Ch 1

Rui Roane looked into the mirror, a grim expression on her face. Behind her, Jupiter and Neptune the Espeons, and Pluto and Saturn the Umbreons watched her with approval on their faces. It had only been a few days time since Red quietly suggested they leave Kanto immediately and make their way to Orre. He had not wanted to be at the stadium with the Elite Four finally escaped their defensive status and found out what had taken place.

After stopping to rest in Goldenrod City in Johto, Rui had calmly told her friends to let her have the day to herself to prepare for her journey. Silver and May were ready to object and take her on a comfort shopping trip, but the boys held them back to grant her wish. Rui took their idea of the shopping expedition in a different direction. With the Eons following her along, she headed to several clothes and specialty shops, purchasing needed supplies and wanted items. Upon returning to the hotel, she spoke not a word to her friends and locked herself in the room.

"For Seth's memory." Rui murmured after spreading the contents of her bags on the bed. She set the Snag Machine Mk II down on the table and reached for the first item she saw.

In a few hours' time, Rui had shed her usual frilly jacket and mall rat outfit for a Snagger's uniform. The black tube top and matching jeans fit her lithe form, the royal blue of a trench coat cinched at the waist and open at the top flattered her further. Knee high black boots and fingerless gloves added to the effect of her nearly armored outfit. She pulled her hair from their cute pigtails and brushed it down until it shone and rippled around her shoulders, calling attention to the necklace that hung around her neck, made from the Dragonair bracelet Seth had bought for her long ago in Phenac City. Looking back in the mirror, she dipped her finger into a little jar of zinc oxide and traced a line across the bridge of her nose, dividing her face in half. She slipped the jar in her pocket, along with her PDA and the assorted gadgets given to her during her trip with Seth to the other three regions.

Rui slipped the Snag Machine on last and flexed her arm, feeling it adjust on her and hum softly with power. A full set of Poké Balls lined her belt and the machine was keyed to send new captures to Seth's Pokémon boxes in Orre. The Eons smiled and bobbed their heads in appreciation. This was a girl Seth would love to have with him, an equal in every way. Yet, would he wish for the old Rui as well? Only he would know.

"Okay, boys and girls. Let's do it." Rui remarked with a smile that hinted she was still the good old Rui they knew under the new wrapping. She slid a pair of black sunglasses on and hefted her bag of personal belongings over her shoulder. "Let's find my man."

"Aye aye, Rui!" Jupiter yipped with joyous respect as he leaped down from the bed and followed her out with the others in tow.

Red raised an eyebrow at Rui's sudden change of outfits and attitude when she emerged from her room and declared that they leave for Orre that minute. Brendan fairly salivated at her, earning a gut punch from May that was only half deserved. Silver grinned and clapped in approval.

"Oh yeah! It's go time, baby!" she hooted and made for the door, the others running after her to hitch the next bus through the mountain pass to Orre's Phenac City.

Had they stayed longer, they would have heard reports that of the four main players in the Earth Seal plot, one was found dead in the stadium and three were nowhere to be found. Ein had managed to escape before the storm was dispelled but both Sera Evice and Gonzap had been gravely injured. Their bodies had yet to be discovered.

And yet another player was ready to call his own hand into the game.


"So Orre is nothing but desert, right?" Silver asked as the bus carefully navigated the narrow passage through the Retoh Mountains. Rui nodded as she gazed out the window, idly playing with her hair.

"Sort of. There are a few pockets of oases here and there, but the biggest one is Agate, where my grandparents live." she replied and stretched. "The Orre desert is among the harshest known deserts and the climate isn't much nicer." she added and sat up abruptly. "Look over there!" Rui exclaimed, pointing at the distance as her friends leaned over to follow her aim.

Far across from the bus's travel path into Orre lay a canyon with the ruins of a large building. They could just about make out the shape of the remains. Red frowned and sat back, Pikachu perched on his head and gazing out with him. Since losing the hat he had once won in a contest during the battle at the Kanto Power Plant, the champion had to adjust to the mouse gripping his hair to stay balanced.

"I don't like the look of that place." he remarked bluntly. Rui nodded, pink lips pursed together.

"That's all that's left of Team Snagem's hideout. Seth blew it up the day he abandoned them and saved me." she finally said, settling back in her chair.

"That's another beginning, isn't it?" Silver Summers asked thoughtfully, "It was the beginning of Seth's rebellion against Cipher and Snagem. He could be there." She readjusted the silver ribbon tied around her black hair and smiled back at her betrothed. "Red, you up for some more infiltration?" The man formerly known as Ash Ketchum grinned back.

"It's not a paid job, but for Seth, I'll break into every building in the world." he replied, "We have more in common than he thinks, Seth and I."

"How does Orre work? We're going to have culture shock if we're not prepared." May Thorne, the Hoenn Champion, pointed out as she slung a leg up against the seat in front of her. "I know about the two on two battle system, since Seth used them a lot. What else is there?"

"Do you have Gyms? Badges? How does a person become a trainer here?" Brendan Birch added. Rui thought about the questions, lifting the sunglasses onto her head.

