I think there are another two or three chapters (I feel like I've said this before..) before I put this story on hiatus. I'm currently sick right now, so it sucks. I was hoping I'd get to work on the story, but I have to studyy. The life of a student is hard right? Right... I'm just a total nerd.
Sidenote: I got really bored, so I decided to upload another chapter today.
"Touko... hey Touko... wake up..."
Hearing the voice, Touko slowly opened her eyes. She jumped back on the coach as she saw Cheren's face centimetres away from hers. Cheren began to laugh.
"Good morning sleepyhead." Cheren told her. Touko sat up and yawned.
"Not funny... Cheren." She replied. Touko looked around and saw her Pokemon eating at a nearby corner. People were already awake and were entering and leaving the gate. "It's busy here..." Touko observed.
"Of course. It's eight thirty." Cheren informed her. Cheren watched as Touko looked at him in surprise. He laughed and nodded. Touko grabbed her sack and headed towards the gate's bathroom.
When Touko came out, she had fixed her hair and had placed her jacket and goggles inside her sack. She looked towards where Cheren and Professor Juniper were waiting for her.
"Hello, Touko!" Professor Juniper waved.
"Come here." Cheren told her, and Touko walked towards the pair. She stood next to Cheren and turned her head to glare at him. He looked back. "What?" He asked.
"You could have woken me up." Touko whispered to him. Cheren rolled his eyes before turning back to face Professor Juniper.
"The lady at the counter told us of your oh-so-smart decision to arrive at the gate in the middle of the night. You're nuts, you know that right?" He told her. Touko continued to glare at him and he sighed. "The sandstorm's terrible at night. I'm just glad you're alright." He whispered to her and Touko grinned.
"Alright, so, I was going to tell you two yesterday, but I guess it's OK today as well." Professor Juniper began. "Elesa called and was asking me all about Electric-type Pokemon, and I thought about you guys. That's why I wanted to see you. Ta-da! Freebies for you!" And the Professor walked to the duo. "Here, Cheren! You, too, Touko."
Touko and Cheren looked at their hands at the couple of Balls that the Professor had given them. Touko looked at Cheren and he tilted his head to the Professor. Touko turned.
"If you see a Pokemon that you want to have join you, be sure to use a good type of Poke Ball. Because this could be the first and last time you see that Pokemon!" She explained to Touko about the Ultra Balls. Professor Juniper sighed.
"I know it might seem strange for me to say this, since I'm the one who asked you to complete the Pokedex, but please, remember to enjoy your journey!" She told them. "Of course, I'm not saying you can just neglect the Pokedex. But you know that!" Professor Juniper said. Touko felt a strong tang of guilt in her chest at the Professor's words. "Now, if you'll please excuse me, I have to go meet Bianca." The Professor said and Cheren and Touko waved goodbye as the Professor headed back towards Route 4.
"It seems the Professor gave us the Pokedex as a reason to send us on a journey. At least, that's what my mom told me. They wanted us to go out and finally see the world, so my mom, Bianca's mom, and your mom made a request to Professor Juniper. A favour more like, since we're already this old, and we could have had our chance four years ago." Cheren explained to Touko. He turned to Touko and saw the sad expression on her face. "Touko, what should we do now?" He asked her.
"I... um... say, Cheren... is it bad that I... haven't been very... well... see... the Pokedex... and the journey, and... and, and..." Touko turned to face Cheren. He was staring at her with a smile.
"Don't worry too much about it. You still fill the Pokedex by seeing the Pokemon, right? And you're enjoying your journey, right?" Cheren asked. Touko nodded and he sighed. "I think I'd like to show the professor my thanks by going to Route 4 and catching some Pokemon I haven't yet caught." He told her.
"Oh... OK. I'll go ahead to Nimbasa." Touko said. Cheren nodded and waved goodbye.
Touko turned towards the entrance to Nimbasa and took a deep breath in. She knew that Cheren was right, but she couldn't help but feel slightly guilty for not catching more Pokemon for the information in the Pokedex. At the same time however, Touko hadn't wanted to forcefully capture a Pokemon that she wouldn't be able to spend her time with. She recalled all her Pokemon but Imi. She sighed, and walked into Nimbasa.
