Dear Readers,

I AM BACK! Oh lord it has been far too long. For those of you who have read my apology, you will know what happened. I was planning to release this on Monday… but then the creator of the website I left re-contacted us. Allow me to explain, we gave him an ultimatum which led to our leaving, either give us the respect we deserve as writers or we leave. On Monday he then responded…. But it read more like a press release than anything resembling an apology. No apology to the insults and it seemed that the entire thing had flown over his head. It put me in such a bad mood that it hurt to write, then once again you guys rolled in and show me how much you cared about me and my work. And can I say from the bottom of my heart:

THANK YOU!

You all are some of the finest people I have had the pleasure of knowing and now its time I rewarded your kindness and patience, more chapters soon, anyway enjoy!

Chapter 9 – Rosa

Rosa was still finding it weird to walk along the streets as she once did. While she tried to not clutch Ophelia's hand harder each time they passed a patrol, it was difficult to do, especially considering she had spent a year and a half running from them. She had to admit though, the patrols she passed were all very friendly in their wishing her a nice day, as if the last eighteen months had been put behind them in the last few days.

"We're almost there Rosa" Ophelia said "Just a bit further and we will reach home"

Rosa nodded, still in two minds about the whole thing. On the one hand, she knew she was going to be stuck like this for a while, she needed time to plan her escape so she might as well take advantage of being the wealthy daughter of the Soulsword family. On the other, she felt that she was being marched into an impregnable fortress. From everything she had read, the Soulsword manor had everything from top of the range security systems to former war veterans serving as the manor's guard and servants, all of them fiercely loyal to Raphael and Ophelia. If she was going to make her escape, it would take lots of planning, dedication and more than a bit of luck. That was also banking on the fact that she wasn't found out, for all she knew Raphael and Ophelia already read her mind and figured out she was planning this. It wasn't too likely, considering that Raphael and Ophelia seemed to respect her rights to privacy but it was a possibility that Rosa could not afford to rule it out.

In any event, she agreed to go with the first thought for now, if she put on a good enough act then maybe she can gleam a few things from the staff and the guards that could help her later. Then they made it to the docks of Castelia and Rosa was hit with a realization, the soulsword manor was across the lake from mainland Castelia. While she was an adept swimmer, there was no way she could make it across all the way to the city before patrols were mobilized and she was caught. Not only that but, being a minor, she couldn't drive a boat or even learn to drive a boat, if she was going to escape she would need someone who could but she…..

Rosa rubbed her temples, all of this was just making her head hurt and all in all was not helping her escape.

"Something wrong, dear?" Raphael said and Rosa suddenly realised that what she was doing

"Oh yes, I'm fine" Rosa said, quickly straightening up "Just a headache"

Raphael nodded and gestured to a motor boat that had just docked. The driver of the boat, a Zoroark, got out of the boat and shook Raphael's and Ophelia's hand.

"Hello there, Sir and Madam" The Zoroark said in a formal tone "The others are gathered in the manor waiting for you"

"Thank you, Donovan" Raphael said "This is our new daughter, Rosa Soulsword"

Donovan knelt down to Rosa and shook her head "It is a pleasure to meet, Miss Rosa. I am Donovan, the head of the Soulsword security team."

Rosa found herself blushing, this was the second time that someone had called her Miss Rosa, she didn't really like it but it almost seemed rude to refuse it if people were doing it out of respect.

"Just Rosa, please" she said quietly

"Anyway, shall we head home?" Ophelia asked

"Yes, Madam" Donovan said, escorting the soulswords into the boat. He backed the boat up and started driving to the dock on the left side of the city.

The journey was short and soon enough they made it to the dock. More pokemon came over to help dock the boat which made Rosa think of a question.

"Mother" she said, cautiously "Is everyone that works for you pokemon? Not saying anything by it, I'm just asking."

Rosa could see Ophelia light up slightly when she called her mother. Clearly this had been something she had been thinking about for a while. Ophelia then turned and answered

"Well to be honest darling, I'm just surprised I have a workforce at all. In answer to your question, yes they are, mostly because they wanted to stay with us after the revolution was over. We kept telling them that they were free to leave whenever they pleased, but they seemed happy to work for us and after seeing their dedication to their tasks, it almost seemed wrong to deprive them of something they loved. If you had told the poor little Ralts that I once was she would have pokemon working for her, she would have called you crazy."

