Hey guys, NightFall here with the next chapter of HDD since a near three week break. At any rate, thanks for being so patient with me, and these last few weeks have really helped me think of how I can continue this story, and my time will be split between this and my new MDD. HDD is my best story, so I want to continue it for a long time, maybe even give it a sequel went it's all done, but that's a long ways off, since I'm just start season two…WHOO! So these first few chapters are all just going to be for fun, and maybe the occasional capture of a pokémon, and I do want to bring characters that weren't as big last time into the limelight a bit like Kaname and Sienna. But this one is going to be a bit less of that, and the rest of those will come later. I'm sorry if you like stories that are all serious, but when I did my last "for fun" chapter, people loved it, so I'm gonna stick with it for a while. Enjoy.

DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN POKÉMON, BECAUSE IF I DID, GHOSTS AND DRAGONS WOULD NOT BE WEAK TO THEMSELVES.


Chapter 27: Making the Truth

The things that people can make with their hands are often some of the most impressive we see. When something is made not from a machine, or from a plan of some kind, we think of the people that make them as artistic geniuses. And in reality, it's easy to build that up a bit too much. When a regular person, without anything special about them is considered, it just proves that people have the capacity for anything they want to do. Nobody is truly bad at something that can be done by another. Some may have natural talent, but one cannot deny that some work must be done with effort. But then the question is whether it is the people who are truly talented at something or the ones that work the hardest that are the better ones. Is it the person who doesn't need to think and allows their instinct to show through, or is it the one who looks back on past experiences to influence their ideas? This question still can't be answered, and many who have thought on it have probably sooner given up on ever figuring it out.


The breeze of autumn had begun to come over the campus in Nimbasa, many of the students groaning as their last days of summer vacation were over. As they all walked to the classrooms, their eyes tired from trying to live every summer memory in those few final hours, the students of the school began talking to others about how their own went. And in the class farthest in the hallway, many of the female students were gathered around Natsu and Judai's seats, one of them holding up a newspaper clipping that showed the two of them from the battle at the Giant Chasm.

"Did you two really win this tournament?" one of them asked.

"Well, seein' as that's what it says on the paper, I'd say yeah," Judai said, some of the others still not used to his sarcasm. "But my bro was amazin' in that last moment when his pokémon evolved. Seriously, ya couldn't have written a better endin' to that," he said, patting Natsu on the back, a light chuckle coming from the young ghost trainer, everyone around him staring down.

"Hmm?" Natsu noticed, looking up at a group three standing behind him, placing their fingers on his now shorter hair, Natsu having taken a bit more off of the back before classes started. "U-Um, can I help you?"

"Why'd you cut your hair, Natsu-kun?" one of them asked, a few of them looking disappointed.

"Well, we could give ya the long version or the short version," Judai said. "Which do ya prefer?" he asked the three still glaring at him in slight annoyance. "Short version it is. He only dictated how far up it came on the back. Most of it's probably still in the Giant Chasm after the two guys we beat in that tournament sliced it off," he said, imitating the sound of the scissors the two other trainers used to cut Natsu's hair.

"That must've been horrible, Natsu-kun," one of the girls said, trying to console him with a hug.

"I wouldn't say that," he said, the other girls looking at him confused. "I've heard that autumn is the season of change, and when this situation started, I was the same person I had been for six years. I'd refused to change for six passing autumns, and I think a part of me hated that I was like that. Besides, in the end, I'm still who I always was, but I think finally having hair that's the right length for me has made me more confident to be friends with everyone in class," he explained, everyone in the class looking at him stunned by his revelation. "Did I say something wrong?" he asked, turning to Judai as the fire trainer just scoffed.

"Not at all," Judai said, turning around as Natsu was nearly tackled to the ground by the girls suddenly clinging onto him. "Ya say somethin' like that, and I doubt anyone's gonna mind the decisions ya make. Although, I'd be careful girls, my bro may not be a single man for much longer," he said, Natsu's face immediately turning beet red, knowing exactly what he was talking about.

"Please don't say it, Judai," Natsu pleaded.

"Yeah, did I forget to mention that my bro and Amira-senpai went out on a little rendez-vous?" he asked, the girls around Natsu quickly turning back to him as he tried to look away. "And from what I heard, it got a little steamy there at the end when she came onto him," he said, continuing to tease Natsu, the ghost trainer continuing to hide his eyes from everyone. "Yeah, wish ya had your long hair to hide behind now, don't ya?"

Judai continued taunting Natsu, their teacher Koichi standing outside in the hallway, just watching them. A sigh escaped his breath as his eyes moved towards the ceiling. As he closed them, memories of how Natsu used to be around other people flooded his consciousness. Times when he was too afraid to speak up in public, those days when he almost refused to leave his room out of fear of something, and days when it seemed like everything wanted to kill him.

Koichi could see his only lodger was in a place he could finally call a home better than where he lived. And as he walked into the classroom, a larger portion of the students greeted him as opposed to what he had accustomed to. A smile came across his face as he eyed Natsu, the ghost trainer smiling back, the older trainer in the element suddenly turning around to begin the lesson.

"You know, sometimes I think of you as my kid, Natsu," Koichi said, his chalk tapping against the board as he continued to write. "You've certainly warmed up more to me than you have your own father. So I know it must be weird to hear me say this, but, please let me continue to take care of you," he said, turning back to his class to continue his lecture.


As the day rolled on, the other students around school were still trying to get back into the mentality of their daily lives. Natsu looking through the window to see Maaya, Takeru, and Amira on the athletics field, the fighting trainer showing up everyone as they ran their laps. The psychic trainer stayed with the main group, and as always Takeru stayed by the teacher just watching everyone do their work. It wasn't long before the instructor finally noticed the bug trainer, pushing him out into the group as Maaya passed him.

As his eyes glazed back over to Amira, the sight of her made Natsu turn slightly red, remembering what happened after their date before the end of summer. Noticing him from the other end, Amira could only see the vague silhouette of her underclassman, also turning the same color as she remembered what she did. Hiding her face to keep others from noticing, Amira tripped over her own footing, taking down most of her class with her, tumbling end over end until she reached Maaya. The fighting trainer looked down at her friend as she gave a nervous chuckle.

"The only time you ever seem to space nowadays is when that brat is concerned," Maaya said. "I'm still not convinced that kiss was completely your idea," she said, helping Amira to her feet as Takeru rounded the corner in a slow walking pace. "Just keep in mind the only time I ever want to see you two in close contact is when you finally get the backbone to beat him up."

"I think he's had enough of that over the past few weeks," Takeru said, coming up on the two female dorm heads. "Think about it, in the past five weeks, he's gone through an old trauma, had a friend die, been kissed by the girl he likes," he continued on, Amira turning red all over her face. "Kidnapped by an underground battler, and from what Amira-san's told me, had to battle his own father. Ask me, the kid needs a break," he said, the three hearing a loud whistling from the side.

"I'll give you all a break if you don't back to running!" their teacher yelled like a drill sergeant as Maaya groaned before setting off.


Still watching the three of them from his class, Natsu turned back to face the front, Koichi's dead eyes startling him as he gleamed over the top of his student's desk. As the rest of the class chuckled at his reaction, Koichi stood up and handed the ghost trainer a small slip of paper.

"You can leave after my class," he said, turning back to the front of the class, Natsu unfolding whatever he was given, Judai quickly swiping it out of his hands before he had a chance to read.

"Why does that woman always want to see ya, bro?" Judai asked, the note informing Natsu that the headmistress wanted to see him, the young trainer sighing out of defeat. "I think ya should take out a restrainin' order or somethin'," he said, Natsu smirking as the rest of Koichi's class went on.

