And after the incredibly long wait (a whole TWO days), I am publishing another chapter to make up for the fact that I missed an update. Speaking of missing updates, school will be starting soon and I won't be able to handle three stories with regular updates. I have a poll up on my profile for which of my stories I should keep updating, so if you want updates during the school year from The Symphonia Princess, then VOTE!
What was that about? White wondered as she entered the museum. As she was given the customary tour, she rolled her eyes as she passed the Symphonia exhibit. It was hard enough to travel through Unova unrecognized WITHOUT exhibits with a large picture of her displayed for all the world to see talking about her going on her journey and encouraging people to keep an eye out for her. White was lucky that only one person had figured it out.
But then, it was only a matter of time before others would figure it out, too. If one person had already figured it out within a week, then there was no telling how many others would.
White briefly wondered how long it would take for N to figure it out. She was slightly surprised that he hadn't already. He struck her as being a bit of a genius. But as Touya said, N was probably overthinking it.
"And this is the Light Stone, generously donated to the museum by the Symphonias!" The tour guide's voice broke through White's musings. The Light Stone was white; that was the only way to describe it. It was pure white, untainted by any other colors. But it was so much more than just white. It seemed to be burning, turning everything around it a shade lighter. It was beautiful.
"What's it for?" White asked, unable to keep the awe out of her voice.
"No one really knows. But it looks pretty." The tour guide said with a shrug.
"And this is the end of the tour! Feel free to go beyond these doors and challenge the gym!"
White went past the doors to find... a library. Best. Gym. Ever. White barely contained her excitement as she scanned the shelves for books she hadn't read before.
She saw one book that she had never heard of and removed it from the shelf. Or rather, she tried to remove it. The book remained on the shelf while the entire shelf moved backwards, revealing a staircase leading downwards. White followed the staircase to find a woman waiting at the bottom in an arena.
"Welcome! The director of the Nacrene Museum and the Nacrene Gym's Leader is me! Lenora! Well then, challenger, I'm going to research how you battle with the Pokémon you've so lovingly raised!" White smiled and began the battle.
It was a tougher battle than her previous gym battle against Chili, and White was grateful for the extra training she had done beforehand. Eventually, White came out on top and Lenora awarded her the Basic Badge.
White was just about to leave the arena and browse the library a little more when Lenora's husband, Hawes burst in.
"Deeear! Dear! Come quickly! Team Plasma is threatening to steal some bones!" Lenora gasped.
"What? What's going on?! Touko, you come, too!" She cried, and quickly exited the arena with Hawes right behind her.
Touko figured that the library could wait and exited the arena as well. In her haste leaving the library, she ran past a school girl, who was talking to the man who gave her a fresh water at the foot of the gym.
"Did you hear it? Strange people came charging through the museum..."
"Those thugs sure are bold... It's almost as if they believe they are doing the right thing." White internally scoffed. You'd have to be seriously brainwashed to believe that.
White finally reached Lenora, who was yelling at the Team Plasma grunts.
"Now you wait! Enough fooling around!" In full fury, the woman was intimidating, which was probably how she became a gym leader in the first place.
"So you've come, Gym Leader. We, Team Plasma, claim this museum's Dragon Skull in the name of pokemon liberation! To show you we're serious, we'll steal it right before your eyes! Well then, here's our smokescreen!"
"Plasma!" The grunts cheered as the smokescreen clouded visibility. When the smoke cleared, both the grunts and the skull of the massive Dragonite skeleton were gone.
"What's going on?" Lenora wondered as she exited her museum to search for the Dragon Skull.
"Oh! Oh! We have to go after them! Lenora loves that skull..." Hayes cried out. White left the museum to search for the grunts.
She found Lenora looking around in front of the museum. A man approached Lenora and asked how she was doing. She seemed pleasantly surprised by his appearance, as it seemed he only visited Nacrene occasionally.
"Touko! This is Burgh. He may not look like it, but he's Castelia City's Gym Leader!"
"Touko White. Nice to meet you. What are you doing away from Castelia?" Burgh looked somewhat dazed.
"...Eh? Just looking for a change of pace. Seems hectic or something around here. What's up?"
"What's up?! Someone just walked away with an exhibit that's what's up!" Burgh took an involuntary step backwards.
"Oh, hi, Touko! What's everybody doing here?" White spun around to see Cheren and Bianca. Cheren seemed to sense the mood and asked, "Touko, is there some kind of problem?"
After the situation was explained to them, they agreed to help search, and White and Burgh went to search in Pinwheel Forest.