"We don't have Gyms, we have Colosseums. Registration to enter Colosseums are done at the arenas themselves. The only time you need to do a main registration is when you're new to Orre and need a PDA. The Pokémon Digital Assistant keeps track of Pokémon you've battled and seen, contains your e-mail and photo ID, and also keeps data on Colosseum battles." she replied, "Seth registered himself after the Realgam Tower was taken over by legitimate Colosseum officials and that's how he's been making the money to support himself and his Pokémon."

"When you enter a Colosseum challenge, you follow the two-on-two battle system against four opponents. By clearing the challenge you earn a cash prize and the data for eligibility to the next level Colosseum challenge. When you've completed that Colosseum four times, you earn a pass for the next arena. Collecting all of the passes in Orre means you can compete in the Realgam Tower.

"In the Realgam Tower, you have to battle the Tower Trainers on your way to facing the Tower Leaders. There's one Leader in each of the four secondary compass points; northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast. Defeating a Tower Leader earns you a colored Tower Pass, which you need to open the elevator to the upper levels of the Realgam Tower. The Tower Leaders challenge was based on Seth's trials in the final days of Cipher's fall. Completing the Realgam Colosseum challenge nets you a huge cash prize and the title of Colosseum Grand Champion."

"Sounds simple enough." May remarked with a grin, cracking her knuckles, "I bet I can become the Orre Colosseum Champion too!" Rui laughed, hugging her knees as the bus pulled up to the Outskirt Stand for a break and gas up.

"Grand Champion, May! Orre Colosseum Champion is region-wide, like your Elite Four challenges, but you have to clear the entire Orre Colosseum for that. And it's tough! The challenge is also in finding all of the Colosseums, too! Orre Colosseum changes location with each new challenge season. Then there's Mt. Battle, which is a whole other challenge in itself." she remarked with a smile. Brendan leaned over and grinned back.

"Did Seth ever make it through that one?" he asked teasingly. Rui shook her head. "Not strong enough, eh?"

"Ah, more like he was acrophobic. Seth couldn't stand the heights. He lasted long enough to save the mountain from Dakim and snag Entei, but right after getting the Time Flute he bailed out and took a nap under the tree outside the registration hall. He told me he needed to rest, but I think he was just getting ready to faint and didn't want to fall on his face." she answered and looked distantly sorrowful, "I miss him already. I keep thinking that I just have to turn around and he'll be there waiting for me to move out of his way again. I can't even use the PDA's tracking chip to find him. It's reporting that it can't find the signal."

"Well, I'm getting out to change. If I'm going to register in Phenac for the colosseum challenges, I have to be Silver Summers the boy trainer." Silver remarked, picking up her pack, "They won't take me seriously if I show up in this skirt." Red rolled his eyes and shook his head slightly as she bounded off the bus and into the train engine that served as the diner and outpost.

"She's gonna learn one day to be true to herself. Only then will she attain the true respect of the Pokémon trainers of the world." he sighed.


Evice tapped his fingers together and studied the board before him. Across from the table sat Nascour, dressed in a business suit and wild gray hair now tamed down into a slick ponytail. He eyed the board with an expressionless face, waiting. The former head of Cipher hummed softly and reached out, carefully choosing a piece and placing it firmly down in a new spot.

"Checkmate." he remarked with a smile, looking up at his lackey. Nascour lifted both eyebrows in surprise and tipped his head in acknowledgment of defeat. "Tell me. How long has it been since my dear daughter visited us?"

"She hasn't. Not since we were imprisoned, master." Nascour murmured as he collected his pieces to restart the chess game. "I've heard reports that our former organization tried to implement the Earth Seal Project." Evice looked up at him, face lit with excitement.

"Really? They must have failed in it, as the world is not under its control and our weather hasn't been sealed from us." he remarked brightly, collecting his own pieces, "We've been released and put on parole for nearly a month and in that time my precious daughter has destroyed Cipher's greatest plan for domination."

"She was always rather impatient in getting her way." Nascour admitted, watching Evice fiddle with one of the pieces.

"And what of my son? What of my pride and joy, my heir to the throne and the bringer of vengeance?" he asked softly.

"If he was used in the machine, and the reports of a massive weather disturbance infers that he was, then chances are that he has all three pieces of Pokémon DNA within him." Nascour replied, "And may I remind you that he is not your son? Only a mirror image of him?" Evice stood up and walked, almost waddled, to a jeweled box set on his writing table. He picked it up and waddled back to the chess table. The round man then gently set the box down and opened it up to reveal a velvet lined interior and custom chess pieces cast of gold resting in indents.

"I think I'll use my personal pieces for this next game." Evice remarked and carefully pulled them out to line up on the board. "I'd like for you to find my son, Nascour. Find him and bring him back to me." Nascour sighed and nodded.

"I'll have the agents begin the search at the Indigo Plateau and spread out from there." he murmured and waited for Evice to make the first move.

"I do so love my pieces." Evice added lightly, smiling at the piece that represented the queen; the piece that, if played properly, could decide the fate of the player in the game favorably. He stroked the tiny figure of Seth, its miniature golden eyes gazing up at him in its frozen expressionless face, and smiled wider. "I do so love my cherished son. I always loved him... my Wesley."