As time passed so did our freedom, yet again we returned to the same jobs. It had now been close to the end of Feburary, and all the villains except Ghetsis. It could have been caused by his lack of obedience and social skills. The most of them worked amongst the city in different retail jobs, Giovanni even got a managers position. However Archie, and Cyrus had trouble working in these departments and began starting with warehouse work. In these professions they managed to pull in an exceptional amount of money in the time of their first paychecks. We used the majority of it on the parts Cyrus had needed for his machine.

Meanwhile behind their backs Cyrus and I had also worked on a decoy that was extremely well made. It hasn't been touched yet though, so keeping our eyes open during the night has been draining my energy. For Cyrus however he seemed not to be bothered, he acted his usual ways on what I could assume to be minimal sleep hours. I assumed that this explained the constant bags under his eyes, and the pale face, he must usually never sleep.

Vicki and I had been planning on moving out together, the pull of money from the villains was already a lot. So in this time I have discussed this with my parents while avoiding certain details, my mother is reluctant but agrees to moving somewhere close by. With the decision also difficult on our end we decided to view some houses for rent, then to make a decision. Soon would be the time for a completely new picture, and definitely less stress on my end of things.

Kicking my boots off I wandered into the house with foggy tired eyes, work was over for the day. My mother had greeted me happily as I trudged to her side. Her green eyes sparkled as she embraced me tightly, I returned her hug in an awkward fashion. She sat me down for a few moments talking about her day at work, and as usual about the annoying customers she dealt with. After a long chat that seemed mostly one sided I made my way downstairs almost half expecting to be alone.

As per usual I wasn't alone, and this time I didn't have Vicki at my side. She was at home herself since her parents were complaining about her constant disappearance. However to my surprise the majority of them were still working, I was left with only Ghetsis, and N. It really had to be the combination of the two that hated each other. It could have been worse with Maxie, and Archie though so I considered myself lucky for this moment. I greeted them with a half grin then hopped onto my bed to relax my aching muscles.

I was surprisingly not bothered by them, they were calm and Ghetsis was giving me space. To make sure I was to be alone for awhile I observed them; N had been playing with my black pet rabbit that he loved so much, and Ghetsis simply sprawled himself out on the couch with his eyes closed. How nice it was to finally get some quiet, but it did feel sort of boring. With not much to converse about I drew my phone from my jeans pocket and dialed Vicki's number. My ears buzzed from the loud chiming of the phone rings, as usual she didn't pick up on the first ring.

Her voice then chimed through the speaker, "Hello?"

"Hey Vicki, what's going on?" I asked in a bored tone.

"Nothing, well actually N will be coming over to hangout soon, if you wanna come too!" She explained to me.

I paused and stared at N, "How, what? How does he know how to get there?"

"You haven't really been paying much attention to him, have you?" Vicki laughed at my obliviousness.

"No I haven't actually, I didn't really think he was any trouble. Kind of hard to focus on the innocent one when you have a bunch of criminals running around" I admitted shamefully.

She chuckled louder, "Well anyway he's figured out the transit and things by work of course. Are you coming over?"

I paused and stared at Ghetsis, "I'm so tired from work today that I don't want to, but I don't want to be left alone with Ghetsis..."

"Uh oh, no one else is there? I'm sorry I didn't know they were all at work still..." Vicki replied.

I continued to glare at Ghetsis as he slept, "Well he is taking a nap so maybe one of them will be home before he wakes up. Just go enjoy yourselves, lucky you had the day off. Work today was just awful!"

"Yeah I thought it would be, so I didn't ask if you wanted to earlier" She admitted to me, "If you do have any problems though just call me. I'm not afraid to come over there and whoop some ass!"

I giggled quietly, "Alright well, have fun. I'll see you later alright?"

"Cool, yeah later, bye!" Vicki responded shortly before ending the call.

Shortly after the call was ended I watched N head out the door in an odd discreet way. It made me wonder why he made no effort to even tell me what he was doing half the time. Even if it was in his nature it just seemed a little odd that he strayed away from me more than the others. I gave a quick consideration to him messing with the machine Cyrus created, but I didn't want to assume things without knowing. We would eventually catch the culprit when our plan had worked, and sometimes that just took time.

Suddenly Ghetsis yawned, "It's just going to be you and I now then?"

