Chapter 8: Planning

N jumped to his, "You invited Bianca over?" There was look of surprise on his face that Touko was pretty sure she had never seen before.

"Yeah, so. Why, what the matter with Bianca?" Touko said, hand on the doorknob.

N paused and lowered his arm; "It's just that, I don't think she will ever forgive me for what happened to Munna or Cheren."

Touko nodded, she remembered how upset her best friend had been when Munna had been kidnapped and the angry glares N had received the night before, still, "She wants to help save Cheren and Alder and she has that right. This is just something you two will need to work out. Besides I'll be here."

N nodded, "yeah, your right."

Touko might have rebutted with, 'of course I'm right' but chose to remain silent and smiled at N as she opened to the door for… "Lenora? What are you doing here?"

"Well sugar, I got a call from your sweet little friend Bianca a few hours ago and she told me that you were home and getting ready to plan a rescue. So I thought I would come and see on what I could do to help." The quant southern drawl of the Gym Leader was as friendly as Touko remembered.

"Great! The more the merrier." Touko said inviting Lenora in.

"Oh and if I were you Sugar, I would expect a few more gym leaders to show up. Bianca told me she was going to try to call all of us."

"Thanks for the heads up." Touko said closing the door and walking towards N.

Lenora had stopped when she saw N standing in the middle of the living room floor. The big chocolate skinned woman seemed to bristle when she saw him "You!" She growled, "It's because of you my museum and Gym were turned upside down! And now look at the mess you have created. If I had known you were going to be here I may have…"

"Wait!" Touko cried quickly stepping in between N and Lenora. "It's not like. N is good, trust me. He would never have done that if he had known this is what was going to happen."

"She's right, Ms. Lenora. If I had known that Ghetsis had been planning this I never would have tried to waken Reshiram. I would have let her sleep another thousand years so that some other hero could have woken her. This is not what I wanted. I wanted Pokemon to be happy and freed from their evil trainers; from the people that abuse them. That was what I knew. I was told all trainers were evil… I didn't know they could be good…" N looked down. He was beating himself up again. The plan that he had thought would make the world a better place, the truth he had lived with for years… It was all a lie. And now he was paying the most awful of prices.

Lenora eyed N for a moment then said with some ice still in her voice, "Well I still don't trust but since Touko here says your alright I will let it slide for know. You act genuinely sorry but it could all be an act. I'll be keeping an eye on you, boy. And don't you forget it."

"I won't." N replied simply sitting down and looking at his shoes. Touko was struck by how much like a child N now seemed.

Suddenly there was another knock on the door. Touko went to answer it while Lenora kept a watchful eye on N. Standing there was Cilan, Chili, Cress, Skyla, Burgh, and Bianca. Touko smiled and hugged her best friend. "Why didn't you tell me you were going to do this?"

"Because I didn't want to disappoint you if I couldn't get them." Bianca answered back as she was finally released from the hug.

Touko laughed, "Well you have no idea how happy this makes me. Please come in." Touko said to the Gym leaders as she welcomed into the house.

"We brought food, enough for eleven gym leaders and 4 extra people." Chili said brightly as he and his two brothers stepped inside.

"I hope you don't mind if we take over your kitchen." Cilan added as the triplets walking into the kitchen.

"We want to make everything is nice and hot. We brought the best from the restaurant." Cress finished as the three started unloading their food.

Touko beamed at them, "Thank, you didn't need to bring food. And thank you. You really didn't need to come and help."

"Didn't need to, are you mad girl? You are someone we all care about and your friends are important to us." Skyla said brightly fist-pumping the air.

"I would also like to point that it is our responsibility as gym leaders to also try to save Alder. After all he is the Champion and the leader of the this region." Burgh added. The other gym leaders nodded in agreement.

Still N frowned, "Then were are the others?"

They all turned to N, as if noticing him for the first time. N, who had looked up for a moment, returned to staring at his shoes.

Still Touko had to admit that was fair question. "He's right, where are Brycen, Elesa, Clay, Iris and Drayden?"

"Well when I spoke with Iris she said that she and Drayden were going to talk to Elite four and get to me after." Bianca said calmly. "I was not able to reach Brycen at all. And the people at Elesa and Clay's gym told me they were busy working on something and were unavailable."

