Uh Steven sir! If Wendy didn't state you were her uncle, I'd probably end up guess that you were her dad!"

Steven's face soon turned a bright red. He looked around the hut and let out a loud awkward chuckle. "Ha ha what! No no no pfffttt! That's preposterous! Me her dad! WE look nothing alike! Right Wendy!"

Wendy looked at her uncle and smiled. She stared at her friend with a big grin. "My Uncle Steven look nothing alike!"

In a rough voice Steven stood up straight, he placed both of his hands in his pockets and looked everyone in the eye. "So my niece over here says you guys are tight on money. Is that right or am I wrong?"

Aiden and Hibiki nodded in response, but they were both still puzzled at what point Steven was making. He leaned back cracking the bones in his spine, and at the same time popping both of his elbows. "So here's the deal, Wendy says you're both capable trainers. So I'm offering all three of you and two others a job to help me out with something. Ya see I'm what you would call someone who's very important to the security of Yava, and there's been some trouble with a few of the wild pokemon around the area."

"Basically all we need to do is help take care of some wild pokemon and we get paid enough money to last us for months!" Wendy excitedly said.

Everyone turned their heads towards the door creaking behind them. In the bright light of the door stood two girls. One of them looked like a child. She had long purple hair that reached down to her feet and soft rounded face. Looking at her face she had bright golden eyes that were blank almost as if she was staring off into space. Her height of 3'5" was the most apparent thing about her. The frilly black and purple dress she wore drooped down to her ankles. The other girl was short, she was shorter than Wendy, but just a bit taller than Hibiki. Her hair was white and short. Within her hair was a small black rose ornament that was neatly tucked off in the side. Aiden took quick notice at her soft round face, her bright rosy red cheeks, and the warmth in her dark teal eyes. Aiden had a hard time looking her in the eye mainly because of the revealing sweater she wore. The sweater was warm grey in colour, and it reached just past her waist and it ended up exposing her shoulders. Around her shiny shoulders were black straps which were probably from the bra she wore, and looking down at her exposed legs, she wore black stockings which reached up to her mid thigh.

Steven turned his head and put on a smirk. "Well look who showed up late. Everyone, I'd like to introduce you to a few of the people on my team for this particular operation."

The girl with warm teal eyes slowly met hers with Aiden. "Hello... uhm my name is Mifuyu. I hope I can be useful!"

The other young lady swept her hair back. "Fucking christ Mifuyu. Stop being so damn shy. Look here Steven I'm here to guard the weaklings so don't fucking expect much! If your weaklings would like to know my name, it's Mina."

Steven gathered everyone around a table. Out in front of everyone was a map of Twin Needle Village at ground level. Taking one quick look at the map it was very clear that there were many pit falls into a maze of cave tunnels. At first it seemed scary but Steven explained that there were large metal fences around these pitfalls to prevent an accident.

Mina sighed. "So what our job is to protect a research group from the local durant in the tunnels?"

Steven smiled. "Essentially, but I'm sure that should be easy enough for you."

Aiden, Wendy and Hibki were going over their own plan to ensure safety of the operation. It was agreed that they would stay back to back no matter what. As they were all discussing on the things that they needed to do, someone butted in on their conversation. It was the white haired girl from before.

"Uhm... I-I... I'm not much of a trainer. So I was wondering if I could maybe join you guys in this whole thing. I don't really get along with Mina, Mr Steven is kind and all, but he also creeps me out."

Wendy looked her in the eye. "Oh sure!" She moved over letting her squeeze between her and Aiden. "So what kind of trainer are you?"

Mifuyu rubbed the tips of her fingers together. "I'm not really a trainer. I'm actually a pokemon performer I like to compete in contests. I'm not strong at all, but Mr Steven was looking for help so I made my mind to help out."

Wendy put on a bright smile. "Hey don't worry we'll all protect you and each other!"

Steven soon brought the attention to everyone in the room towards him. He took in a deep breath leaning back and making a loud cracking sound run all the way up his spine. "Alright so here's the deal, we'll all meet up at the bottom of Twin Needle Village. The research team will be there, they'll tell you the route, and that's pretty much it."

Mina soon after left the house leaving Aiden, Wendy, Hibiki and Mifuyu. As it turned out they all were poor and were completely unable to afford to stay at a cheap inn. Steven ended up letting them stay the night at his place. Steven had Mifuyu, Wendy and Hibiki all share a room, while Aiden got one all to himself. All four of them understood what Steven was doing, and in the end they didn't mind.

Aiden was setting up his things to stay the night at Steven's house. He was in the guest room, and it was the smallest room in the house. It was simply a bed and a night stand with a small lamp. It was good enough for a single night. As he was setting up his beddings the door behind him creaked open. Standing there in the door frame was Steven.

"Oh uhm... hello sir. Thank you for letting me stay at your place." Aiden said.