Natsu's mind wasn't on the lecture anymore as he kept his eyes occupied by the piece of paper. It was different than most of the summons he received from Asuka. Granted the major difference from the others was that this one didn't have the lipstick marks, so Natsu felt a bit more at ease. But it also looked more like it was a copy of a note. The pencil markings weren't erasable, so there was another copy that had been given out. The only question was who it was given to.

Class ended some time later, and Koichi walked out at the same time as Natsu, both walking in the same general direction towards the headmistress' office. As the teacher looked down at Natsu, he noticed his left arm was still in its brace, thinking about how painful it had been the first few days since he had escaped from Mistralton. Still, it was getting better, and would probably be taken off within the next couple of weeks. But even then, Koichi felt partially responsible for letting anything happen to his student in the first place. Looking away as soon as Natsu turned to him, the older ghost trainer heard him chuckling.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"I was just thinking about how different you were at the beginning of the year," Natsu answered. "You didn't really take very good care of yourself, and even if you are still a little weird, you're getting more respect as a teacher. I remember the first day I was in your dorm, and you wanted me to attract more people to live there with you."

"In my defense, I was borderline insane then from being alone," Koichi said in return. "Besides, you weren't exactly in the best of shape, either. You got so stressed from your first day, you broke down into tears. And the days that followed weren't that much better when you look at them," he said, the two stopping in front of Asuka's office. "And just remember kid, I know where you live…," he said, trying to sound ominous as he disappeared down the hallway towards the staffroom.

"Only because we live twenty feet from each other," Natsu said under his breath as he opened the door in front of him. "Excuse me? Are you here, Saruwatari-sensei?" he asked, walking into the room, staring down the way at Asuka's desk, finding her to actual be in her seat rather than stalking around the room. "Senpai?" he asked, looking in front of the desk at Sienna, the dragon trainer looking at her underclassman in similar confusion.

"What's going on here?" Sienna asked, showing the exact same note from Asuka, most likely the original as the headmistress leaned over her desk. "And why is Natsu-kun not being assaulted by you right now?" she asked, Natsu nodding in agreement.

"Well, as it turns out, the board of directors may be trying to put me under investigation for sexual harassment of some of my students," the older woman admitted. "But that's not important right now," she said, a bead of sweat dropping from Natsu's forehead. "I know it's kinda weird for me to call you two specifically, but seeing as you two have a similar skill set, I thought it right to pair you two up," she said, smiling wryly at the two dorm heads.

"Pair us up for what?" Natsu asked, Sienna sharing in his nervousness as the grin on Asuka's face became wider.


"A cooking show?" the other dorm heads asked in unison, the twelve of them now in the ghost dorm building, Sienna and Natsu both nodding in answer.

"So it seems," Natsu said. "Apparently, one of the donors for this school is a television representative, and he wanted to feature some of the students here on a show he produces for high school aged cooks. Saruwatari-sensei chose the two of us for this," he explained, Sienna trying to keep from facing the others with her face turning red.

"I didn't know you could cook, Sienna-chan," Mika said, the dragon trainer turning away even more. "We all knew about Natsu-kun, but I never would've thought you'd be as good as he is."

"A bit blunt, perhaps," Jiro said from next to her. "But she's got a point. You'd figure after a couple years of being here we'd see you in at least one home economics class. If the headmistress wants you guys to do this, then you must be pretty good."

"It's not really something I like bragging about to others," Sienna admitted, still red in the face. "Besides, I don't like having a lot of people staring at me, so being on that kind of a stage is pretty much impossible for me," she said, the others all looking at her slightly surprised.

True, none of them aside from Kaname really knew much about Sienna, but nevertheless, they found it hard to believe she had any kind of stage fright. She always seemed so confident in battle, and when they were all battling together, she never lost her focus. So, needless to say, this all seemed a bit strange. Natsu didn't seem as worried, but he was still his normal self. He seemed nervous about the whole thing, but knew it wasn't worth it to try and fight back against the administration.

"So, how does this whole thing work, exactly?" Maaya asked.

"I think we have to work in pairs to come up with themed dishes, and they have a panel of judges critique our food," Natsu explained, seeing Sienna getting pulled to the side by Kaname, as the two moved to the corner. "I'm not quite sure what kind of prize you get for winning, but Saruwatari-sensei seemed pretty excited about the thought of us winning. Maybe she really likes the show we're going to be on."

"I doubt that," Takeru said, typing away at his laptop, only half listening to the conversation. "This entire thing is about politics. While I'm sure she does want to see the two of you win for personal reasons, the primary reason is to keep money coming into the school for use around the facilities. Picking you two was probably a similar choice as well, given that Smith-san is one of the strongest battlers among our student body, and you've been featured in quite a few newspapers since your win in the Giant Chasm."

"Then why not make Judai-kun his partner?" Mika asked. "He was featured as well."

"Probably because I can't even make cold cereal without burnin' the milk," Judai said from the side. "Still, I'm not really sure how that woman got a hold of that kind of info on Senpai if she's not too open about it," he said, looking at Kaname, the dark type chuckling softly as he started inching away, Sienna quickly grabbing him by the neck.

"She said I had nice eyes!" he shouted in his defense, the other all looking at him in the same way: unconvinced. "Look, the truth is Sienna's dorm doesn't have a lot of people, and there isn't a teacher here with dragon type pokémon, so she has me act as a middleman to make sure everything's going okay in there, and I may have let it slip that she can cook up a casserole so good it feels like your taste buds have melded together."

"Well, that solves two mysteries," Judai said, the others looking at him in confusion. "Well, the first was of findin' out who ratted Senpai out. The other is of who killed Kaname-senpai," he said with a grin, Sienna's Fraxure already standing on top of Kaname's twitching body.

"I don't think the two of you have much to worry about," Jiro said, propping his leg onto the other as he leaned back. "I mean how hard can it be to cook some dishes for a few critics when there're two of you doing it?"

"Actually, if we divide up the work, we'd have to be able to match each other's style to a happy medium," Natsu answered. "Normally it wouldn't matter, but my mom used to have me help her make dishes for her baking contests all the time and she always made sure I did just like she would. It keeps the dishes from having two different textures. Uniformity is what most people look for in a dish."

"Yeah, but hidden surprises aren't that bad to put in as well when it comes to making the judges look your way," Sienna said, suddenly catching onto what Natsu was saying. "Sometimes a bit of difference is needed in order to make your food stand out. But the mentality from home cooking to professional cooking is a lot different, so that's what worries me most after the whole getting on stage thing."

"I'm still havin' a hard time believin' that, no offense," Judai said, Sienna quickly turning red again as she began moving out of the dorm, turning back to Natsu as she grabbed Kaname by his unconscious leg.

"Come by my dorm later tonight, and we can work this out, okay, Natsu-kun?" she asked, the ghost trainer nodding.

As the door closed behind her, Sienna leaned up against the wall adjacent to it, holding her head like she was feeling faint. Kaname had regained consciousness and began walking with her back down to her dorm building. For the most part, they walked in silence, the dark trainer noticing the stress this kind of development was causing his classmate. Trying to find some way to break the awkwardness of the situation, Kaname let out a large sigh, the dragon trainer nearly jumping out of her skin.

"Give me a heart attack, why don't you?" she said, Kaname smirking as Sienna's own expression began to soften from her friend's attempt. "I still think it should be Amira-chan that does this with him. And for the record, I'm still mad at you."

"Yeah, I get that impression," Kaname said, still feeling the tusk of Sienna's Fraxure against his back. "But you never really get to hang out with anyone else aside from me, so maybe it's time for a change of pace. Besides, I seem to remember someone trying to hold themselves back when they first met our little friend," he said, Sienna just looking at him crossly. "Hey, just because a lot of girls like the little dude, it didn't mean you had to stay away. Not like he was gonna fight back."

