The floorboards creaked under N's feet. Orange sunlight trickled through the windows, splaying out on the wooden flooring. He closed the door to Luna's home behind him with a click.

She, already having gone inside, spun to face him, folding her hands at waist level behind her back. She smiled. "So? What do you think?"

Her smile was contagious as he looked about his surroundings. To his right was a staircase leading to the second floor, and to his left, a small, tiled kitchen with walls painted a washed-out yellow. Where Luna stood was the living room, with the few leather couches and coffee tables, and a fireplace and TV at one wall. The home was not large by any means, but it felt homey and smelled of Luna.

He walked to her and brushed his thumbs along her soft cheeks, then kissed her on the lips. "It's wonderful, Luna. Do you pay for this all on your own?"

She shook her head. "When my parents passed away," she had told N of the incident on their way to the town, and he had almost come to tears at the story, "they'd already made a will, and, since I'm an only child, gave me the house."

"I'm sorry for their passing," N said, holding her close to him and frowning. "It must have been incredibly hard for you."

"Thank you, N, but we're here now to make sure one of your parents is alright, remember?" She snickered. "Or did you already forget?"

He looked at her, where she stared up at him, chin almost touching his chest, arms wrapped on his waist. He did not want to admit it, but his travels with Luna had been so much fun that he almost had forgotten. Not quite enough that the thought didn't tickle the back of his mind while they laughed and joked, but still, it was the reason they had come to Accumula Town.

But when they went again to Castelia City and rescued Ghetsis, he would never allow Luna to come close. Thoughts about her during the day and surreptitious meetings in the darkness would have to suffice. And he would have to go back to working on his goal - to being the face of Team Plasma.

He gave her shoulders a gentle squeeze. "Of course, I have not forgotten. I just… maybe we could stay here tomorrow, and leave the next day? I want to relish these moments with you before my father… well, takes them away. I still haven't gotten to see you paint, remember? You promised you would show me."

Her face lit with surprise. "Oh! That's right. I completely forgot." She unlatched herself from him. "Stay here; I'll go get my things. We can go outside where the Pokemon are."

N opened his mouth, meaning to say that he would aid her in carrying something, but she was already rushing up the steps to the second floor. He scratched his temple and sat on one of the brown leather couches, then folding his hands in his lap.

From his position, he could look out the window and see the sun dipping below the distant tree line, blazing the sky with oranges and reds in its final hour. As he watched it, he thought of what Granny had said to him, what the Pokemon who played with the children had said, and what Luna's sawsbuck had made clear. The bond between Pokemon and trainer is one of growth. We're happy here. Luna is my trainer; I would not have it any other way.

N leaned forward, placing his elbows on his knees. He took off his hat, letting his hair stream loose around him, and put it on the couch to his side.

If what they all said was true, what had N been fighting for? Why was he only now beginning to see that Pokemon could be content? After the Vertress Tournament had ended, and N saw how such a nasty person as King, who thought of Pokemon as nothing more than tools, had won, N had been more affirmed than ever in his want to free Pokemon. He was not so sure anymore. Was King the exception? Or were people like Luna, who treated her Pokemon wonderfully, the exception? He did not know. He did not know anything anymore, except that he wanted to spend more time with Luna. So that was what he was going to do. If she would let him stay for a little while longer, that was.

He stood, walking to the stairs. She was taking an awfully long time. Perhaps she needs my help, after all?

"Luna?" He called. His voice sounded too loud in the quiet home. There was no answer.

He stepped on the first stair. It groaned under his foot.

A face appeared at the top of the stairs. N blinked as Luna grinned at him.

"One moment!" She said. N took his foot from the step and settled with his back against the wall. A minute later, Luna wiggled an easel and canvas down the stairs.

N's eyes widened. "Are you positive you don't want my help?"

"Yes," she said, arriving at the bottom. N realized that she was wearing a different dress, short in length, and yellow with printed pink flowers. That must have been what took her so long. She was finding something else to wear.

"That makes you look very nice," N said, moving out of her way.

She chuckled, setting the easel by the door. "I do love your awkward compliments."

N smiled as she opened the door. "Come on, let me-"

He trailed off.

A man was standing in the doorway. Luna gasped in surprise, holding a hand over her mouth. N stepped protectively beside her. He had hair nearly as long as N's, bleached as white as the sun from space. N could not see his features; a black mask covered his face. He stood where the shadow of the house draped along the ground, and it seemed as though he and the shadow were the same.

"Who are you?" N demanded. The man did not respond but stepped into the house. N's chest suddenly felt like a lump of ice.

One moment N stood there, looking at the man, and the next, he was sprawled out on the wooden floor, dull, gray pain thudding against his head as if someone had hit him with a hammer. The easel clattering to the ground was a distant echo in his ears.

He tried to scramble to his feet, vision blurry. His legs felt like rubber. He fell to the floor again, crying out.

Luna stood with her back against the wall: a bright ray of yellow sunshine. Three shadows crept toward her, loomed over her. Prepared to attack her.

"Luna!" N croaked.

And suddenly, sawsbuck was there.

He thrashed with sharp antlers, sending one of the men sprawling against the wall. White light engulfed the man, and when he fell, he was no longer human, but Pokemon. A zoroark. N blinked, not believing the truth of what his blurry vision saw.

Green mist, smelling of flowers, filled his nostrils. His vision cleared, and the dull aching behind his forehead subsided.

"N!" Luna shouted. "Go get my other Pokemon outside! I'll be fine!"

He shot to a stand. Sawsbuck nodded.

N did not want to. He couldn't leave Luna.

"Go!"

He clenched his jaw, forcing his feet to move, and charged for the doorway. The fading light of the day greeted him when a person abruptly stood blocking his way. The man reeled back an arm, a dark ball of energy forming in his hand. This one is a zoroark as well!