Touko froze as she walked up the steps to the city. There were two Plasma grunts standing in front of an old man and were approaching him threateningly. Touko slowly walked towards them and overheard what they were saying.
"Gramps! We know you run the Day Care!" One of the grunts exclaimed. The old man began to stutter and the grunt chuckled. "How do we know? Because we're Team Plasma!" He said.
"We are taking Pokemon away from people." The other grunt began to explain. "Since you work at the Day Care, we figure you must have a lot of Pokemon! Hand 'em over!" He demanded. The old man looked at the two astonished.
"What kind of nonsense is this?!" He shouted towards them. He turned to look around for help and noticed Touko. Slipping away from the gazes of the two grunts, the old man ran towards her. "Oh! A strong-looking Trainer! Please help me!" He pleaded her.
Touko's eyes had not left the scene. She was mad once again, it was the same kind of fury which she felt every time she came face to face with Team Plasma. She looked at the poor man before she turned towards the two grunts who were approaching her.
"If you're going to get in our way, we'll take your Pokemon, too!" The grunt shouted and called out a Watchog. Touko gave him a sly smile.
"Scald, Imi." Touko ordered. Imi's eyes darted towards the Watchog before she took a very deep breath. She gushed out a strong blow of steaming water at the Watchog, who turned red before proceeding to use Crunch on Imi. Imi winced.
"Again Imi." The old man looked at the expression on the young girl's face, confused. She was strong, he was sure of it, but at the same time, there was some kind of menacing anger that was rising in her expression. Imi shot another blow of burning water at the Watchog and the Watchog fainted. The grunt growled before sending out a Trubbish.
"Imi, Bite." Imi approached the Trubbish disdainfully before biting it's head. She immediately let go and began to spit out and turned towards her trainer.
"Trubbish, use Sludge!" The grunt ordered. The Trubbish splashed purple liquid at Imi who winced upon touching it.
"Use Scald." Touko commanded. The Trubbish glowed bright red from the contact with the hot water and ran towards his trainer before fainting. The man took a step back and recalled his Pokemon.
"Plasmaaaa! Wahhhhh!" He cried out. Both he and the other grunt began to take slow steps backwards as their eyes locked with Touko's angry blue ones.
"This went downhill fast! So I think..." Touko took a step closer. They took one backwards. "We'd better..." And another step closer. And another backwards. "Ruuuun!" And the two ran away.
"Let's hide out at the amusement park!" Touko heard the grunt say just as they disappeared from her view. When they were gone, Touko turned towards the old man.
"Are you alright, sir?" She asked him. The old man nodded and smiled.
"Thank you so much! Please take this as a token of my gratitude! It's a brand-new Bike. I'd always planned on riding around Nimbasa City... But I never ended up riding it." Touko watched as the old man ran toward a pole and brought to her a bicycle.
"I have a Day Care on Route 3! If you have any Pokemon you want me to raise, please drop them off! I just came to sightsee, but I got in a lot of trouble!" He said. Touko thanked him before the man hurried away.
Touko's brand new bike had a basket at the front. She stood staring at if for a while before attempting to put her sack in it. The sack was too big though, so she looked around the bike again and found that it had a small metallic stand at the back. She tried riding on it with the sack at the back and grinned as she slowly began to ride away. Touko was determined to head towards the amusement park in order to find the grunts...
"Touko! Know what?" Touko turned around to see Bianca rushing towards her.
"Bianca? You're here... quick..." Touko said, but Bianca didn't seem to have heard.
"The professor told me," Touko began to wonder when and where that had been, "Nimbasa City has a lot of things to see and do - the amusement park, Big Stadium, Small Court, and the Battle Subway!" Bianca began to make turns round and round from happiness. "I'm going to go see the Pokemon Musical! See you later!" She said, and like she always did, Bianca was gone.
Touko sat on her bike as she looked at Bianca hopping happily away. She rose an eyebrow before remembering that she needed to go to the amusement park. Touko began to ride her bike to the city as she asked locals for directions towards the amusement park. The park hadn't been difficult to find as the large towering and well-lit gate showed its entrance. Touko rode through the entrance hastily before immediately stopping.
He was there. N was standing staring at the displays. Touko jumped off her bike, and before she could hold onto it, the bike fell. She turned to pick it up, her thoughts and actions distracting as a tall shadow began to approach her.
