Chapter 13:

(3rd Person POV: Alex and Jenna)

"What should we do with the rest of the Pokemon," Jenna asked as she looked at the remaining pokeballs. "I figure we can give the Scrafty and Herdier to one of the low-ranking grunts of Team Plasma that don't have Pokemon, but what about the Tepig?"

Alex walked silently down the street for a moment before saying, "Starter Pokemon are hard to use or get rid of. They're mainly bred in labs, so they aren't really found in the wild which makes them hard to sell on the black market. They're also very loyal to their first trainer because that's the first human they truly interact with. They're nearly impossible to trade away and most rooky trainers can't handle stolen Pokemon."

Then Jenna grins sinisterly, "Oh Alex, you're forgetting the very thing we members of Team Plasma represent: Pokemon Liberation. Why not let the little runt go free."

"I like your thinking. Alright, let's release it in the desert resort after we drop off the other two at Team Plasma headquarters-wait," Alex said and suddenly came to a halt. "Look at those Pidoves."

"What about them," Jenna asked impatiently, "We're in Castelia City, there are Pidoves and Rattatas all around here."

"Yes, but watch this" Alex than started walking down a side street and after going that direction for a while, the said Pidove hopped from its perch and followed them.

"Oh, I see, it's following us. Do you think it's acting on orders from that Whisperer we saw from earlier with the girl?"

"Maybe, either way it's not good news."

"What should we do?"

Alex smirked and said, "it's Castelia City. People come here to disappear, a stupid Pidove won't be able to keep up with us. Especially if we walk through malls."

Alex and Jenna then walked through a pair of doors leading into an indoor mall, effectively leaving the little Pidove behind.

(Ivory's POV)

I sat on a seat next to Bianca in the Police station as she shakily finished filling out a report on her stolen Pokemon. We had tracked the two gingers up to a mall, but after that, nothing. We realized the only thing we could do was go report it to the police and the League, but there was nothing else we could do.

Bianca quietly stroked Moon and Nightstar remained huddled up on my lap as we completed the report.

"Bad luck you two," the officer said sadly, "you ran into two dangerous criminals not only once, but twice! You're lucky not to be hurt."

Bianca silently nodded her head in acknowledgement, but she said, "do you think I'll ever see my Pokemon again?"

The officer sighed and said, "I'm gonna be honest with you kid, the prospects aren't looking that good. These two are willing to just hand out the Pokemon to anyone for cheap. They aren't even using a fence to sell the Pokemon which means they probably didn't do it for money and they're not afraid of being caught. I think they did this for revenge. There is a strong possibility that they might even just release them into the wild."

Bianca perked up at this, "Oh, that's great! That means they'll come back to me!"

The officer looked at her gravely before saying, "I'm sorry, but this is not a silly show where Pokemon know and are totally loyal to their trainers. This is reality, and the truth is most Pokemon on being released will forget their trainer and go on with their lives. It's kind of an ugly truth, but there it is. Even Pokemon that have been with their trainers for years have shown this tendency. The only Pokemon who don't do this are the ones bonded to Whisperers."

At this Bianca started to cry again. 'Great,' I think irately, 'the officer just has to go on and upset my already devastated friend even more.' I was about to start comforting Bianca when Bianca's phone started to ring. It wasn't her xtransciever so that meant it couldn't be a trainer, so no Black or Cheren.

Bianca answered the phone and confirmed this when she said, "Hello daddy." She sat there listening to her dad for a while before saying "no daddy, I want to continue my journey… I'm still with Ivory, she'll keep me safe from wild Pokemon… fine daddy, but I'll meet you in Nimbassa City, not Castelia… okay daddy… bye, I love you too." She then hung up her phone and looked over at me, "The police told my dad about what happened to my Pokemon and he says he wants me to stop my journey early and come home, but I really do want to be here… even if I only have Moon with me now. He still wants to meet me, but I said to meet at Nimbassa City, not here. I just want to get out of here. If the police do manage to find my Pokemon, they can transfer them to the Nimbassa Pokemon Center."

"Are you sure about this," I ask her, "we can stay as long as you want."

