". . .3. . .4. . .5- Yeah, that's a straight. I win."

To the untrained eye, the room was completely empty, but sitting in the darkness were two people, a male with bright purple hair and an outfit that looked more like a clown costume, and a female with light-blue purple hair and a yellow outfit.

"Arceus damn, I hate playing with you," the man groaned as he watched his table partner gather up all the chips in the middle of the table.

"Funny, yesterday you were complaining that I was the only one you could play with," she smirked.

"That's because you are: Koga cheats, and Bruno accuses me of using voodoo mind tricks every time I win."

". . .What about Lance?"

"Lance has been holed up in the champion's room ever since he came back from Kanto," he sighed, "I've tried figuring out what's going on, but his room is warded. . .don't know howhe did it, but its warded."

"Will. . .has it ever occurred to you that something might be happening to Lance?" she asked hesitantly as she dealt out the cards again.

"Well, yeah. . .holing himself up, the wards. . ." he leaned in closer, whispering, "The maniacal laughter I keep hearing every night."

"Are you sure that's not your pokemon?"

"Pretty sure, Karen. Pretty sure. . ." he tensed up, turned his head, then sighed again as he turned back to Karen. "Okay Koga, seriously, the ninja entrance has gotten old."

An outline appeared into their eye sight until the full figure of the former Fuschia gym leader approached the table.

"So has having to navigate this room. If I was Bruno, either I'd be dead or you two would be," Koga nodded, "No time to argue, though: the champion wishes to see us."

Both Karen and Will glanced at each other before slowly rising out of their chairs, watching Koga leave.

". . .I'm having the distinct feeling something really bad's about to happen," Will gulped.

"Unfortunately, you're usually right in that matter," Karen sighed, both of them walking out of the room into a great hallway, lined with gold-trimmed carpets and paintings of every single champion ever to be crowned. The hallway walls themselves reached up so high it looked like they could just swat the moon away if they wanted to, with elegant paintings up above that even the best eyes could barely see from the floor. Everything in the room, though, pointed to the end of the hall, the great, 12 foot golden doors that separated everyone else from the champion's room.

Bruno and Koga were already waiting for them in the great hallway, both impatient as if it had taken them forever to get there. None of them said a word, just simply turned and walked down the hallway towards the grand doors.

Then they exploded.

Not that the doors exploded themselves, but they were blown of their hinges with such force that they were already through the walls within a second, and glass of picture frames and other things were shattered down the hall a good 50 feet, making all 4 of the trainers duck at tiny shards of glass rained down.

Out of the now open doorway, Lance walked out, grinning as his Dragonite followed him solemnly.

"Look at that, I even get a welcoming committee for finally breaking that seal," he turned to his Dragonite, then back at the Elite 4. All of them but Bruno were confused, simply staring at Lance while Bruno himself took a step back, then bolted.

"Wha- Bruno?!" Karen turned back, calling out to him, but he refused to stop. When she turned back, Koga already had all of his pokemon out as Will stared at him in shock.

"Go follow him," he stated calmly, "I have a feeling he has the right idea."

"Not so fast," Lance shook his head, "Dragonite, Hyper Beam."

"Fortress, Hyper Beam!"

Will continued to stare at shock at the events that had just unfolded, so Karen grabbed his arm and followed Bruno, not looking back even when the collision of Hyper Beams nearly knocked them to the ground.


Blackthorn was quiet today; the light clouds mellowing out the sun's harsh rays only helped the quiet mood of the ancient town. It was one of those days where one would usually stay in bed and maybe read a book.

Arella would do no such thing.

She burst out of the icy cave, her skin welcoming what little sunshine there was in the day to dispel her shivers before she turned around, Matthew and Leu coming out too.

"Arceus. . .Matthew, we're almost there!" Arella smiled, "We're just one badge away from making it to the Elite 4."

Matthew simply nodded, looking up at the gloomy day before looking back at his trainer.

"Um. . .you might want to slow down," he suggested.

Before she could ask why, she accidentally bumped into someone. She apologized quickly, then froze when she realized who it was.

". . .Silver."

The trainer didn't even slow down, but instead walked past both the Feraligatr and the Ampharos.

"Silver!" Arella ran after him back into the frosty cave, only to meet him glaring at her.

"What?"

"Why the hell are you giving me the cold shoulder?" she demanded.

"Why do you think?" he raised an eyebrow, "You're famous now: the boy prodigy that ended up being a girl," Silver turned the other way, "If I'm seen with you, people will start digging on me, and then bam: there goes my normal life that I worked so hard for."

"So you're just going to pretend I don't even exist?"

"You would to if your dad's a famous crime syndicate leader on the lam. Now excuse me, I need to train for that stupid trial."

". . .Trial?"

"The gym leader's a bitch and refused to accept that she lost, so she's sending me on some trial tomorrow," he shrugged, then noticed that Arella was staring at him wide-eyed, ". . .What?"

". . .The rumors are true," she bit her lip, then bolted back out of the cave.

"Wait! What rumors?"

"I don't exist, remember?" she glared back at him before leaving the cave, leaving Silver to grumble to himself.