Steven put his hands in his pockets. "Kid, no need to be so formal? Just call me Steven. Anyway, there's something I need your help with, how confident are you at cookin?"

Aiden sort of winced shook his hand. "I'm kinda good at cooking."

Steven let out a soft chuckle. "Good enough, alright kid you're helping me cook our lunch for tomorrow."

Steven led Aiden into the kitchen where he saw a long assembly line of bread, tomatoes, berries, cheese, and an assortment of meats. Standing on the other end of the kitchen island was Mifuyu she wore a tight fitting apron as she cut up some of the tomatoes with great finesse. She looked up from her job and met Aiden eye to eye, she stopped in her tracks and looked down at her own body then quickly looked back at Aiden. She put her knife down and twirled her soft white hair around her finger.

Steven rubbed his eyes. "Mifuyu, how many times do I have to explain this to you. You look just fine, no one here is judging how you look. We're simply here to cook food for tomorrow. Aiden, can you stir the pot on the stove, just make sure the stew doesn't burn."

Aiden nodded and moved over to the pot. He opened it up, and took in the aroma. It was a strong savory beefy scent that wafted up his nostrils. Looking in the pot, it was a thick brown beef stew with thick cut potatoes that were fried before added to the pot. The carrots were probably steamed, and the peas looked as if they were as fresh as fresh could be. It was a perfectly cooked stew, and could come off the heat.

"Steven there's nothing wrong with the stew. It can come off the heat." Aiden happily said.

Upon hearing Aiden's words Mifuyu gave a soft smile which went completely unnoticed. Steven walked over to Aiden and opened up the pot. "Yup, that looks good to me."

Aiden went over across from Mifuyu to help cut some of the tomatoes. At first it was very awkward just cutting up vegetables across from someone, so Aiden decided to break the ice.

"So... you seem pretty comfortable in the kitchen. Do you like cooking?" Aiden asked.

Mifuyu let off a bright blush. "Do I? Do I really seem that comfortable? I like cooking, but I don't think I'm that good at it, like at all."

Aiden looked down at Mifuyu's hands and noticed that each cut to the tomato was perfect. It was thinly sliced without turning the tomato to mush. "You seem pretty good at it to me. I mean look at my tomatoes. They're all smushed!"

Mifuyu placed her hand over her mouth letting out a soft giggle. "I can see why Hibki and Wendy love traveling with you. The trick is you have to cut the tomato in half first, and let it sit down on the flat side so you're not pushing down on a ball. Also luckily these knives are sharp so you can just let it do the work."

The two of them ended up talking more about cooking. It was mostly Mifuyu giving Aiden pointers on how to improve cooking. They were both getting deeper and deeper in the conversation until Aiden felt something constantly bumping his leg. Looking down he saw Yvei.

Aiden crouched down knowing what his eevee wanted. He picked her up and held her in his arms. "Yvei, you're so spoiled you know that."

"Eevuee!" Yvei squealed.

Aiden rubbed Yvei on the head making the tiny pokemon's squeals echo throughout the kitchen. "Hey how about I introduce you to a new friend." He walked over to Mifuyu who had now to this point been staring at him.

"Mifuyu, this is Yvei, the newest member on my team."

"Can I pet her?" Mifuyu asked.

"Yeah sure." Aiden said.

Mifuyu walked up to Aiden, she reached out and felt the soft carefully groomed fur of Yvei. She smiled sending shivers up Aiden's spine. "She's really cute!"

Aiden chuckled. "Thanks! I try my best to take care of my pokemon."

Mifuyu smiled at Aiden. "I can tell."

Author Notes: Guys I am really sorry that this chapter took so long! I thought that I'd be posting this chapter a day after chapter 9, but I had to go out of town, just out of the blue for a few days, and when I got back home I ended getting really sick that I couldn't leave my bed. So right now I'm still trying to recover, but can think straight enough to edit and write.

So I have to give credit where credit is due.

Mina Nianta created by "Xander46"

Xander you're such a jerk, but I love you for it you silly bastard. Anyway thanks again for sending in another OC what is you're up to 8 attempts now? I lost count, anyway I love Mina and don't worry she'll be getting more development as we go along, as we've planned she has... Actually let's not spoil it here. You better not spoil it in a review!

Mifuyu Azusa created by "Lamanti—Gato"

Mifu is pretty hard to write for, but hopefully I got her personality correct. Either way I think the character is perfect for the story and right now I won't give away her place in the cast of characters, I just really hope I can make everyone else enjoy her as much as I like her.

Lamanti btw it's totally your choice, but feel free to share the drawing you sent in to me for your character with everyone reading. You don't have to, but I think it would be really cool if you did.

Remember to give your thoughts on the new characters introduced, especially the ones that are not of my own creation, as some of the people reading did make the characters themselves. Anyway I'll see you guys in the next chapter!