Ophelia quickly turned away, as if she had said too much but this made Rosa think.

I knew Ophelia wasn't rich until after the revolution ended but did she really struggle during her childhood?

She didn't have long to deduce anything from that because she was being offered a hand by Donovan to help her out of the boat. She took it and followed him toward her parents and the manor.

They turned the corner and Rosa gasped. It was one thing to see mansions in pictures but another to see it real life. The manor was huge, it looked more like a palace than a mansion.

"Rosa" Ophelia said, jogging Rosa out of her in awe stat. "This is just the entrance, shall we go inside?"

Rosa nodded and the doors opened, showing the interior of the manor. Rosa once again was in awe.

What she was now standing in was a grand entrance, with a long red carpet leading up to the set of stairs that split into two directions. The room itself took on the appearance of a throne room, except without the thrones to go with it. Classical pillars held up the high ceiling and the windows were all in classical arched style. Overall, it was extremely impressive but there was more going one. There were two rows of pokemon, Rosa guessed that these were the pokemon that stayed with the Soulswords after the revolution. They were waiting patiently with smiles of their faces.

Until they noticed us coming in that is:

"Welcome home Mr Soulsword, welcome home Mrs Soulsword, welcome home Miss Rosa"

I guess news travels fast, or they were informed ahead of time Rosa thought

Several of the maids came over to where we were standing to properly greet Rosa:

"Welcome home, Miss Rosa. It's a pleasure to finally meet you"

"We're very happy to have you here with us, Miss Rosa!"

Rosa was heavily blushing in front of the women, this pokemon barely knew her yet they showering her with praise. As she looked around the ranks of servants until she stopped and stared. Talking to a Noctowl was a Serperior, the grass snake pokemon reminded her of the one she had until she saw around its neck was the miracle seed she had given hers. Then the Serperior turned and they locked eyes. The recognition was instant.

Tears forming in her eyes, she broke from the crowd and wrapped arms around her lost pokemon.

"Serperior" Rosa choked "It's you, it's really you!"

Serperior wrapped its tails around Rosa, trainer and pokemon were finally reunited

"I've have missed you so much, Rosa. I thought of you every day."

Rosa loosened her grip to look at Serperior "What of the others, are they alright?"

"They're fine Rosa" Serperior said "In fact, they work here with me. After we were separated…" he pointed to Raphael and Ophelia "They found us being attacked by humans and they saved us"

Raphael and Ophelia blushed at this but Rosa turned around and gave both of them a genuine hug

"Thank you" Rosa whispered "Thank you so much for keeping them safe."

Ophelia wrapped her arms around Rosa. As they held each other close, Rosa's plots for escape were forgotten.

"You're welcome, Rosa" Ophelia whispered back "As Lennox said, they joined us after they were being attacked by humans. After we saved them and they were healed, they swore their loyalty to us. After the war, like all the others, we told them they could leave however they stayed and became part of the staff."

Lennox? Rosa thought Oh yea, Pokemon have actual names I didn't know so that makes sense.

"Anyway" Ophelia "Please dry your eyes, my daughter. We have a whole manor to show you. I know you're scared. This is a whole new experience for you and after going through what you did on the streets, I understand why you don't trust our words, but know this. We will never hurt you like that, after reading you story I wanted to cry, you've been hurt too much Rosa. We want to look after you and we know we have to earn your trust"

Rosa nodded, wiping her eyes. Seeing her oldest pokemon again had put her in such a good mood that her thoughts of escape were forgotten. She took Ophelia's hand and allowed her to guide Rosa through the manor, her faithful Serperior in tow.

Hope you enjoyed that chapter, I know its short however considering how bad I've been feeling lately, it's a step in the right direction. By the way, that collab did produce something good. The four of us writers decided that rather than letting months of hard work go to waste, we are going to open a new account of this site and allow you guys to read our work.

With this in mind I am proud to announce, The Regions Legends. If any of you look at it, I would be eternally grateful. Maybe it will start making me think that the months we all lost in that train wreck was actually worth it.

Thanks for your time and have an awesome day

Kenitoh

fanfiction [dotnetslash] u [slash] 6604088 [slash] TheRegionsLegends -