"I just thought he was like a cute little brother," the dragon trainer admitted, a slight tint of red on her face. "And it also hurt me to see him get hurt so much by other people. Maaya-chan just absolutely hated him."

"Well, that was because she didn't think he was gonna be much of a challenge, and now it's because he's dating her friend," Kaname responded.

"Unconfirmed, but still a likely scenario," Sienna said, the two of them coming up to the door of her dorm. "You didn't have to walk me back here, you know. It's not like any of us are being kidnapped in the night anymore," she joked, remembering what had happened only a couple weeks ago, and that Natsu was still recovering from it. Her eyes slowly dimmed at that feeling.

"Trust me, we're all still worried about him," Kaname said, turning around on his heel back towards his own dorm. "Still, as long as you don't leave him alone, I doubt anything bad will happen to him. Or who knows, maybe he'll be the one saving you," he said with a light chuckle, Sienna smirking as she opened the door to her dorm building.


After the door closed behind her, Sienna looked up at the old building that reminded her of an old English mansion. The entire room was dark, and most of the surfaces were covered in dust. As she walked through the hallways of her dorm building, her Fraxure followed after her while her Vibrava quickly came up from behind. Aside from the two of them, though, it seemed like there was nobody else inside the building with her.

She looked from side to side for a second, and began to smile in the darkness before quickly bolting up the large staircase at the end of the hall. Her eyes began to brighten as she opened one of the doors in the middle of the hallway, and then dived headfirst into a brightly lit room. Landing on a bed covered in small plush dolls, Sienna seemed to sink into it, a large, child-like smile on her face.

"Mmm, I wish I could just live on my bed forever," she said, hugging onto a group of the plush pokémon toys, both of her pokémon looking at each other before diving onto the bed with her. "Oh, you both are so cute," she said cuddling both of her pokémon under her arms.

Wrapping herself and her pokémon underneath her covers, she looked towards a small TV set in her room, and reached for the remote directly next to her bed. Both of her pokémon kept their vision slightly on their trainer, watching the way her smile just seemed to brighten up the room as she laughed. They didn't know what she was watching, or if she was even paying attention. All they knew was that this is the person that they fell in love with as their trainer, and they didn't want that to change at all.

For them, it was how perfect life could get. But without Sienna's knowing, the two dragon types could see a pair of eyes staring at them in the dark hallway.


Later in the day, Natsu stood outside of the dragon dorm, knocking on the door, hoping that Sienna would meet him there. After a minute of waiting, the ghost trainer took a step back looking at both Lampent and Pumpkaboo for a second and then trying again. This time a little harder, Natsu was able to push the unlocked door open, allowing him access inside the mansion.

Upon coming inside, Natsu was astounded by the intense layout, and antiquated sculpture lining the sides of the doorway. Each one depicted a different dragon pokémon, and some other pokémon originally thought to be dragon types. He saw pokémon like Charizard, Haxorus, Dragonite, Kingdra, Salamence, and all kinds of others as he made his way further down the hallway.

As he looked off to the side, he could hear a faint static sound from one of the hallways, deciding to see where it led to. He was hoping he wouldn't run into too many of the other students living there if they were half as strong as Sienna was. After seeing the raw power she boasted while watching her in the underground subways, Natsu had become slightly nervous about ever having to battle her, or any dragon trainer.

Still, he found it increasingly difficult to find, well, anyone. Going down the different hallways, he was actually surprised he didn't even meet another student to ask directions from. Eventually, though, he was able to see a faint light down one of the hallways, and began walking towards it. The static sound became louder, meaning that it probably was Sienna, or at least another student that lived in the dorm with her.

"Senpai, are you in here?" he asked, knocking on the door, watching it open slightly, seeing Sienna asleep under her covers, completely surrounded by plush dolls. "Um…senpai?" he asked, walking into the room, Fraxure looking up, and seeing Natsu in his dazed state.

Frantically, Fraxure pushed against its trainer, rousing her from her sleep as she raised herself out of the covers. She rubbed her eyes, one of the plush dolls under her arm as Vibrava clung to her back. Her eyes began to fully open, seeing Natsu, a smile coming across her face in greeting as she waved. Natsu's eyes were still on what she was holding.

"Hmm?" she questioned looking down in the same direction, her eyes suddenly wide open as she tried to hide what Natsu could already clearly see. "U-Um, this is…," she tried to say, stuttering over her words as she simply pushed Natsu out of her room, and locked the door shut. "You saw nothing, okay?" she said threateningly, Natsu nodding.

The two of them walked down the staircase down towards a communal kitchen, Sienna's face still red from embarrassment. She tried not to look at Natsu, unsure of what kind of expression he might make. Would he be embarrassed about seeing her like that? Would he laugh to see how she likes to act? Or maybe he would try to blackmail her with this knowledge? Okay, maybe not that last one, but she was curious and afraid of what he would say.

"Um, senpai?" he started, Sienna jolting up out of surprise as she looked back at him. "I promise not to tell anybody about what I saw, but can I ask why you don't act like that in front of other people?" he asked.

"Um, well, you see," Sienna continued to stammer. "I just think it's kinda…embarrassing if people know I like cute things like that," she said, trying to keep her face hidden as they began washing a few of the dishes they'd be using. "When I first came to this school, people thought I was this tough, no nonsense girl who trained dragon pokémon. They didn't think of me as an actual girl, so I just tried to please their imaginations. To be honest, I don't even show that side of me to Kaname. So you're pretty lucky to see it and still be alive," she said, Natsu gulping slightly.

As the two began, adding in different ingredients for their dishes, they stayed mostly in silence. However, both knew they wanted to say more, Natsu noticing the fast movements Sienna was capable of, and the incredible skills she had, with a knife. Watching her twirl it in between her fingers, it was almost as though she forgot where she was, and had entered her own world.

In the same way, Sienna occasionally glanced in Natsu's direction, noticing the soft movements he used while kneading the dough in front of him. Noticing the thickness of the material, she was amazed at how powerful Natsu could press down, and yet still be gentle his eyes now focused entirely on his job.

It seemed the two of them kept looking at each other when the other wasn't, so to them, it seemed like they were the only ones not fully paying attention. However, in one second, Natsu and Sienna both glanced at each other, startling the other. While not focusing, Sienna's knife suddenly slipped out of her hand, and into the air, both trainers looking straight up at its flight path. Their eyes followed it until it came directly down in front of Natsu in the center of his dough pile.

Both remained quiet for a few seconds before Natsu was the first to make some kind of reaction, stifling his laughter before Sienna started to join in. Soon, the two were in full blown laughter as their pokémon just watched from the sidelines, a bead of sweat dropping from their foreheads.

"Go ahead, and eat, guys," Sienna said, placing a plate of what looked like some kind of pasta dish with sliced up cubes of meat covered in thick gravy. "And, Natsu-kun has dessert when you're ready," she said, the ghost trainer placing a small pan in front of the two dragon types lined with four rows of cookies, looking over at his two pokémon.

"Sorry, but since ghosts don't eat, we have to give all of this to your pokémon, senpai," he said, Sienna placing a hand on his head to ruffle his hair.

"It's fine, those two won't mind if they get fed like this," she said. "Besides, there're others that live here that need feeding, as well." Natsu looked at her confused when she said that, but noticed a long, serpentine feeling slither along his ankle.

"U-Um, senpai, what is this?" he asked, the light tickling sensation making him turn red to keep his reaction inside.

"That would be my freeloader," she said, grabbing the strange object, and giving it a single pull. "Meet the only other resident of the dragon element dorm, Dragonair," the older trainer introduced, holding the pure dragon pokémon from the top of its long body. "It's been living in this place longer than I have. Sort of like our unofficial pet."

"You just said 'only other'," Natsu noticed as Sienna let out a quick sigh. "Does that mean there's not even another teacher living here with you, senpai?"