N had seen her. From the moment she had entered the gate, he had seen her. And he knew exactly what she was after. When the bike fell and she bent down to put it up, he walked towards her.
"You're looking for Team Plasma, right?" He asked her calmly. Touko looked up at the much taller boy who was staring at her.
"How did you know?" She asked him. N turned his back to her and pointed towards the amusement park.
"They ran into the amusement park. Come with me." He said and began to walk away. Touko initially hesitated to follow behind him, but as she saw his figure beginning to go far, she ran after him with her bike. If he knew where the grunts had gone, then he was her only choice in order to find them.
They walked silently, Touko behind him, until the very end of the park, where the large ferris wheel stood. N turned and began to look around before finally facing Touko again.
"They're not here." He stated. "Let's ride the Ferris wheel and see if we can spot them." N suggested. He went close to her and took hold of her bike, carefully placing it by the ferris wheel rails and bought tickets for the wheel. Touko followed him silently.
Touko didn't know what to say, or what to do. She had considered N to be some kind of threat to Unova, a boy with powerful dreams. She had never liked him, merely for his dream to 'perfect' Pokemon and split them from the humans. Touko had only met him a couple of times, and yet, she knew that he wasn't the biggest of her problems. Team Plasma was. Compared to the organisation, N was nothing but a boy who was fighting for his dreams. Touko considered that he was much like Cheren, when it came to following dreams...
They entered one of the coaches and sat opposite each other. Touko continued to stare at the boy as he looked out of the window. Imi had followed her trainer in confusion, and Touko began to feel one of her Poke Balls shaking. Without a warning, Rior called himself out of his Poke Ball and began to glare at N. N looked at the Pokemon again before turning back towards the window. Touko was confused, not understanding how Rior managed to get himself out. She recalled the confused Imi and held Rior in her arms.
"I love Ferris wheels. The circular motion... The mechanics... They're like collections of elegant formulas." N began to say. Touko remained silent. With Rior safe in her arms, she too began to look outside the window and stared at people below.
As they got higher, N turned his head towards the girl again. She was holding her Servine tightly in her arms, and the Pokemon was staring at him. The Servine was making low hissing noises. N could understand every single thing the Pokemon was telling him. His eyes turned to the girl's face.
Touko on the other hand, was wondering how she got herself into the Ferris wheel. She had been angry, and the only thing she was after were those grunts. Now she saw herself being raised higher by the wheel, and she continued to search around the people in hopes of finding them.
"First, I must tell you... I am the king of Team Plasma."
Touko froze completely. Rior's eyes turned from the boy in front of him towards his trainer in worry. Touko was no longer looking in the crowd. She was no longer thinking of finding them. His words were repeating in her head again and again, in the same silent but pleasantly harmonic voice of his. She didn't dare look at him. The ground was getting further and further away, as the coach began to approach the top of the Ferris wheel.
"Ghetsis asked me to work with him to save the Pokemon." N began to explain to her, his eyes never leaving her face. "I wonder how many Pokemon exist in this world..." He said, and his eyes turned to look at the horizon.
Neither of them said anything else as the coach began to go down again. As they approached the ground, N's eyes turned to Touko again and saw her quickly get out, finally letting go of her Servine. He followed calmly behind her as he got out of the coach.
Touko wanted to get away from him. She began to walk towards her bike, and when she spotted it, she turned to leave. But she stopped still again, as she found N staring straight at her. Their staring competition continued until the same two grunts ran to N in a hurry.
"My lord N!" One of the grunts shouted.
"You're safe, sire!" The other grunt cried out in relief.
N never moved his eyes away from the girl's blue ones as he began to speak to the grunts. "There's no problem. You're part of the people we brought in to help us save the Pokemon. So, you're under my protection, as well." He told them. "Go, quickly, and let my battle cover your retreat." He said.
The two grunts looked at each other before turning towards their king again. N had not turned to face them at all, and seeing his seriousness began to walk away.
"... Now then, Touko, do you follow my logic?" He addressed to Touko. Touko finally snapped out of her trance, and N watched surprised as her blue eyes filled with determination and anger.
"Of course." She answered back simply. N grinned slightly.