N ducked, throwing his arms over his head. The energy coursed above him, and he heard sawsbuck cry out. The move had hit him instead of N.

N roared, charging toward the transformed zoroark. They collided, tumbling onto the porch outside. N did not want to hurt a Pokemon, but he would do what he needed to protect Luna.

They hit the floor hard - pain shot through his elbow and arm. The transformation faded, and he struggled with a zoroark instead of a man.

The Pokemon screeched, trying to writhe a way out of N's grip, but he wrapped his arms around its chest and held tight. Zoroark squirmed and kicked, clawing at N's sides. He clenched his jaw and squeezed his eyes shut. Until Luna and Sawsbuck can defeat the other two, I must hold on!

Zoroark's teeth sunk into his shoulder. It yanked, ripping out the flesh in a spray of blood. N screamed, all his strength gone in an instant. Zoroark used that to his advantage, kicking N in the stomach with sturdy legs. His world spun, his breath escaping him, as the Pokemon managed to be free of him. He tumbled to the floor, hot blood slipping between his fingers as he clutched his shoulder.

Zoroark vanished inside the house. Cold sweat covered N. He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. Instead, he clambered to his feet. Luna was in danger.

He staggered through the doorway. And froze.

He did not see Luna and sawsbuck, fighting in the cramped room against the three invaders. He saw a field of swaying yellow flowers; the warmth of the sun spreading through him, the same feeling felt under Luna's caress. He smelled the flowers. Tasted the air. Felt the wind. But his mind rebelled against the striking image. It was an illusion.

A claw raked his face. He screamed, stumbling back, and the illusion was gone. Over the shoulder of a zoroark, through the bloodied fingers he held to his stinging face, he saw sawsbuck, struggling. Saw as its head was sliced from its body, as antler and fur tumbled, eyes lifeless, blood spurting. He heard Luna scream in horror.

The wall burst as if a bomb had set off inside it, cutting off her cry. The sound of shattering glass and broken wood was deafening. The zoroark in front of N whipped around and hissed as a haxorus charged in, feet crunching on splintered material.

It roared, throwing its head back. The zoroarks all attacked at once, not a moment of hesitation in their gliding movements.

Take Luna, said a voice in his head. Protect her. You must. I will handle the zoroarks.

N stumbled inward, holding a hand to his face. Luna stood in the corner, jaw, and fists clenched, as pale as snow. Panting, N came up beside her, dodging the fighting.

"N," she whispered. "They killed sawsbuck. Oh god, you're hurt, N. You're hurt."

One of the zoroarks crashed against the wall. The other two screeched. N shook his head.

"I am fine." He took her hand. "We must leave. That is your haxorus? She will take care of it for us!"

"Wait!" Luna shouted. "Look!"

A turquoise ball of energy sent one of the zoroarks through a wall and out onto the grass. N saw that more Pokemon were running toward the house, hopping over a nearby fence that kept them in.

The zoroarks saw it as well, and their fallen comrade. They began to back away, hissing. A triumphant cry from haxorus pierced N's eardrums.

They fled out the door.

N breathed. "It's over. Are you hurt, Luna? Did they hurt you?"

"You're the one whose hurt!" She said. Her eyes fell on sawsbuck. "I don't have another Pokemon that can heal, N. We have to take you to a hospital, there's no other…"

The lids of N's eyes peeled back. A shadow loomed behind Luna.

She looked at N in horror. "What is it?"

A black and red claw pierced through Luna's chest.

N did not even have time to scream as she dropped to the floor, and the zoroark vanished. The one who had splintered through the wall.

N looked down. There was a hole in Luna's dress. Where zoroark had plunged a claw through. A pool of blood seeped around her, staining the strings of her blond hair red.

He blinked. He looked to haxorus, who roared louder than it had before. For some reason, it sounded full of sorrow, and when other Pokemon began to enter, they too called and cried.

He blinked. He dropped to his knees and nudged Luna's shoulder. She did not move. "Luna?"

He blinked. The blood squelched as he rolled Luna over on her back. He looked into her eyes. Those weren't Luna's eyes. Hers were bright and filled with life, not gray and stale. Not colorless. Not empty.

Gone.

His throat clamped shut, squeezed by an invisible hand. His hands shook. His heart screamed as it became heavy with pain. The gears of his mind began to work, processing what he saw.

"No, no, no, no!"

There was a void in her chest - a gaping crevice where her heart should have been. N clutched her hand in both of his. Touched his lips to hers. Everything was cold. A freezing chill had covered his body.

Luna was dead.

He screamed in echo with the Pokemon, laying his head on her. Tears poured from his eyes as he wailed, beating his fist against the floor. All the pain of his wounds vanished. There was only a great ache in his heart, like a beast trying to crawl from his chest.

Luna was dead. Luna was dead. Luna was dead. Luna was dead.

He did not know how long he sat there. Days. Weeks. Months. Long after the light of the sun had seeped away, and the blackness of night encroached around him. His tears did not stop until his head ached, and his mind turned to numbness. At times, he found himself brushing her hair away from her face, staring into her eyes, believing that at any moment, their light would return. It did not. And when it didn't, the light inside of N - the happiness he had felt when with her, like nothing else he'd ever experienced - dimmed to nothing as well.

He was dimly aware when a large body curled around him and Luna. Haxorus nudged his head gently and placed something beside him. A Pokeball. N wept himself to sleep by haxorus' side, knowing what she wanted N to do with the Pokeball, for she told him so in his head. Her voice was a distant echo as he drifted into a fitful sleep of nightmares, where black and red Pokemon plagued the land, lurking in every shadow.

Where he would be sitting beside Luna as she painted, only to have her ripped away from him.