"No," she said shaking her head, "I want to keep going. I already texted N my decision and told him to meet us by the bus station to Nimbassa. I hope you don't mind, but I really didn't want to go through the desert. It's so sandy and gritty… ugh."

"Thank Arceus you don't want to go there either," I say in relief. "I was going to suggest it if you weren't."

"Ivory," Bianca says looking over at me, "Thanks for being such a great friend. You stick by me no matter what happens, and… and you don't expect me to be anything that I'm not. You always support me and don't tell me I need to be one thing or the other. I always felt like all the Gym Leaders, even Black and Cheren, are always telling me what I do wrong. And you, well you see me as I am. A person that has both good things and bad things in them. Thanks for that. Thanks for your constant support."

I lean over and hug Bianca, "I'm glad we're on this journey together as well. You and I have grown so much closer. You know the whole 'coming of age' thing about this journey may actually be true." At this we both laugh.

(3rd POV: Burgh)

N stood impatiently as Burgh glared at him and reluctantly started handing him the Insect Badge. "You know," Burgh said quietly, "you shouldn't have won that match."

"What do you mean," N asked sounding slightly annoyed, "My Pokemon are standing and yours aren't."

"True, but I said you shouldn't have won not that you didn't win. You literally used a Tranquill, a flying type to defeat all my Pokemon, including my Dwebble which has a type advantage over your Tranquill. My Dwebble somehow missed your Tranquill when using the smack down every time and your Tranquill easily defeated him. That's not normal even for great trainers," Burgh said quietly.

N shifted uncomfortably for a moment before saying, "I train my Pokemon well. They know where and how to attack."

Burgh said, "I can see that. Clearly, that's why your strategy was to shout out the same command every time while forgetting to tell the Pokemon when and where to hit, or even to tell them to dodge."

"Well I won didn't I, and none of my Pokemon got hurt," N said sourly. He then took the badge and turned to leave when Burgh called out,

"I read the report from Lenora and Cress. You've fought with different Pokemon every time. I can only assume you released them which is already a sign of Pokemon neglect and abuse. Your battling tactics are also reckless and take little consideration for your Pokemon's well-being. If it wasn't for the fact that you win with your Pokemon receiving little to no damage, the League would have already stripped you of your trainer status and taken away your Pokemon."

N froze and turned to glare at Burgh, "are you accusing me of abusing my Pokemon! How dare you! I would never harm my Pokemon, they're my friends!"

Burgh sighed, "N… why are you a trainer? Why are you even fighting in the League? It's clear from the way you battle and even speak about the gym that you hate it. If battling isn't for you, why join at all?"

N paused before saying, "I want to better understand why trainers are so respected. I want to see whether there is any good in this system as well."

Burgh quietly observed N for a moment, he could tell the boy was hiding something due to his more guarded expression, but he had no idea what that might be. He sighed and said, "Fine, get out. I hope to never see you in my gym again."

As the door closed behind N, a beautiful young woman with coppery skin and lush purple hair stepped out from the door leading to the observation deck to the gym floor. Burgh smiled and said, "Ah, Iris. Always a pleasure to see you… I'm guessing you saw that entire thing. Well strike that from your memory when you officially become Champion."

"I'll admit I was a little bit surprised by all that fire you had. You always struck me as a more relaxed and 'open yourself to knew things as long as love is involved' kind of guy."

Burgh laughed, "Well you're not wrong." His expression than grew serious "All jokes aside though, you saw that battle. It made no sense and almost deserves to be put on a sitcom than an actual tournament fight."

"I know," Iris said, "that kid acted more like a toddler giving orders than a trainer. I can't tell you how many times I heard him say 'hit it' or 'attack' than saying an actual move. Your commands, on the other hand, were spot on and perfectly timed, but all your Pokemon moved sluggishly around and got hit by every single one of his haphazard attacks."

"So, do you think I'm right?"

"That he's an unregistered Whisperer fighting in the League, yes. Alder and the Elite Four think so too, which is why they sent me to observe the battle in person rather than just watch the recorded version of it."