"If true, your words please me. Ah. Then... The future I envision... Perhaps I can't beat you here and now, but I'll battle you to buy time for these members of Team Plasma to get away!" And then the grunts ran away as their king called out a Sandile.
Although Touko was beginning to fill with anger, she could see that was also beginning to affect her Pokemon. Unlike before, she called back Rior, much to his surprise, and called Imi back out.
"Scald, Imi." She commanded calmly. Imi turned from her trainer to the Sandile before shooting extreme hot water at it. N didn't react as his Sandile began to turn red from the heat of the water and immediately fainted. He called back the Pokemon and called out a Darumaka.
"Imi, again." Touko said. Imi shot another blow of hot water at the Fire-type Pokemon. The Darumaka didn't get to respond and fainted almost immediately. Touko's eyes were fixed on N's blue-grey ones. N didn't care whether he'd win this battle, as he recalled the fainted Fire-type Pokemon and called out a Scraggy.
This time, Imi did not have to hear Touko say anything as she shot yet another blow of hot water at the Scraggy. The Scraggy merely budged before standing right back up and staring at the Water-type before him.
"Use Swagger." N ordered silently. The Scraggy swagged and Imi grinned. She felt confident before her mind began to feel dizzy. She tried walking back to Touko but failed to do so successfully as she tripped. "Your Pokemon look happy." N said to Touko. Touko did not reply.
"Imi, Bite." Imi tried turning towards her foe again. Like she had done the last time she was confused, she closed her eyes. She opened them again rapidly and focused on the Scraggy opposite her. She began to run as fast as she could and jumped on the Scraggy, biting him on his leg as he tried to avoid the attack. Scraggy flinched and fell back as Imi made her way clumsily towards Touko again.
"Now, Scald again." Touko ordered. Imi grinned as she felt her mind clearing again before smirking at the Scraggy. She shot a powerful beam of water at the Scraggy making him turn red from the heat. The Scraggy began to run around, trying to get some cold before turning his angry eyes at Imi again.
"Brick Break." N commanded. Scraggy made his way angrily towards Imi, and before Imi could react, he was behind her and had smacked her on her back with full force. Imi fell forward and cried out from the pain. Scraggy grinned and began to walk back towards N. Imi stood back up and glared at the Scraggy from behind, and without Touko's orders, ran towards Scraggy and bit him as hard as she could.
Scraggy let out a cry of pain before falling to the ground and fainting. Imi got off the Scraggy and turned her eyes towards N. Touko thought she saw N's eyes widen for a split second, but brushed it off as he called back the fainted Pokemon. He took one last Poke Ball from his belt and called out a Sigilyph.
"Even if I lose, is it different from the future I saw?" N said out loud. Touko could see it in his eyes, his deep thoughts and ideals. She didn't reply.
"Bite." Was all Touko had to say for Imi to understand. Imi began to run towards the hovering Pokemon and tried aimlessly to bite it.
"Air Cutter Sigilyph." N ordered. Sigilyph swooped down towards Imi and slashed her with a sharp blow from the air. Imi cried out from the pain before jumping on the Sigilyph and biting on one of its feathers.
Touko realised that the Sigilyph was much faster than Imi, so she silently began to ponder on her next moves. Imi was already tired from battling the previous three Pokemon, and if Touko pushed her to attack again, then she would surely faint. Deciding not to risk it, Touko called back Imi and sent out Arman.
"Arman, Fire Punch." Touko ordered. As Arman ran towards the Sigilyph, the Pokemon sent out blue and purple waves at him, hitting him straight on with its Psybeam. Arman stood back up and tried to punch the Pokemon, but Sigilyph managed to avoid it.
"Fire Fang." Touko said. Sigilyph attacked Arman with another Psybeam, and this time, Arman barely managed to stand back up from his confusion. Arman ran towards the Sigilyph even being dizzy and lunged unto the Pokemon. He bit Sigilyph on it's tail as the Sigilyph attempted to fly away, and then flames began to surround him.
When Arman got off of the Pokemon in flames, Sigilyph had fainted. N bent his head to hide his face with his cap before recalling the fainted Sigilyph. Touko did the same, recalling Arman back into his Poke Ball. The two stood silent for a few minutes before N looked back up and walked closer to her.