"Hence the reason I'm so good at cooking," she said, turning back into the kitchen to start cleaning off the dishes. "I guess you could say it was one of those things I learned because I had to, not because I wanted to. And living alone here has its perks. For one, I don't have to worry about anyone seeing me like how you saw me," she said, Natsu hearing a distinct snapping from the ladle she was washing, his entire body trembling. "But I think Dragonair is half the reason why it's like this."

"What do you mean?" Natsu asked, stroking the pokémon's long body as it joined the other two dragon types in sampling their trainer's food.

"This dorm probably had about as many people as the bug dorm my first year here, but I guess something always seemed off about how they operated," she began explaining. "A lot of them were the usual nutcases; use the dragons for destructive power and whatnot. But there were always rumors that the mansion this dorm was made out of was once home to the greatest dragon master who ever lived. And when he died, dragon types from all around came to grieve over his loss. A lot of them stayed here to protect his body which is supposedly still buried underneath the floorboards in the basement."

"You don't feel scared about a dead body in your basement?" Natsu asked.

"Seeing as I'm holding a conversation with a kid who trains ghosts but can barely handle a girl touching him, I'd say I'm the least crazy on in this situation," the upperclassman said, sitting down next to him. "Anyway, in a lot of cases, pokémon hunters came down to this place and see if they can bag one of these fabled dragons. But after they were all rooted out, it left only a few people in the dorm. It was just me and about ten third year students. I expected at least one or two people to come live here in the next year, but nobody ever came. The same thing happened this year, and that's really why I don't live with anybody but my pokémon."

"What does Dragonair have to do with it, though?" Natsu asked.

"Well, one of the stories is that the old man that died also put a curse on his body, that anybody that tried to disturb his resting place would be forever tortured by the pokémon he trained, and its descendents," Sienna said. "When some of the hunters went into the lower levels to find some of the dragon pokémon, they met this little fellow sleeping on the gravesite," she said, Dragonair rubbing its head against Natsu's leg. "Because it was so dark and Dragonair is well over ten feet long, this little girl could attack them from any angle, while still staring at them straight on."

"So, she was acting like a vengeful spirit?" the ghost trainer figured.

"Yep and boy did it work," she said, laughing about how fast the pokémon hunters ran out of the dorm when they were attacked by the "ghost of an ancient dragon." "Now, I just make sure she's fed, and that nobody knows that it's just the four of us in this dorm."

"What's wrong with the way things are?" the girl's underclassman asked.

"Well, if the school board knows Asuka is using funds to keep housing going for small amounts of students like she does with our dorms, they'd not only fire us, but we'd be sent into other dorms to live in," she explained. "The problem for me is that I don't normally like other people, and you have enough trouble dealing with your teacher. Not to mention, they'd sell Dragonair off to some zoo for display, or to the highest bidder. And that's something I can't allow."

"Why don't you just catch her then?" Natsu continued asking, Sienna sighing as she took out an empty pokéball, and clicked it on Dragonair's body. Natsu watched as it became bathed in a brilliant red light, but then quickly dissipated into the air around it.

"As far as I know, she still has a legal trainer," she said, placing its head into her lap as she began petting the old pokémon. "Knowing my luck, it was probably the same guy that built this place. If I was able to find the pokéball he used to capture this beautiful dragon, then I could technically claim her as my own," she said, Dragonair stretching its body, and then hitting the turquoise necklace on Sienna, Natsu noticing a second stone placed next to it.

"Is that from the pendant Jii-chan gave you?" he asked.

"Yeah, I like how it's the same color as my other necklace, so I put them on the same string," she said, taking in a slow breath. "But there's also a legend about stones like these," she said, Natsu listening to her even more intently. "They say that an Aura Stone is able to call forth a pokémon you share a special connection with that can transcend the ownership of a trainer has over it. It's also stated that the Aura Stone reacts with a person's Aura, and can instill what their Aura represents into somebody. I always liked the idea of being able to call on a pokémon that I shared a connection with, and maybe I was one of those kids that like the concept of shooting Aura blasts at villains."

"Jii-chan believed that they were like magic charms," Natsu said, holding onto his own. "He thought that in times of need, the people you needed the most would always be there to protect you. And I guess he was right. You guys have been helping me so much since I came here."

"Maybe," Sienna said, looking out the window at the night sky. "It's getting late, so I think it might be better if you stay here for the night," she said, Natsu looking up at her. "I'm not taking any chances with you," she said. "I'll see if I can find an extra futon in one of the rooms to set out in my room. I'm not letting you out of my sight," she said, the ghost trainer chuckling, thinking that she was acting like an overbearing sister.

"I wonder how Onee-chan is doing right now," he said to himself, looking out at the night sky, hoping that he'd get to see his older sister again some time.

"I promise that nothing is going to happen to you, Natsu-kun," Sienna said in her own mind. "And if that means protecting you from your own family, so be it."


The days following were spent pretty much the same as the first night, alternating between the two dorms Sienna and Natsu stayed in. And as the days counting down until their scheduled appearance was followed with the entire group of dorm heads following dangerously close after them.

Afterwards, the two groups separated from each other, one straight into the studio for the taping, and the other into the green room. When the other ten reached their seats for the show, a familiar scent wafted into June's nose as she quickly jerked her head to the side, the others all turning in the same direction.

"Hey, nice to see you guys again," the gentle voice of Natsu's older sister Megumi said, a woman slightly older than her but with similar features sitting right next to her. "I'd like to introduce you to my mother, Tatsuko," she said, the other dorm heads lowering their heads in greeting, Amira and June already aware of whom she was referencing.

"I'm glad to make the acquaintance of so many of my son's friends, and it's nice to see you again June-chan, Amira-chan," the older woman said, Judai quickly slipping directly next to the two members of his best friend's family.

"And I'm sure we are all pleased to make your acquaintance ma'am," he said as charismatically as he could, the others already groaning at his attempts to get on her good side. "I am your son's friend, Judai Ryuzaki," he said, motioning her to come closer, both leaning directly in front of Megumi. "Let's cut the small talk. What do ya think of Amira-senpai for my bro?" he asked low enough so nobody else could hear.

"A woman very worthy of carrying out this family name," Natsu's mother answered in the same tone, both Judai and her pounding fists together after reaching an agreement.

At the same moment both Amira and Natsu sneezed in their respective position, Sienna patting him on the back, to help him catch his breath.

"Catching a cold?" she asked.

"Let's hope," the ghost trainer said, knowing full well that somebody could've been talking about him. "What do you think about the competition, though?" he asked, both of them look at the other two pairs that they'd be cooking against, all six of them wearing pure white chef outfits, Natsu's still slightly big for him.

"Well, they've got personalized cookware, monogrammed clothing, unlike the loaners they're having us wear, and they all reek of blood, sweat, and grease," Sienna said, Natsu able to smell the years of experience on them as well. "Long story short, we're doomed," she said with a wide grin as both she and her partner shared a laugh, both deciding not to take this as seriously as some.

"I heard you two were from that private school outside of Nimbasa," a voice suddenly called out from the back, Sienna and Natsu looking up to see a pair of identical twin boys, both of their arms covered in multiple cuts. "I didn't know they still taught cooking at second-rate schools like that."

"I'm not quite sure if that was trash-talk, or just pathetic," Sienna said as Natsu grinned.

"I wouldn't worry about those two," one of the members from the other pair said, a boy and girl with fairly similar facial structures. "They're just stuck-up because they've been cooking at their family restaurant since they were in diapers, or whatever they were bragging about earlier," the male sibling continued.

"Doesn't that just mean they're better equipped for this?" Natsu asked.

Before either of them could answer, a man suddenly walked in, telling them to get ready and they'd be moving out soon. Sienna's breath began to quicken as a pit formed in her stomach. In retrospect, I probably would have been a good idea to address the dragon trainer's apparent stage fright. Still, as she began to breathe through her nose, the pit began to lessen, and as Natsu smiled up at her, she began to calm down even more.