Touko nodded, so this was all that they could plan around. Fine. "Alright well since we are here let's talk. What can we do to save Cheren and Alder?"

There was a silence as the gym leaders, Bianca, Touko and N thought. Though Touko would look over to N from time to time and notice that he was just examining his shoes. Touko worried that N may not want to say anything even if he came up with something.

After a few minutes Cress said, "Well since we have not come up with anything let's eat. Food is nice and hot."

"Yeah who can think on an empty stomach?" Cilan added helpfully.

It was agreed that they would eat. As the gym leader and two female trainers went to get food Touko turned to notice that N had not moved from his seat. He seemed to be shaking as well. Touko paused than moved to N instead of getting food. She sat next to him, "N?"

"I want to help, you know I do. It's just… I doubt that any of them would want to hear anything I have to say." N said moving his hands to his face, "I was a terrible king. I couldn't lead a group of grunts and now I can't even help you save your friends. I am such a failure."

"N that is not true at all." Touko said placing a gentle arm on his shoulder. "You are not a failure. This is all just very new for you. You are used to talking to pokemon, not people. Give it time. I am sure it will work out in the end."

N looked up at Touko, "You sure."

"Mhhm. Now then why don't we get some food?"

"Okay."

And with that the two stood up and went to get food. After there was food on everyone's plates and everyone seemed pretty happy N finally spoke allowed. "Well… I." He stopped dead unsure of if he should really say what was on his mind. All eyes were on him and not all of them seemed friendly. He finally focused on Touko who was smiling. There he found his courage again. "I lived in the castle for almost my entire life. I know every little nook and cranny by heart. If someone can draw what I say we might be able to create a map. There we could possible work out a plan to save Alder and Cheren."

There was pause from the gym leaders. N looked at Touko and she beamed at him. N relaxed, but held his breath. Finally Brugh said, "I think I could be able to help you there."

And finally N breathed a sigh of relief. The planning was finally truly underway.

As the night grew dark and Touko's mother got home and saw all the guests that were here (and was fed with the food that C triplets brought) things started to wrap up. They had the basics of a plan and Burgh was going to return in a few nights with his art supplies and create a map with N of the Castle. It finally looked like they knew where they were heading. Soon all the Gym leaders started to leave. Skyla gave Burgh a ride back to his Gym while the other four Gym leaders left together.

Lenora lingered at the door a moment before leaving. She waved to N to come to her. N obeyed. "You're not a bad boy are you sweetie."

"I don't think I am. I try to be good." N answered sheepishly.

Lenora laughed, "Well tryin' is what we all do sugar. I guess my first impressions were wrong. I hope you stay this sweet then. Good night N, and good night Touko, Bianca. And don't you worry your pretty little heads. We will save Cheren and Alder, you'll see." And with that the Normal type gym leader left.

Bianca soon was standing at the door herself. She smiled sheepishly to N, "I guess I was wrong too. I am sorry I judged you…"

"No, don't apologize. I let some really terrible things happen to you and your friends. I am so sorry I was not able to help them. I wish I had done better before and could have stopped this from happening." N said Bianca. Touko stood behind N a few yards away from the door and watched, a smile clear on her face.

Bianca unsure of what to say merely nodded and said, "Well I guess… Thank you, right. Thanks for trying now. I am sure you will… I guess I… Thanks for helping us save Cheren." And with that Bianca ran out.

"I have never seen Bianca so tongue tied before. She must be really worried about Cheren." Touko said with a yawn.

N nodded and yawned in reply. "Yeah. Well it is late. Let's get some sleep. We should start again training tomorrow."

Touko nodded and made to go upstairs and paused. She turned and look at N, "If you want we can snuggle like we did last night."

"Yeah I would like. By the way, what does 'snuggle' mean?" N asked as he followed Touko upstairs.

Touko laughed before she started explaining. N really was so innocent.

End of Chapter

I think this is shorter than the last chapter, yeah pretty sure about that. Still it did what I wanted and I am quite happy. By the way Lenora is Apple Jack in my mind and Skyla is Rainbow Dash... so if I let slip a 20% cooler at any point in time on Skyla or have Lenora do something truly Apple Jack you have every right to point it out. (I am not a brony but my beloved husband is)