I'm horrible. I've been soo inactive recently.

But, in my defense, since my last update I've had exams week, and several surprise parties for my moving friends. I've had little time to myself nowadays.

Hilda's POV

I gasped for breath. Silver had done it. He'd saved us from the torture we'd been enduring thanks to Ghetsis.

"Nathanial," Leaf whispered softly. "I wonder if he's okay."

I smiled over at her. "We'll find him."

After we'd all rested and thawed out our bodies, we prepared ourselves to move on.

"Well," I said, when I realized everyone was as clueless if not more than myself on how to move forward, "we trained our pokemon, our friends, but it seems they were one step ahead of us. Having tough pokemon won't get us far when that's what they expect of us. Which, if you ask me, makes sense. All of us have either faced Ghetsis or Giovanni when they were in power, and our pokemon friends were the reason their teams ended up disbanding. So this time, it's understandable that they'd prepare against an attack."

"So," N said, standing up, "our solution is clear as well. We can't be obvious. After all, we can use our situation to our advantage. Ghetsis left us all to die, and he is under the impression that in a few hours, we all will be so. He won't come after anyone who's dead."

Silver stood up. "Which is why," he began, "you all need to stay low. In the meantime, I think I should face them, and if I fail, you all can take respective actions. But until then you all have the liberty to remain at ease."

"Are you crazy?" I looked at Silver with surprise. "You seem in worse shape than the rest of us. If anything, you should stay behind, and we should go. We can use a surprise attack."

"You're the one who's crazy, Hilda. If they know you're alive, they'll try to kill you again. Meanwhile, as you said, I'm in the worst condition. I'm as good as dead anyways. So it's best if I go alone."

"Guys!" Lyra jumped up and held up her hands as if to stop us. "Stop fighting, now!"

Lyra's POV

My wish had come true.

Silver, my knight in shining armor saved me. And everyone else.

And now he was gambling his own life for our safety.

What a hero.

I don't really get what Ethan always says about him. Silver isn't exactly a bully. He's nice! Would a bully save your life? I don't think so!

Even still, I didn't like how Silver and the older girl, Hilda, I think, were fighting. So I yelled at them. Both stared at me with confusion and surprise.

"Hilda, maybe Silver is right, and Silver, maybe Hilda is right too," I said, feeling proud with my statement. It made sense to me.

But… I don't think it made sense to anyone else. They all looked at me with a strange expression.

"Well then," Silver said calmly, "what do you propose we do, Lyra?"

I pondered it for a moment. Nothing came to mind.

"That's it!" N exclaimed. "Lyra!"

"What?"

"Colress sent Lyra to find us and bring us to him. He must still think she's clueless. So, if Lyra goes-"

"I don't think so, N. How dare you send Lyra out, when they could easily kill her?"

"Silver, I think N's plan works! I'll tell Colress that you guys didn't want to play, and if it doesn't work, then you can come along with me hidden unless I need your help!" I exclaimed, trying to sound smart. But I wasn't so sure about what I had just said….

Hugh's POV

I was impressed.

Lyra had said something smart. Forgive me for being rude, but she seemed like an innocent, clueless kid. I didn't expect her to understand any of what was being said.

Okay, I am sounding pretty mean, I guess.

…..Anyways. The argument continued without end. Hilda, N, Silver, and Lyra kept at it for a while. Meanwhile, Red and Ethan chatted off to the side, and the rest of us did nothing really. I sat down, waiting for the argument to finish, and a decision to be made.

"Fine," Hilda said, unhappily. Silver smiled triumphantly.

"Alright everyone, here's the deal." Silver called out. "Lyra and I will go towards Mt. Silver,"

"Hehe, did you guys know Silver has the same name as the mountain?" Lyra giggled.

"…anyways. Lyra will walk over to Colress, and pretend to be clueless. She'll proclaim 'they didn't want to come with me,', and we'll see if Colress will reveal something to Lyra. If he sees through her, and knows that she's trying to trick him, I'll step in to help."