Back in the studio, the lights started to dim around the audience, all of the dorm heads looking down at the stage as the circling spotlights came straight down to the center. In the center, a wildly dressed man with a big, proud purple top hat stood, a microphone put up to his mouth, Mitsu slowly focusing her eyes on him. It may have just been her, but he looked slightly familiar, the combination of purple hat with a green suit, and the giant bowtie almost reminded her of something. But she just couldn't quite put her finger on it.

"Well, hello and welcome to this week's episode of 'Up and Coming Chefs'!" he declared ecstatically. "This week, three new pairs of teenage cooks will prepare delicious bits of culinary delight for our esteemed panel of judges. Prizes for winning include trips to exotic locales, grants for some of the most prestigious culinary schools in the world, and of course, a boatload of cash. Today's judges feature, Nimbasa City's own Nurse Joy!" he declared, the always known physician bowing to the audience. "Owner of Lumiose City's finest sushi restaurant Kazu Takashiro." An old man stood up at the sound of his name. "And a very special guest, and one who needs no introduction, Nimbasa City's very own gym leader, the Shining Beauty, Kamitsure!" he declared as the entire studio erupted into applause as the black haired gym leader stood up.

"It is truly an honor to be here today, and I want to wish our contestants much luck as we 'Gulpin' down their food," she said, everyone in the studio going stone quiet, minus Judai as he burst out laughing at her incredibly bad pun.

"Because 'Gulpin' sounds like 'gulp'," he said, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Moving on," the announcer said. "Let's meet our three pairs. First off, we have a pair of twin brothers, raised in the kitchen, and have more experience in cooking than I do in fashion; Kazuma and Hiroshi Oda!" he declared, the twin brothers stepping out, showing off the injuries they had sustained in the kitchen from before. "Next, another sibling duo, a brother and sister from our Nimbasa City; Itsuki and Haruka Miyamoto!" he shouted as the blond male and brunette female walked, looking at the judges in awe at who they saw.

"Here comes my bro," Judai said still trying to keep from laughing at the gym leader's joke.

"And finally, from Nimbasa Private School, please welcome our Senpai-Kouhai team, Sienna Smith and Natsu Kohashigawa!" he declared, all of the dorm heads minus Maaya standing up to clap, Megumi and her mother both cheering loudly.

"Whoa, they got quite the turnout for this thing," Sienna said, looking over to the side, the gym leader looking at them in the same way.

"Natsu-kun!" the electric master shouted out, Natsu jolting in surprise before turning in her direction. "It's been quite a while."

"Y-Yeah," the ghost trainer said, Sienna looking in between the two of them.

"Are you two acquainted?" the announcer asked, handing a microphone to Kamitsure.

"Natsu-kun was one of my opponents that came to Nimbasa," she explained. "It was probably one of the most interesting battles I had ever had seeing as he only uses ghost type pokémon. It was like getting to battle a fellow gym leader."

"Well, you get around," Sienna nudged, Natsu smiling as he bowed to the gym leader before taking his place.

"Well, if we're ready, let's get started, and go over the rules," the announcer began. "Today's challenge is to complete two different dishes for our judges using a specific theme, and a specific ingredient designated for each of the teams. A platter with your ingredient is coming around, and we will allow you now to open them," he explained, Natsu and Sienna watching as their "secret ingredient" was revealed. "For the Twin Team, we have a bucket of super spicy Tamato Berries, muy caliente. For our Sibling Duo, they must use watermelon. And our Senpai-Kouhai Combo is given one entire pumpkin!" he finished, Natsu Pumpkaboo looking at the likeness of himself, and merely fainted in shock.

"Maybe not the best idea to be having him as our backup," Sienna said, looking out at the other two, a Pawniard with the twins, and an Ursaring for the siblings.

"The theme for your first dish is going to be…DESSERT!" he declared. "If you are all ready then you may begin!"


Immediately, the three teams began working, one of the twins throwing their required ingredient into the air, allowing the dark and steel type to dice into incredibly small sizes. To the other side, the team with the Ursaring used their pokémon's long claws to quickly slice up the giant fruit. But as they moved to the other side, looking at both Natsu and Sienna, they only found Natsu mixing a large bowl of batter.

"What's Sienna-chan doing?" June asked.

"Nothing," Kaname said, groaning slightly, the others able to see a slight trembling in her arms. "I don't know if she's actually gonna be able to handle the pressure," he said, seeing Natsu look back over at her, noticing the same thing. "Well, this should get interesting."

"Senpai?" Natsu asked, Sienna instantly waking up from her trance and looking down at him. "Are you okay? We don't have to do this if you don't think you can handle it."

"No, no I'm fine," she said trying to take in a deep breath, Natsu rummaging through his pocket, handing her a pair of ear buds. "You think this'll help?" she asked.

"If it doesn't, then it's my fault," he said, handing her the actual MP3 player. "You can't really scroll through the music like this, but I think you'll like what I put on there," he said with a smile as Sienna quickly inserted the buds into her ear.

"What are they doing now?" Mika asked.

"It's called sensory deprivation," Gabriel said, sitting down in a row behind the rest of them. "By keeping Smith's hearing out of the picture, she can focus less and less on the sounds of everything around her, and use her other senses to work."

As soon as the music was turned on, the upbeat, pop-style music filled her ears, and soon all the other voices melted away. She placed her hand on Natsu's shoulder and quickly picked up her knife, twirling it in between her fingers as she made a single clean slice down the middle of the pumpkin. Having just regained consciousness, Pumpkaboo looked up, and saw the guts of the squash, simply falling over again.

Not even paying attention by this point, Sienna's hands continued moving the knife up and down, even the Pawniard from the opposing team becoming impressed. Able to watch Natsu out of the corner of her eye, she saw him about to put in a measuring cup that looked like it was full of sugar, immediately stopping him. She took out one of the ear plugs and the two began talking, Natsu reaching underneath the countertop, and pulled something else out. As his partner nodded, Natsu continued with his own job while Sienna started dropping parts of the half pumpkin she cut up into the bowl.

Quickly taking over, Natsu began spinning his whisk to mix together all of the ingredients, the other two teams having nearly completed their work by this point. Looking off to the side, Natsu and Sienna saw about fifteen minutes left, knowing their recipe needed at least ten to be considered done.

As soon as Pumpkaboo came back to the realm of the living, per se, Natsu motioned towards the oven as the dragon trainer held it open. Immediately, the ghost pokémon's body burst into flames, ramming directly into and out of the oven. A small burst of fire tried to escape, Sienna slamming the door shut before it could get any further.

"So that's why they wanted that thing," Maaya said, the others looking at her like she knew something. "As much as I hate to admit it, the brat Lampent is way too strong, and it can't condense its Heat Wave attack into a smaller area. That Jack o' Lantern is small enough to fit into there and speed up the heating process."

By the time there were eleven minutes left Natsu had just put their dish into the oven, the two of them breathing a sigh of relief as Pumpkaboo jumped into Natsu's arms. Obviously the crowd loved this as the cameras were completely focused on the relationship between the trainer and his pokémon, Natsu's mother and sister trying their hardest not to jump at them.


After the time was up, the three teams all stood in front of the judges with their dishes put on a pedestal. The TV screens all around the room showcases each of their dishes, the twins having come up with a kind of shortbread, the other siblings with a kind of frozen dish or sorbet, and Natsu and Sienna with a small plate of cookies.

"Okay, let's get to taste testing!" the announcer shouted, Sienna looking back at the crowd, and finally noticing Natsu's sister, her eyes focusing on her immediately. "We'll being with the Twin Team."