Damnit, I honestly had thought he was sleeping. Perhaps he had fooled me, I cringed on the inside but made my best efforts to stay calm. Had he known the entire time that N was going out?

"Yes, I guess it is" I replied blandly.

He leaped from his position towards me, "Wonderful, I can't express how relieving that is."

"What exactly do you mean by that? It's not like you get time alone..." I retorted rolling into my soft pillows.

Ghetsis' sat down on the edge awkwardly, "Colress is annoying, N is a failure of a son, Archie is an idiot, Vicki hates me, Lysandre is a smooth talker and shit disturber, Maxie thinks he's better than me, Cyrus is an asshole, and Giovanni is always angry."

"Okay, so? I'm an asshole, and annoying" I claimed facing him this time.

"No, no, you're not like them at all" He began as if it were fact, "You're quiet, you know when you should stop talking, you seem too intelligent for your own good, and you're much more entertaining."

I paused with an awkward glare, "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"

"What do you want from me?" The man scoffed at my sarcasm.

"I'm just saying I couldn't really understand the point of that. I would thank you if it made sense" I retorted teasingly.

Ghetsis glared at me, "It made perfect sense."

"Okay, just forget it I don't even know why I'm trying to have a conversation with you" I sighed with frustration.

"It's because you obviously think I'm charming and excellently perfect!" Ghetsis laughed loudly.

I rolled my eyes with a smile, "My god you're so cocky that it's entertaining."

"I'm not cocky, I am perfection" He declared in a prideful way.

I chuckled more, "Okay seriously, is there anything important you need to tell me? It's just you know, I'm exhausted and I really need some sleep."

"Straight to the point with you, always weaving your way out of situations like a galvantula" He confirmed darkening his voice, "Have you ever considered joining a team? Perhaps Team Plasma."

I swallowed my heart, "Wha-What did you just ask me?"

Ghetsis smirked slyly, "Now, now there's no need to get nervous you poor little thing. I am simply just wondering, just consider it as a hypothetical question. There's no possible way that could even happen now is there?"

"If you put it into a hypothetical way, not in a real way, then yes I guess I MIGHT consider it" I replied my voice shaking.

He nodded slowly, "Interesting, why would you do that? I thought you despised us?"

"Listen I'm not saying would, I'm just saying that the idea is actually pretty cool" I explained trying not to seem weak, "When you put it that way I would consider joining any of the teams, it's just pretty different. Nothing like I've ever seen here on Earth, I'd love to be apart of the Pokemon world instead of this one."

"So... You actually like me- I mean us" He replied.

I gave him a sarcastic expression, "Give it up! I'm going to bed now, so go do something else!"

Ghetsis gave me a wide grin, "Sweet dreams."

******

A raging sandstorm blocked my vision, I could barely see anything in front of me. It was another dream, I couldn't stand it this time I wouldn't continue to be a victim. I screamed to the top of my lungs for help, to see if anyone would hear me. However I was still here, my burning feet were sinking deeper into the sand. I tried to force something out of me, anything, but I was stuck here there was nothing to be done. Every shout I bellowed sunk me deeper into the sand, until I broke into something that was below the surface.

It was a dark cavern, surrounding me once again. I spun around to find light sources emitting from computers that set up all around the cave.
Something was very wrong, all I could feel in my chest was a wild beating and pain of fear. A distant groaning came from the distance, it sounded of severe wounds and agony. I approached it with no other leads, each step I took the noise grew more agonizing.

In a lit corner was a caged behemoth of a bear, it seemed to be a severely beaten and lab tested Grizzly Bear. Its eyes were glowing bright yellow as it roared at me coming closer. Its huge fangs and claws were stained by blood, it couldn't have been any regular animal. I backed away further until I reached the wall of the cavern. I could feel the extreme heat beating from its nose as it reached me, the animals drool dripped to the concrete below. I closed my eyes accepting a painful demise, but nothing had came to greet me.

I reluctantly opened my eyes again to be greeted by Cyrus with an army of torn creatures chained behind him. His eyes were cold, and his skin as pale as the snow. It almost appeared as if he weren't even alive himself. He leaned in close to me and hovered a finger over his lips as if to tell me to be quiet.