"The result was the same... But you... Who are you?" He asked, and Touko was taken by surprise by the look of confusion in the boy's face, something that she had never seen before. "You're quite strong." He stated before taking another step closer to her. Touko did not move.
"But I have a future that I must change. And, for that future..." N came as close as possible to Touko, and Touko looked up at his eyes. "I'll defeat the Champion and become unbeatable, unlike any other! I'll make all Trainers free their Pokemon! Just try and stop me!" He whispered to her challengingly.
"If you want to be together with Pokemon, your only hope is to collect the Badges from each area and head for the Pokemon League!" He said, louder this time. "Try and stop me there, if you dare!" He sneered at her before walking back, away from Touko. "If your conviction is not strong enough, you will never be able to defeat me." N told Touko as he turned and walked away.
Touko walked towards an empty park just ahead of the amusement park and sat on one of the benches. She looked out into the blue water and the green grass and began to think.
Touko was fifteen. She was born, and had lived in Nuvema Town for fifteen years with Cheren and Bianca. It was known all over Unova that children could have Pokemon and battle, but not travel, not until they were at least ten years old. When Touko and her best friends turned ten, they were not surprised when Bianca's father protested against the idea of them having Pokemon. True, her mother had Pokemon, and Cheren's parents had Pokemon... but neither Touko or Cheren had it in them to have Pokemon while Bianca didn't. So they waited. They lived, studied, and spent their days in Nuvema Town. That was, until eight days ago.
Touko had had dreams, when she first got Rior. She had wanted to travel, to live freely and see the world. Cheren had one goal in mind, to win the Pokemon League and prove himself to the world. Bianca started off slightly lost, but soon she got to understand her love for Pokemon and for new places. But as Touko travelled day to day, she began to lose that dream. That dream she had since childhood to see the beautiful parts of Unova, to enjoy her journey.
Professor Juniper had told her and Cheren to enjoy their journeys, as well as continue completing the Pokedex. But as Touko looked out into the water and to the grass around her, she realised that everyone had dreams to chase after, everyone had goals that they fought for. Professor Juniper did her best for her work, Cheren did his best to train, Bianca did her best on her journey and even N... even N did his best for his goals to liberate Pokemon. Touko had been travelling for eight days... simply travelling. She had merely caught four Pokemon, stayed at cities for a day or two, battled trainers and Gym Leaders and came across trouble.
It was the only thing that seemed to cross Touko's path on everyday of her journey. It seemed like Team Plasma popped out in every city that Touko found herself in. The commotion in Accumula, the trouble in the Dreamyard in Striaton, the robbers in Nacrene, the encounter with Ghetsis and his grunts in Castelia and now... and then it all clicked. Touko should have known, there had been many hints.
Of course N was their king. They had been after the same thing. Ghetsis, Gorm and the grunts had mentioned their king... Ghetsis and N had mentioned the legendary Dragon of Unova... Touko groaned in frustration. All the evidence had been in front of her the whole time, but she had not managed to connect the pieces. Touko called out Rior, who turned to face his trainer.
"Rior... there's something... there's something we have to do." She told him. Rior listened carefully.
"Team Plasma... and N... they want to seperate us and Rior, I can't allow them to. N has challenged me, and although he's... although he's way ahead of me, I'm not going to back down." Rior jumped on Touko's lap and stared at her.
"I have to defeat N. We have to defeat N. That's why Rior... that's why, you and I, like from the very beginning, you and I will try our best with our new friends. We'll all stick together and get to the Pokemon League. Be it we're in time or not, be it we lose or not, as long as you're with me, I'm sure we'll make it through." Touko said and exhaled. She stared into Rior's eyes intensely, and Rior nodded.
Touko grinned, before surprising Rior and standing up. She stretched her arms before turning to look at the amusement park again.
"Come on. Just because I've got a whole organisation to bring down doesn't mean I can't enjoy my journey. Let's go, Rior!" She said and began to run back towards the amusement park. Rior rolled his eyes before running after his laughing trainer.
I remember when I first wrote this, I really liked it. I mean, I enjoyed writing this chapter and stuff. Now that I look back at it, I wonder why I didn't make Touko appear angrier or more frustrated. I might have made her too calm. And it should have... been more dramaatic! Aw. Oh, well. I hope you enjoyed it :)