"For you, we have prepared spicy walnut bars with cream cheese frosting," the first twin said. "Spiced to perfection with minced Tamato Berries," he said, the audience's stomachs all growling at the sight of the red flecks embedded within the bread.

The judges all took a single bite, and it seemed like the nurse was about to burst with pleasure. She turned red for a second as she held her mouth in, rendering her almost unable to speak. The single male in the group savored the flavor of the meal, and nodded his head, giving a smile to the two boys. After the gym leader sampled some, she had a similar reaction as Nurse Joy, able to gulp it down before standing up.

"I must say that was some pretty nice spice," she said, the others not quite sure how to react until Judai nearly fell on the ground laughing.

"Oh, man she's killin' me," he said, Mitsu giving him a quick smack in his stomach.

"We'd be glad to help," she said, the announcer bringing over the next dish, Sienna's eyes still focused on Megumi.

"Our dish is a blueberry and watermelon sorbet with added strawberries and raspberries," the female sibling said, each of the judges taking a large scoop of the frozen dish.

Nurse Joy was the first to react, finding it hard to bring the spoon away from her mouth, making sure to lick it clean of all the assorted flavors. The large man from the Kalos region dropped his spoon immediately as he looked as though he had a vision of heaven, standing up to behold its glory. Trying not to pay any attention to him, Kamitsure licked her spoon, and gave a satisfactory sound before standing up. At this, everyone backed away as far as they could, waiting for her inevitable pun.

"Well that was…," she began, everyone praying she wouldn't say it. "…'berry' delicious." She said it. As expected, Judai fell to the ground, holding his stomach as though it were in pain.

"Please, my sides can't this!" he shouted, Mitsu stomping on him from the ground, nobody wanting to know where she actually hit.

"Finally, we have the Senpai-Kouhai Combo," the announcer said, trying not to remember every stupid thing that came out of the gym leader's mouth.

"We made some pumpkin cookies with honey for filling," Natsu said, handing them a small plate, all of the judges taking a single bite, taking a few seconds to savor it.

As both Nurse Joy and the restaurant owner gave very normal reactions, they both noticed Kamitsure looking directly into Natsu's eyes. She gave a large smile, and instead of saying a bad pun, she reached down and patted him on the head.

"Well, we'll take a break now, and reset for the next round while the judges deliberate on who won the dessert challenge!" the announcer said to the TV. "Don't change that channel, and we'll be back shortly," he said before the feed cut out, Natsu still being patted by the electric gym leader.

"Um, Kamitsure-san, can you please stop?" he asked as she reluctantly took her hand off.

"Sorry, but I kept imaging you as like a Little Red Riding Hood coming to visit her grandmother with goodies, and I'm the wolf that gets them instead," she said playfully, Sienna walking back up to the two of them. "And here comes the huntsman to scare me off. Why did you want to replace the sugar in this with honey, by the way?" she asked.

"A lot of my family is diabetic," Sienna answered. "So I usually substitute other sweeteners in my cooking as opposed to sugar."

"Well, good job, you two," she said, walking away, passing by one of the staff as they came looking around the studio.

"Natsu Kohashigawa?" he asked, looking down at the ghost trainer as he nodded. "There's someone to see you outside, and said it was urgent that you come immediately. We'll begin filming in about twenty minutes, so please be back here five minutes before then."

"Okay," Natsu said, waving to his partner as Sienna looked back up, her eyes widening in shock as one of the seats in the studio was empty.

Knowing it was where Megumi was sitting, the dragon trainer immediately shot out of the studio, running after the younger trainer.

"I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to him," she said, thinking about how much pain he'd be in to know who his sister was. "I can't let him find out!"


Outside of the studio for the show they were on, Natsu looked around, hoping to find the person quick, and get back to his place. A strange scent wafted into his nose as he turned around, seeing his sister smiling at him. Overcome with the same emotion she probably was, Natsu ran up to her, and wrapped his arms around her as she did the same.

"I didn't know you were here, Onee-chan," he said, Megumi petting the top of his head.

"I came with mom," she said, not facing him directly as she kept her head on top of his. "We can go see here when we're done here," she said, Natsu pulling away, but noticing his sister's grip hadn't lessened.

"Onee-chan?" he questioned. "Let go of me," he said, his sister shaking her head, her hug tightening around his waist and his back. "What are you doing, Onee-chan? Please let go of me."

"I can't do that, Natsu," she said, tears forming in the pockets of her eyes. "This is the only way to finally end everything," she said. "The only way we can help free all of us in his grip is this. So please, don't make me look at you."

"Onee-chan, what are you talking about?" Natsu asked, trying to pull back. "What do you mean by end everything? Who's making you do this? Please, Onee-chan, tell me," he pleaded, noticing the tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "No…Please don't say anything like that."

"How long will you deny the truth?" a familiar voice asked from behind him. "A brat like you doesn't know anything about the real world," the voice said, leading a worn out, flopping top hat, Natsu's eyes beginning to widen in fear. "He's beginning to get anxious and who better than your own sister to finally finish what was started two years ago."

"No! Onee-chan please let me go!" Natsu pleaded. "Whatever he's promised you, he's lying! If you want to escape from him, doing what he wants isn't going to change anything! Everything he ever told you is a lie! Don't make me go there, Onee-chan!" he shouted, the Hatter chuckling before both he and Megumi could hear something screeching through the air.

"Huh?" the strange man questioned, Natsu's Pumpkaboo travelling across the air, completely engulfed flames. "What in the-?" was all the Hatter could say before he was launched from where he stood and into the wall.

"Natsu-kun!" Sienna shouted, seeing the grip his sister had on him. "Let him go, Megumi! I thought you didn't want to hurt him anymore! You promised that you'd be the one to save him if he were in trouble," she tried to reason.

"I can't go against the Don knowing what I know," Megumi said, clutching onto Natsu like he was some kind of a doll. "I don't want to do any of this, but I can't think of anything else to do."

"Just put down your brother and we can figure that out," Sienna said, Natsu's Pumpkaboo floating next to her, careful enough to not attack the older girl. "Just please don't hurt your brother again."

"She doesn't have a choice," a voice from the side said, Hatter rising to the ground as he snapped his fingers, Megumi's head limping down in an instant. "She's been under my control for these last two years. I knew she would be useful in helping my boss get his revenge on this little brat, so I use her when I need her. She's quite the lovely puppet, wouldn't you say?"

"Mr. Mime, take her down!" Megumi shouted, throwing her pokéball through the air, the same pokémon as their last battle jumping out of the light. "Shadow Ball that overgrown vegetable!" she commanded, Natsu still trying to squirm out of her grip. "Oh, will you just sit there quietly, you little twerp?"

Despite her threat, Natsu was able to push his a bit more into the open. "Pumpkaboo, match it with your Shadow Sneak!" he shouted, the grass and ghost mix melting into its shadow.

As the Shadow Ball screamed through the air, the moving shadow quickly shot upwards, acting like a barrier as both attacks ended in an explosion. The residual energy from both attacks created a powerful gust that proved effective on both attackers, the two trying to keep their balance against it.

Before Pumpkaboo could do anything else, a flash of black bounded between the walls as the Hatter's Zorua slashed across the ghost pokémon's body. Pumpkaboo fell to the ground, still conscious, but with Zorua's speed that might not have been the case for much longer. Reacting out of instinct, Sienna reached down for her belt, finding that her pokéballs weren't within reach.

"Forgetting that you were required to turn in your pokémon before entering?" Hatter taunted, laughing proudly as a random lightning bolt engulfed Zorua, almost forcing it to the ground. "One day. All I want is one day where there are no twists," he said under his breath, looking off to the side, being met face to face with the black and white face of the electric type Zebstrika.