"Silver," Hilda added, "we need some way of contacting you. If you get into trouble, we need to be able to help you."

"Do you have an idea what we should do?"

"Well," N undid the latches of his Xtransciever, "you can borrow this. If you need to, call Hilda."

"One more thing," Leaf said softly, "please look for Nathanial."

Blue's POV

Looker and I sat for hours more in that room. I was bored out of my mind. The idea of sitting down and filing papers never interested me. I needed action.

And action soon came.

"Okay," Looker said, putting a sheet of paper in the last file, "now we need to head over to Mt. Silver and sneak in, finding our way to their HQ room. If they're there, we'll spy and listen in to see if they have anything of interest to say. If not, we'll sneak in and take whatever clue-supplying artifacts we can." Looker walked across the room and handed me a large paper bag. "Change into the outfit in there, and meet me outside."

I opened the bag, revealing a Team Rocket uniform. As instructed, I put it on and went outside.

"Alright, let's go."

We were deep into Mt. Silver. I wasn't really sure exactly where in the mountain we were, but we were somewhere.

I followed Looker down the hall. After a while of walking aimlessly, my eyes took a rest upon a door.

Loud bangs came from the other side, followed by the shrieks of a child.

"Let me out! Let me out!" the voice cried.

The door had a lock on the outside. Twisting the key, which was left inside the door, I opened the door, and a little boy ran over, hugging my legs.

After my surprise had worn off, I looked closely at the child. He had wild green hair, similar to N's. In fact…this kid looked just like N, only as a child.

"Do you know Leaf?" the boy said, wiping his tears away. I nodded, with surprise.

"Can you take me to her?"

Before I could reply, the sounds of footsteps rung in my ears as some men approached us.

"Call reinforcements! These two've let the kid out of the room!" one of them cried.

"Blue, what did you do?" Looker cried.

With no plan, and a sure will, I picked up the kid and ran out of the mountain as fast as my legs would take me.

Ethan's POV

Great. Just great.

Not only did Lyra think of me as she did anyone else, she had a clear infatuation for Silver. And the two went off, together.

Was I to live the life of solitude?

Even Nathanial, the one person who deemed me worthy of being around, was gone. I was alone.

Sure, I had Red, who understood how I felt, but Red seemed distant in his thoughts. He didn't talk as much.

We stayed in the cabin, silent, and unsure of what to do. Hilda peeked over at her watch every other second.

"They'll be fine," N assured her, placing her hand in his. Hilda smiled.

"I know, but I'm still worried. Lyra reminds me of Layla. Speaking of her, I wonder how she's doing?" Hilda frowned. "She must hate us all by now."

I didn't know Layla at all, really. My only connection to her was through Red, who'd told me briefly about her. She was a good friend of Hilda's who had been injured in a landslide and was condemned to crutches. But, when confronted by the Plasmatic Rockets, Layla's crutches were stolen, and she had no way of moving about.

Recently, when we'd met the older girl, the one with navy blue hair, Sabrina, I think, she'd taken Layla, Silver, and Blue to a safer place.

As my mind refocused into the present, I could see Hilda and N were arguing.

"What's their deal?" I asked, looking over at Rosa.

"Hilda wants to go visit Layla, but N is against it, saying it's too risky," she replied.

I groaned. Unhappiness floated all about me and those around me. Except for Silver. He was giddy as can be. He'd gotten the only girl I'd ever admired to fall for him, and they were together.

-?- 's POV

An alarm rung throughout the cavern walls. Grunts ran about frantically.

In the ruckus, two teens did their best to hide themselves, which seemed to work. No one noticed them.

Ghetsis stormed into hall 3B, furious. A single white door was flung open, and inside, nothing.

Where Nathanial should have been, not a trace of him was left.

Ghetsis cursed under his breath. He flung around, facing the nearby grunts.

"Look in every single nook and cranny, and find any remaining trainers who dare oppose me," he growled, "and kill them."

KILL THEM ALL