******

Suddenly I was shook awake with Cyrus hovering over my body, the sight of him made me leap in fear. The man looked like a ghost in the night, his body was beginning to become frail and the lack of sleep was starting to take numbers on his well being. Shifting myself I pushed the covers away and leaped out of bed, around me I found all of the other villains but N sleeping peacefully. Not being able to observe my surroundings completely, Cyrus grabbed me by the wrist and quickly shoved me upstairs.

The startling amount of speed he carried was striking fear into my heart, did he find the culprit or has something serious happened? I tumbled up the stairs as it made huge amounts of noise, this would certainly alarm the villains below. Finally reaching the door to the spare room I felt my stomach twist itself inside out.

I stuttered anxiously, "What's going on?"

"I found our culprit tampering with the equipment. I tied him up... You'll need to see this" He explained while opening the door.

The plain door slid open slowly, the finding of who had destroyed the machine intrigued me. Once the door was open in the corner I caught a glimpse of bright green hair, I knew exactly who it had been. N had been tied on the floor, his hair draped over his face in a messy fashion. A stream of questions boggled my mind, I had no idea what I should have thought.

I stared at him in disbelief, "Wh- Why?"

"Well he's going to do his talking tonight or I'm going to beat him senseless that's for sure, wake everyone up we're getting to the bottom of this!" Cyrus hissed as he glared at the boy lying on the floor.

I darted out of the room obeying the order without a good reason. I stumbled down the staircase with haste, making way too much noise. As I reached the bottom I slammed the door wide open. I was greeted by an array of confused stares, they must have woke up the first stumble.

I blurted to them, "We know who destroyed the equipment, Cyrus wants everyone upstairs now!"

None of them said another word, it was obvious they were all evenly interested. However I managed to observe a look of unease coming from Colress, the man seemed in utter distress compared to his counterparts. I wondered to myself as we climbed back up, I couldn't find the words to even begin to say. We entered the room once more, the astonished gasps heard from the rest of the crew. Ghetsis on the other hand though just rolled his eyes in disgust.

Cyrus untied him roughly, "You're going to explain yourself now, or you're going to be a very sorry young man!"

He coughed getting to his feet, "You don't understand, you don't... There's nothing to explain!"

"Speak some sense before I beat ye' boy!" Archie screeched.

"Britney! Don't trust them! Don't trust them! They're trying to get in your head they mean n-" N yelled as Cyrus cracked a smack against his face.

My body went cold as I watched him hit the ground, a small amount of blood flew from his face and splattered against the wall. Cyrus hovered above him in a stiff and blank way, he had no expression to what he had done. A few moments following this Giovanni pelted him against the wall with a huge amount of force, it seemed as if he were going to kill him. He lifted N by the scruff of his shirt with a raised fist, but slowly lowered it letting out an enraged sigh.

Giovanni lost his calm demeanor, "I want answers now! What were you thinking?"

"I've been paying attention, you cannot go home. There's more to this than what you, Archie, and Maxie know" N wheezed quietly.

Giovanni's face went red with anger, "Give me a straight answer!"

"You really think they're good people don't you Britney, man do they have you fooled!" N scowled as loud as he could muster, "I did it because you know this world is vulnerable! It's not like ours, and I overheard their plans... They're going to attack, they want power!"

Giovanni dropped him quickly, "What is he talking about, what plans is he talking about?"

"Don't look at me he's searching for an excuse to get out of this!" Cyrus replied in rage.

N was coughing on the floor attempting to catch his breath, his body weakened into a terrible state. The whole room boomed into an argument, the men trying to decipher who N was talking about exactly. My mind zoned out completely, I numbed into a state of utter fear as if I was trapped into my nightmare. I knew exactly what he was talking about, and I didn't want it to be true. Visions of enclosing gates and weaponry crashed around me and I began to panic. In complete fear I darted out of the room and ran out the front door and into the freezing cold night. I had to get away, I had to disappear.

******
END CHAPTER

Authors Note: Things are heating up, I hope the puzzle pieces are weaving together now. I've set a stage for you guys to find out :I it should be pretty easy from here. Don't worry though the story is far from done, I have much more planned. As always thank you so much for continuing with my story! All comments are welcome, I love to hear from everyone about what they liked and what I can improve on. Alright, see you next time! Goodnight.