"I don't take too kindly to those that try to kidnap my friends," a voice said, coming out of the washroom, directly adjacent to where they were. "Especially when they speak so rudely of others," Kamitsure said while keeping her arms folded as her Emolga quickly swooped down from the sky, knocking Natsu out of Megumi's grip. "Before you just had one person to worry about, but now you've got one of the Unova Gym Leaders against you. Care to rethink this?"

"Not when we're so close," Hatter said, tensing his fingers as Megumi reached for another of her pokéballs, and threw directly in the electric and flying mix's path.

"Gabite, use Rock Tomb!" Megumi shouted, her second pokémon pounding on the ground, two stones coming directly out of the foundation for the building.

Seeing both pillars of rock coming up on either side of it, Emolga quickly rocketed directly forward. Able to dodge the two rocks smashing together, the flying type began moving in random directions at near lightning speed, pun intended. Slightly confused by its movements, the dragon and ground mix tried firing blast of Dragonbreath in whatever spot it was able to see Emolga in.

"Don't tease, Emolga," Kamitsure said, the small pokémon suddenly diving straight down and tackling Gabite, sending the pokémon flying into both Zorua and the Hatter.

"One day, I'm going to deal with these kids, and not get hurt in the process," he said under his breath again as Megumi's Mr. Mime stepped on him while backing away from Zebstrika which did the same to the underground battler. "Can't I just keep a little dignity?"

"No," Sienna answered, standing in between Natsu and Megumi, the two siblings staring at each other, one in shock and fear and the other in complete focus. "If I had my pokémon with me, this wouldn't be happening. They must've had this set-up about a week in advanced as soon as we knew about this. They know all the ins and outs of this place, and even with a gym leader on our side she's still weak to one of their pokémon. Natsu's only pokémon with him is arguably his weakest, and I don't have any."

Megumi looked as if she were going to lunge at both of them, Natsu closing his eyes as he shouted for his pokémon. Covering his ears so he didn't have to hear it, Natsu waited until Pumpkaboo rammed into Megumi to put some distance in between the two of them.

"Please Onee-chan try to hear me," he said, Sienna not letting him get any further to his sister. "I know that this isn't who you really are. Please try to find something inside of you!" he shouted, his sister motioning with a small crack in her neck as her Mr. Mime jumped into the air, and used a move Sienna was all too familiar with.

As though a constant beam of light shot out of the psychic and fairy mix's eyes, both Sienna and Natsu caught up in the blast. With the attack hitting against both of them, Sienna was blasted almost all the way towards the door leading outside of the studio building, and Natsu more towards the studio where they were. Barely able to see him now, Sienna could see a part of Natsu falling into a curtain, most of his body now covered in the thick folds of cloth.

Pumpkaboo tried rushing towards him, Zorua attacking it from behind with another slashing motion. After his pokémon was sent flying, the three opposing pokémon all shifted their focus to the gym leader and her two pokémon. Taking in a sharp inhale, Kamitsure's Zebstrika lowered its head as Emolga was suddenly covered in a barrier.

"Discharge!" she commanded, the immediate area now covered in bolt electrical volts, Zorua being thrown back against the wall, now unconscious. Both Mr. Mime and Gabite were still able to fight, the latter unaffected by the attack. "Now, is the part where we need a new plan," she said, Hatter tossing another of his pokéballs to reveal his Lopunny. "Really need a new plan."

"Bullet Seed!" a voice shouted from the side as Natsu's Pumpkaboo flew through the air, a series of projectile like bulbs shot at the three opposing pokémon.

While not doing much damage, the attack succeeded in aggravating them as Hatter looked up and could only see who he assumed was Natsu underneath the curtain he was thrown against. However, with the way it wrapped around his body, a familiar image came to mind, but he couldn't put his finger on it.

"Release my sister, or it's you that will be my pokémon's target," Natsu threatened, a small twitch noticeable in Megumi's eye.

"Megumi-chan, show him what we do to boys like him," Hatter said, Megumi now rushing at Natsu, the two siblings facing each other down the stretch, their pokémon about to collide. "What now, boy? Will you fight your own family?"

"To save her, I'd do anything," Natsu said, Megumi hesitating slightly as Natsu's Pumpkaboo quickly appeared in front of her. "Trick-or-Treat!" he shouted, the others in the immediate area all freezing in position at the name of the attack.

"You're serious?" Hatter asked.

"Yeah, that's really bad, and I'm the one saying that," Kamitsure said.

Natsu, however, didn't see any joke as Pumpkaboo's eyes lit up and looked directly at Gabite and Mr. Mime. After a couple seconds, neither pokémon felt different, but after looking at the other, they found a small ghostly trail in the corners of their eyes.

"Take them down with Shadow Sneak!" he commanded, his sister looking behind her as the grass and ghost mix melted into its shadow again, and then quickly tacked both pokémon, sending them flying into the wall behind the Hatter.

"What in the name of-?" the Hatter questioned, Natsu now directly in front of him, giving him a quick kick in his gut.

"Trick-or-Treat is a move that automatically adds the ghost type to any pokémon," he explained. "It's exclusive to Pumpkaboo's line, and is their ultimate defense against attackers. They always make sure to have the upper hand."

"Well, that's quite the Trick or Treat," Kamitsure said, even Natsu looking at her now for the bad pun. "Come on, I gotta have some fun," she said, both of her pokémon attacking Lopunny at the same time, sending it flying against the near unconscious body of its trainer. "Well, I guess that's it then," she said, clapping her hands free of any dust.

Sienna was still against the door, watching in awe at everything they did together. Amazing while it may have been, part of it still hurt as she held onto her chest. "I promised I would protect him in case anything happened, and now that something did, I was powerless," she said to herself, watching Natsu beginning to walk towards her. "How can I possibly apologize to him?" she asked, noticing something moving behind him. "Natsu, watch out!" she suddenly shouted, lunging forward.

Quickly tackling the ghost trainer to the ground, Sienna landed on top of him, Megumi's Gabite slashing directly down on her, ripping slightly through her clothing. Letting out a slight scream, the dragon trainer suddenly turned to look up, her eyes wild with fury as even the violent Gabite was left speechless.

"You don't deserve to train dragon pokémon," she said, looking directly at Megumi, her eyes burning with anger as she moved closer. "Dragon pokémon are the kind only used for people who have discipline and respect for such beauty, not because they're powerful pokémon. Every night, I think about how many pokémon like mine are being misused because people only use them 'because they're strong.' Power without intelligence means nothing," she said. "And you were going to just let that monster attack your own brother."

Everyone was taken aback by this, almost swearing that there was a distinct gleam in Sienna's eyes, the two stones on her necklace clanging together.

"I thought that maybe you were different, but even if you are under somebody else's control, a real sister would fight back for her family," she said. "A real sister wouldn't try to let something bad happen because it's the easy way out. And a real sister wouldn't use pokémon in such a manner because it would get a job finished."

"Beautiful speech, Miss Smith, but you are still outnumbered," Hatter said, clapping his hands condescendingly. "What are you going to against all of us? Your partners with pokémon are near exhausted. You have no pokémon with you, so there is nothing, you can do," he said, the sound of shattering glass ringing throughout the rest of the studio building. "Can't I just have this one day?" he asked to the heavens, Sienna sweeping his legs out from under him to surprise him.

Quickly, Sienna jumped back, able to feel when Megumi's Gabite was going to attack. Keeping her body over where Natsu was still on the ground, the dragon trainer seemed ready to accept any attack thrown at her. And as Gabite threw down one of its sharpened claws, she closed her eyes, and waited for the attack to hit.

However, as she looked up, she could see a long blue tail wrapped around Gabite's arm. Looking off to the side, Sienna and Natsu both saw the stray Dragonair holding back the other pokémon of its type, a large smile coming across Sienna's face. With a light cheering sound, Sienna nodded at the pure dragon type, the pokémon releasing Gabite, the other of its type pulling so hard that it fell over after being let go.