"I just can't understand why!? When we looked him up, he had little to no background information. We don't even know his hometown or his birth parents. He's a ghost. Well a ghost that clearly hates the League and is a Whisperer. I just can't see what his motives are. If we somehow decide to let him go through and defeat the League to become Champion, what then? The screening before he's registered into the Hall of Fame would reveal he's a Whisperer which would automatically disqualify him. I just don't see why he would want to do this."

"Drayden and Clay both think that it might have something to do with Team Plasma because he feels so strongly against Pokemon battles."

"So, either Team Plasma sent an operative to go and defeat the League, or the kid's trying to impress them somehow. If Team Plasma really did want to send someone in to become Champion and try to take control of Unova, why would they send a Whisperer? N will be banned no matter how far he goes in the League and then nothing will be accomplished."

"I don't really understand it myself. I sometimes think it might be a statement of some sorts, but they already hold plenty of protests, and their leaders are always travelling around Unova giving speeches and trying to recruit more members. They're a nuisance for sure, but they've also got a lot of political and economic support. Not to mention popularity from all the successful raids they conduct. It does seem a little… unnecessary to send him here to fight."

"Do you think this has anything to do with the report of a potentially rogue Whisperer helping criminals produce Dream Mist?" Burgh asked quietly.

"I don't think so, but you never know. It might. Well, I'm going to inform Elesa about our green haired friend and see what she thinks about him when they battle."

(Ivory's POV)

It felt good to finally see the city's skyline fade behind us as we rode in the back of the bus towards Nimbassa. It was kind of sad really, Castelia had been so exciting when we first got there, and it all ended so horribly. I still was sad that Smokey, Fluffy and Pow were gone, but at least we had Moon with us.

'Well I guess not everything had ended horribly in Castelia City,' I thought with a smile as I remembered my "battle" with N. Something had changed between us after that, I could feel it now in the bus. It was like both of us became aware of our feelings for the other and neither of us was willing to admit it. I wasn't quite sure if it would be smart to get into a more serious relationship with N, what with his dad being kind of crazily overprotective and being powerful and wealthy. I also didn't know what N thought of his feelings.

I sighed and closed my eyes. I let the rocking bus relax me and before I knew it, I was asleep.

I wake up when I hear a camera's click and slowly open my eyes to see Bianca squatting in front of me holding a camera. "Bianca," I say groggily, "what are you doing?"

"Taking a picture of you two of course," Bianca whispered back, "look how cute this is," she says as she shows me the picture. I feel my cheeks go to a deep crimson as I look at the picture. It showed me completely curled into N's body with my head nuzzling his chest, an arm draped across his torso, and to top it off my leg crossing over N's leg. All N's doing is have his head drooped down close to my own. 'Why do I have to be the one in the embarrassing position?' To make matters worse, I realize that I'm still in that position right now.

I carefully untangle myself away from N's body and feel my cheeks glowing an even brighter red. Luckily, N's stayed asleep through all this. "Don't show N that picture," I whisper at Bianca.

"Why not? You two are just so cute together. Ivory, you must think I'm blind to not notice you two together. You always brighten up the minute you see N and N watches you when he thinks you don't see him. It's just so cute! You should totally get together! The two Whisperers unite!"

I've probably transformed into a cheri berry at this point because I can't imagine how much deeper red my face could get, "Bianca! You can't just say those kinds of things! We're not anything. Really!"

"Uh-huh," Bianca said teasingly, "anyway, you should wake up your boyfriend, we're almost in Nimbasa City."

I want to punch her, but instead I just gently shake N awake. "We're almost there," I say when he sleepily looks over at me.

Soon enough, our bus pulls into the bus station and we all tumble out and shake our legs out. Nimbesa City is gorgeous. The big Ferris Wheel overlooks a lot of the city and there are dazzling neon lights everywhere. We all look at each and Bianca grins before asking, "Where should we start?"

A/N: Sorry this chapter was kind of jumbled and all over the place! I hope that you enjoyed it and please R/R!

Also, I have Bianca lose her Pokemon for real because Alex and Jenna are competent bad guys. Bianca gets over losing her Pokemon quickly because I'm lazy and don't want to spend a lot of time exploring her emotions when I'm not focusing on her as a main character. If you're wondering, Bianca is very sad about losing her Pokemon, but she doesn't constantly talk about it and she wants to keep going on her journey.