"Okay, Dragonair, let's finish this," Sienna said, standing up as she tensed her fingers, and her smile grew into a toothy grin. "Dragon Tail!" she commanded, the serpentine pokémon slithering along the ground, smacking Gabite far into the air before it started to come down.

As it decline was nearly complete, Dragonair jumped up and did the same thing, throwing it directly towards Megumi, and hit it directly on the pokéball. After her pokémon was forcefully returned Natsu's sister looked up, and saw that Lopunny was being juggled in a similar fashion, being thrown back to its own trainer. This left both Dragonair and Mr. Mime on the field, the fairy type warily circling around to the dragon type's back.

"Dazzling Gleam!" Megumi commanded, the laser like attack travelling almost too fast for anyone to actually see.

Acting like a puppet master, though, Sienna pointed her hand straight up and down, Dragonair following the movement. Showing itself thin enough to just dodge through both of the beams of light, Dragonair fell back down to the ground, coiling up as it looked directly at the weakened clown pokémon.

"Aqua Jet!" Sienna shouted, the dragon pokémon's body covered in a rushing water within a second, blasting itself towards Mr. Mime.

With this attack too fast to dodge, the psychic pokémon was flung back through the air, Megumi not wasting any time, and simply returned her pokémon to its ball. She seemed out of breath, the still healthy Dragonair seeming fine despite taking down three pokémon at the same time.

"We'll be back, don't you think we won't!" Hatter shouted, pulling Megumi with him, Natsu's sister looking back at him, trying to reach out and grab his hand.

Before getting any closer, Sienna stepped in front of her, Megumi looking up at the angry dragon trainer, and immediately knew what she was going to say. Still, she didn't have to say anything. Megumi knew everything of what she did, and that was probably the most torturous part. The Hatter kept her conscious enough to see what she was doing, hoping it would eventually brainwash her so it wouldn't be necessary. Apparently, it still was.


After they left, Sienna helped Natsu to his feet, the ghost trainer noticing the long slice across Sienna's back from his sister's Gabite. Quickly, he took off his apron, and pressed it against the bloody wound, hoping to hold it back until they could get some kind of doctor.

"I'm sorry," she said, Natsu looking at her confused. "She attacked me when we went to the beach over summer break, but I couldn't bear to tell you what your sister had become. Especially when she came back to see you that time. I'm so sorry, Natsu-kun, this is probably all my fault," she said, about to break down into tears.

"No, it's not," Natsu said, wiping away one of the tears before it had the chance to fall. "I was so excited to have my sister back, I never thought about why she would after all this time. I was fooling myself into think she really came back because it was all for me. If that were the case, she would've done so years ago. My own desire to have a full family again is what made me think it was all about me."

"You have a full family, Natsu-kun," she said, pushing his head forward in a small hug. "You have Judai-kun, Amira-chan, Maaya-chan, and the rest of us so that you're not alone. And since we're family, we hate seeing you all depressed like this. So, please, don't try to always blame yourself, or think that things are ever as straightforward as they are. Remember, it's those added twists that make life sweet," she said, Natsu returning her hug.

"The two of you are so cute together," Kamitsure said from the side. "You're more like a brother and sister than classmates," she said, Sienna thinking on that for a second before smiling.

"If you want, Natsu-kun," she started. "You can always call me your older sister," she offered. "Any time you don't feel like you're worth much to us, you can always come to me, and I'll show you how much all of us really do love you," she finished.

"Then, I'll take you up on your offer, Nee-san," he said, a smile on both of their faces. "But I think we're forgetting something," he said, looking off to the side, the rest of the dorm heads and Natsu's mother all staring at the scene, the oldest of them bursting into tears as she ran at the two of them, grasping her son as tightly as she could.

"How could you do something like this, Natsu!?" she asked, Natsu looking at her confused. "First you two-time with that woman Jackie, and now you're cheating on your girlfriend with another person. How did my son become so depraved!?" she asked desperately, Natsu taking in a large gulp as she saw Amira's Kadabra staring at him, smacking its spoon into its palm.

"Oh dear," he said, Kadabra's sneer unmistakable as it pointed its attack directly at him. "Wait, Kadabra, no please, don't!" he managed to shout before a large explosion took place, the psychic type chasing the ghost trainer around the rest of the building.

In the end, the competition was never really decided since neither members of their team came back. But after it was revealed that Sienna was hurt, they were given a pass from it, and the headmistress agreed that safety came before money. The rest of the way home from the hospital, Sienna and Natsu finally were able to rest from all of this, the two sitting in the back of the van Gabriel drove. Each had their head propped against the other person, breathing peacefully as the others all watched them dreamily.

"They really do look like siblings, don't they?" Mika asked. "It makes me kinda sleepy just watching them."

"Maybe," Jiro said. "But it's sad that this is happening to him right now. I mean, bad enough Kaname's brother was part of this group. Now it's the little guy's sister coming after him."

"It just means we have new motivation to find this Don character, and take him down," Kaname said. "After what happened over the past couple of months, I think we've learned how deadly this man is willing to be. Eventually, we'll need to bring the fight to him. That way we can get all of those people out of there; my brother, his sister, and all the others that might be held against their will."

Looking into the back seat, though, something else came into Kaname's mind as Sienna repositioned herself, wrapping one of her arms around Natsu before relaxing again.

"You are dead to me, kid," he said to himself in pure jealousy, Natsu sneezing slightly at being talked about behind his back, looking around confused.


Characters:

Judai Ryuzaki: Monferno, Torkoal, and Charmander. Jexo

Natsu Kohashigawa: Lampent, Golurk, and Pumpkaboo. NightFall00

Maaya Yoshida: Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, and Hitmontop. Emmausgirl94

Amira Khumalo: Kirlia, Duosion, and Kadabra. FlyPandaBear

Sienna Smith: Vibrava, Fraxure, and Dragonair. Fluttersong

Mika Saito: Ledian and Pidgeotto. Cyanide the Sneasel

Jiro Matsushita: Bibarel and Tauros. GoldenfeatherKyru

Takeru Sanjero: Mothim and Heracross. Moth's Aflame

Kaname Misaki: Sableye and Absol. Ariesbird

Mitsuta "Mitsu" Ichihana: Glaceon and Sneasel. WrittenWhim

June Kurosaki: Lairon, Skarmory, and Klefki. Lady Island Rose

Gabriel Volantis: Archeops and Carracosta. WereDragon EX


Chapter twenty seven complete: DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG, that took a lot longer than I expected. Albeit, I did take that break for about a month, so I apologize, but I'm back with season two of the story, and this is how it starts out. Like I said, I wanted more Sienna and Kaname in this season, and we're sorta starting that right off the bat. I'm actually pretty satisfied with this chapter, and I hope you guys enjoyed it. And as a final note, here are some things I figured out since ending season one of HDD:

One of my reviews said that I should come up with some kind of music to go along with this story (sorta like an opening and ending), and for me I'd have to say that I like the music of a group called GReeeeN from Japan, and their songs High G.K Low (or Hajikero) and Midori are good choices for those two spots, respectively.

One thing I debated for a long time is whether or not I would be putting canon characters from the games in this. And if I would, would I put them in using their English or Japanese names, and I think it's obvious what my choice was. So let me know what you think about my choice, and hopefully I made the right one.

This season, while focusing on minor characters, will have a higher focus on the concepts of Aura, and what it really means to different people. It will be a reoccurring theme through the chapters, especially with the Aura Stones each of the dorm heads has. As well, I have a plot device I will be feature in the next couple of chapters that will force the dorm heads into spots where their secrets will be harder to keep. While I can't promise to ever be completely focused on this story or any of them, I can promise that this one will always be in the back of my mind. Well, thanks for reading, and until we meet again, ja na.